The Fathers of Confederation

In 1883, the Canadian Government commissioned Robert Harris to paint the Charlottetown Conference of September 1864. The work was to include the 23 Fathers of Confederation, and secretary Hewitt Bernard. Asked to change the setting to the larger Quebec Conference of October that same year, Harris added ten figures. A preliminary charcoal sketch was made in Charlottetown, and the final work was painted in Montreal. In May 1884, it was hung in the Parliament Building in Ottawa. It went to England's Festival of Empire in 1911, after which it returned to Canada. It was destroyed when the Parliament Building burned February 3, 1916.

On September 1, 1964 - one hundred years after the Charlottetown Conference - the same scene began to emerge again. Rex Woods was embarking on a commission from the insurance company, Confederation Life, to recreate the heirloom for presentation to the nation during 1967 Centennial celebrations. Three delegates to the London Conference of 1866 - who had been officially recognized during the Diamond Jubilee in 1927 - were added on the right. The portrait above them is a tribute to Robert Harris. His signature is on the portfolio at the left, as in the original painting.

List of The Fathers of Confederation:

1. Hewitt Bernard, secretary
2. William Henry Steeves
3. Edward Whelan
4. William Alexander Henry
5. Charles Fisher
6. John Hamilton Gray, P.E.I.
7. Edward Palmer
8. George Coles
9. Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley
10. Sir Frederic B. T. Carter
11. Jean-Charles Chapais
12. Sir Ambrose Shea
13. Edward Barron Chandler
14. Sir Alexander Campbell
15. Sir Adams George Archibald
16. Sir Hector-Louis Langevin
17. Sir John Alexander Macdonald
18. Sir George-Etienne Cartier
19. Sir Étienne-Paschal Taché

20. George Brown
21. Thomas Heath Haviland
22. Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt
23. Peter Mitchell
24. James Cockburn
25. Sir Oliver Mowat
26. Robert Barry Dickey
27. Sir Charles Tupper
28. John Hamilton Gray, N.B.
29. William Henry Pope
30. William McDougall
31. Thomas D'Arcy McGee
32. Andrew Archibald Macdonald
33. Jonathan McCully
34. John Mercer Johnson
35. Robert Duncan Wilmot
36. Sir William Pearce Howland
37. John William Ritchie