Charles Bernhard Heyd was a Canadian parliamentarian, grocer and fiddler. The eldest son of Swiss immigrant Bernhard Heyd, Charles was born in Rochester, New York

Rochester, New York

Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...

 where his father worked as a carpenter before settling in Brantford, Ontario

Brantford, Ontario

Brantford is a city located on the Grand River in Southern Ontario, Canada. While geographically surrounded by the County of Brant, the city is politically independent...

 in 1854. His father worked for the railway for a year before establishing a grocery store.

As an adult, Charles B. Heyd was a Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

-Reformer

Reform Party (pre-Confederation)

The Reform movement, sometimes referred to as the Reform Party, began in the 1830s as the movement in the English speaking parts of British North America . It agitated for responsible government....

 and served as an alderman

Alderman

An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...

 on Brantford's council for five years. In 1865, he married Janet Davey, a native of Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. He was also a director for the Royal Loan and Savings Company and of the Brantford Young Ladies' College. Heyd served as mayor of Branford twice, in 1886 and 1888–89 and was elected to the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 in an 1897 by-election as a Liberal representing Brant South

Brant South

Brant South was a federal and provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1904, and in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1867 to 1923....

 and was re-elected in the 1900 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1900

The Canadian federal election of 1900 was held on November 7 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 9th Parliament of Canada. As a result of the election, the Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, was re-elected to a second majority government, defeating the...

, defeating Robert Henry

Robert Henry (Canadian politician)

Robert Henry was a Scottish-born grocer and political figure in Ontario, Canada. He represented Brant South in the Canadian House of Commons in 1896 as a Conservative. Henry was also mayor of Brantford in 1878, 1879 and 1887.He was born in Perthshire and came to Brantford with his family in 1853...

 each time. The riding was merged into the new Brantford

Brantford (electoral district)

Brantford was a federal and provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1904 to 1925 and from 1949 to 1968, and in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1986 to 1999....

 electoral district for the 1904 federal eleciton

Canadian federal election, 1904

The Canadian federal election of 1904 was held on November 3 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 10th Parliament of Canada...

in which Heyd was defeated by a margin of 15 votes.