William Manson was a Scottish

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...

-born accountant, notary public

Notary public

A notary public in the common law world is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with estates, deeds, powers-of-attorney, and foreign and international business...

 and political figure in British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada. He represented Alberni

Alberni (electoral district)

Alberni was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It originally appeared in the British Columbia general election, 1890 and then, after being merged into Cowichan-Alberni for the 1894 election, was renamed Alberni riding in the election of 1898. The riding...

 from 1906 to 1907 and Skeena

Skeena (electoral district)

Skeena was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1917 to 2004.-Geography:This was a rural, mostly wilderness, riding in northwestern B.C...

 from 1909 to 1915 in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is one of two components of the Parliament of British Columbia, the provincial parliament ....

 as a Conservative

British Columbia Conservative Party

The British Columbia Conservative Party is a political party in British Columbia, Canada. First elected as the government in 1903, the party went into decline after 1933...

.

He was born in the Shetland Islands

Shetland Islands

Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...

, the son of William Manson, and was educated there. Manson came to British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 in 1887, where he was employed as a clerk in a general store in Comox

Comox, British Columbia

Comox is a town of 12,000 people located on a small peninsula in the Georgia Strait on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The warm dry summers, mild winters, fertile soil and abundant sea life attracted First Nations thousands of years ago, who called the area kw’umuxws...

. In 1893, he married Sarah Louise Bennett. He served as a school trustee and a member of the town council for Nanaimo

Nanaimo, British Columbia

Nanaimo is a city on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It has been dubbed the "Bathtub Racing Capital of the World" and "Harbour City". Nanaimo is also sometimes referred to as the "Hub City" because of its central location on Vancouver Island and due to the layout of the downtown...

, serving as the town's mayor from 1901 to 1904.. Manson was elected to the assembly in a 1906 by-election held after William Wallace Burns McInnes

William Wallace Burns McInnes

William Wallace Burns McInnes was a Canadian politician, lawyer and served as the Yukon's fifth Commissioner....

 was named Commissioner of the Yukon. He was a member of the province's Executive Council from 1906 to 1907, serving as Provincial Secretary and Minister of Education. He was defeated by Harlan Carey Brewster

Harlan Carey Brewster

Harlan Carey Brewster was a politician in British Columbia, Canada. Brewster arrived in British Columbia in 1893, and had various careers working on a ship and then in a cannery. He eventually became owner of his own canning company...

when he ran for reelection to the assembly in 1907.