John Wimburn Laurie

Lieutenant-General John Wimburn Laurie, (1 October 1835 – 19 May 1912) was a soldier and political figure in Nova Scotia, Canada for thirty years and then returned to England. Military career He was born in London, England, the son of John Laurie and Eliza Helen Collett, and educated at Harrow, at Dresden, and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He entered the British Army in 1853 and served in 4th Kings Own Regiment in Crimea (1855) and Mauritius (1857) on his way to India (1858). He served in South Africa (1881). While in Nova Scotia, Laurie also served during the North-West Rebellion of 1885, at which point he was the highest-ranking officer in Canada. He achieved the rank of Lieutenant General in 1887. Nova Scotia In 1862 he arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, married Frances Robie Collins (daughter of Enos Collins) in 1863, and developed Oakfield, Nova Scotia on the shores of Grand Lake. Laurie was warden for Halifax County in 1880. He was appointed Lieutenant General (1881), became an MP for Shelburne in the Canadian House of Commons (1887-1891). In 1886, he greeted James J. Bremner and the Halifax Volunteer Battalion upon their return from the North-West Rebellion. He was defeated by Thomas Robertson in the 1887 general election; Robertson's election was overturned on appeal and Laurie won the subsequent by-election later the same year. That election was declared void but Laurie was elected again in 1888. He represented Shelburne in the House of Commons of Canada from 1887 to 1891 as a Conservative member.