William Berrian Vail, PC

Queen's Privy Council for Canada

The Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...

 (December 19, 1823 – April 10, 1904) was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 businessman and politician.

Vail was born in Sussex Vale, New Brunswick

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

, the son of John Cougle Vail and Charlotte Hannah Arnold. In 1850, he married Charlotte Leslie Jones. He represented Digby County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly

Nova Scotia House of Assembly

The Nova Scotia Legislature, consisting of Her Majesty The Queen represented by the Lieutenant Governor and the House of Assembly, is the legislative branch of the provincial government of Nova Scotia, Canada...

 from 1867 to 1874. He served in the province's Executive Council as provincial secretary. In 1874, he was elected to the 3rd Canadian Parliament

3rd Canadian Parliament

The 3rd Canadian Parliament was in session from March 26, 1874 until August 17, 1878. The membership was set by the 1874 federal election on January 22, 1874, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was dissolved prior to the 1878 election.It was controlled by a...

 as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Digby

Digby (electoral district)

Digby was a federal electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1917. It was created as part of the British North America Act of 1867, and was abolished in 1914 when it was redistributed into Digby and Annapolis and Yarmouth and...

. From 1874 to 1878, he was the Minister of Militia and Defence under Alexander Mackenzie

Alexander Mackenzie

Alexander Mackenzie, PC , a building contractor and newspaper editor, was the second Prime Minister of Canada from November 7, 1873 to October 8, 1878.-Biography:...

. He resigned because of a conflict of interest in the 1877 but returned to parliament in 1882 where he served as an opposition MP until he lost his seat once again in the 1887 general election. He died in Dover

Dover

Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

His brother Edwin Arnold Vail

Edwin Arnold Vail

Edwin Arnold Vail was a physician and political figure in the Province of New Brunswick, Canada. He represented Kings County in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1857 to 1866, from 1870 to 1874 and from 1878 to 1885.He was born in Sussex Vale, New Brunswick, the son of John Cougle...

served in the New Brunswick assembly.