William Kerr was an Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 lawyer and political figure. He represented Northumberland West

Northumberland West

Northumberland West was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1917. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867....

 in 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...

 from 1874 to 1878 as 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...

 member and served in the Senate of Canada from 1899 to 1906.

He was born in Ameliasburg, Upper Canada

Upper Canada

The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...

 in 1836, the son of Francis William Kerr, an Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 immigrant, and Olive Shelley, and was educated at Victoria University

Victoria University in the University of Toronto

Victoria University is a constituent college of the University of Toronto, founded in 1836 and named for Queen Victoria. It is commonly called Victoria College, informally Vic, after the original academic component that now forms its undergraduate division...

 in Cobourg

Cobourg, Ontario

Cobourg is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Southern Ontario 95 km east of Toronto. It is the largest town in Northumberland County. Its nearest neighbour is Port Hope, to the west. It is located along Highway 401 and the former Highway 2...

. Kerr later served as a member of the University's senate and as its bursar. He was called to the bar in 1859 and set up practice in Cobourg. Kerr served on the town council for Cobourg and was mayor from 1867 to 1873. He married Myra Jane Field, the sister of MPPs John C.

John Collard Field

John Collard Field was an Ontario political figure. He represented Northumberland West in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1879 to 1883 as a Liberal member....

 and Corelli C. Field

Corelli Collard Field

Corelli Collard Field was an Ontario businessman and political figure. He represented Northumberland West in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1886 to 1898 as a Liberal member....

. After his election in 1874, he was unseated on appeal but won the subsequent by-election. He was made a Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

 in 1876. He ran unsuccessfully for the federal seat in 1878 and 1882. Kerr was named to the Senate in 1899 and died in office in 1906 in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

.