Edwin Larwill was a tinsmith

Tinsmith

A tinsmith, or tinner or tinker or tinplate worker, is a person who makes and repairs things made of light-coloured metal, particularly tinware...

 and political figure in Canada West.

He came to Chatham

Chatham, Ontario

Chatham is the largest community in the municipality of Chatham-Kent, Ontario. Formerly serving as the seat of Kent County, the governments of the former city of Chatham, the county of Kent, and its townships were merged into one entity known as the Municipality of Chatham-Kent in 1998.Located on...

 in 1841. He helped form a "Free and Easy Club" there, a counter-attack against the Temperance movement

Temperance movement

A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...

s in the region. Larwill served as school commissioner. He was opposed to black settlement in the area and debated the issue with William King at a public debate held in 1849. In 1854, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada

Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada

The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the legislature for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known as Canada West and later the...

 for Kent

Kent County, Ontario

Kent County, area 2,458 sq km is a historic county in the Canadian province of Ontario. Population in 2006 was 108,589.The county was created in 1792 and named by John Graves Simcoe in honour of the English County. The county is in an alluvial plain between Lake St...

 as a Conservative

Conservative Party of Canada (historical)

The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...

. Larwill voted for Quebec City

Quebec City

Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...

 over Kingston

Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...

 as seat of government for the Canadas. This unpopular position and organized opposition by black residents of the county led to his defeat in 1857; Archibald McKellar

Archibald McKellar

Archibald McKellar was briefly leader of Canada's Ontario Liberal Party from 1867 to 1868 and, unofficially, the first Leader of the Opposition in Ontario's new provincial legislature and went on to serve as Commissioner of Public Works in Ontario Premier Oliver Mowat's first government.He was...

was elected in Kent. Larwill died in Chatham in 1876.