George Hilton Barbour

BARBOUR, HONOURABLE GEORGE HILTON. labourer, farmer, fox rancher, constable, chief prohibition inspector, chief of customs and excise department, insurance salesperson, and civil servant; b. 5 September 1878 in Alma, son of Thomas Archibald Barbour and Mary Currie; m. 24 April 1907 Carrie Elora Casely, and they had two children, Greta Mary and Wendell George; United; d. 6 February 1962 in Ottawa. Barbour, a Liberal, was first elected in the general election of 1935 for 2nd Prince. He was reelected in the general elections of 1939, 1943, and 1947. Barbour resigned his seat in 1942 when he was selected as the prices and supplies representative to the regional office of the Wartime Prices and Trade Board in Charlottetown. Upon re-election in 1943, Barbour was appointed to Executive Council as Minister of Public Works and Highways. On 6 July 1949 he was appointed to the Senate. Barbour received his primary education in Alma, and at the age of 17 moved to Boston. While residing in Massachusetts, he attended educational upgrading classes and worked at a company that sold ice. In 1907 Barbour returned to the Island and settled in Bloomfield where he farmed and bred foxes. He relocated in 1913 to Alberton and was employed there as a constable. While in this position, his barn was burned and shots were fired at him. In 1923 Barbour moved to Howlan. While he lived there, another of his barns burned down under suspicious circumstances. From 1918 until 1927, Barbour was chief prohibition inspector, and while on duty took an active part in the seizure of the Nellie J. Banks, a famous rum-runner. He moved to Summerside in 1923 and resided there until 1927. In that year, after resigning as prohibition inspector, Barbour moved to Charlottetown and became the district chief of the Customs and Excise Department. In 1934 he moved to the Brae, purchased a farm, and grew seed potatoes and raised dairy cows. Barbour returned to Charlottetown in 1942 and built a house at 130 Upper Prince Street. He maintained ownership of the Brae farm but had someone manage it for him until 1945, when he sold it. Barbour also worked with the Dominion Life Insurance Company. George Barbour died 6 February 1962 in the Senate Chamber in Ottawa, shortly after giving a speech. Carrie Barbour, the daughter of William Samuel Casely of Kensington and Mary Ann Moase, was born 20 November 1886 and died 26 July 1970.