# 1861 in Canada

Events from the year 1861 in Canada.

## Incumbents

* Monarch — Victoria

### Federal government

* Parliament — 6th then 7th

### Governors

* Governor General of the Province of Canada — Edmund Walker Head
* Colonial Governor of Newfoundland — Alexander Bannerman
* Governor of New Brunswick — Arthur Charles Hamilton-Gordon
* Governor of Nova Scotia — George Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby
* Governor of Prince Edward Island — Dominick Daly

### Premiers

* Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada —
** George-Étienne Cartier, Canada West Premier
** Antoine-Aimé Dorion, Canada East Premier
* Premier of Newfoundland — Hugh Hoyles
* Premier of New Brunswick — Samuel Leonard Tilley
* Premier of Nova Scotia — James William Johnston
* Premier of Prince Edward Island — Edward Palmer

## Events

* April 12 – The American Civil War starts
* April 14 – A major flood hits Montreal
* April 15 – Nova Scotia: resolution for provincial union by Joseph Howe for referral to the other British North American provinces in July.
* May 13 – The UK declares its neutrality in American Civil War.
* June 1 – The UK bans naval craft or privateers of American belligerents from carrying prizes into British ports or territorial waters.
* November 8 – The Trent Affair: British packet steamer Trent stopped by United States warship in international waters. Two Confederate diplomats taken off and imprisoned in Boston.
* November 28 – Viscount Monck becomes Governor-General.
* December 3 – The UK sends reinforcements to British North America.
* December 23 – The UK demands release of Confederate diplomats taken from Trent.
* December 26 – Confederate diplomats taken from Trent released.

### Full date unknown

* Joseph Howe became Premier of Nova Scotia
* Dr. Anderson Ruffin Abbott becomes the first Canadian-born Black to graduate from medical school.
* 1861 Newfoundland general election
* The Cariboo Gold Rush starts in British Columbia.

## Births
### January to June

* January 15 – Joseph-Mathias Tellier, politician (died 1952)
* March 10 – Pauline Johnson, poet, writer and performer (died 1913)
* March 10 – Clifford Sifton, politician and Minister (died 1929)
* March 19 – Lomer Gouin, politician and 13th Premier of Quebec (died 1929)
* March 20 – Herménégilde Boulay, politician (died 1942)
* May 13 – Margaret Marshall Saunders, writer
* April 15 – Bliss Carman, poet (died 1929)
* June 7 – George Henry Murray, politician and Premier of Nova Scotia (died 1929)

### July to December

* July 11 – John Best, politician (died 1923)
* September 5 – Tobias Norris, politician and 10th Premier of Manitoba (died 1936)
* September 18 – Ella Cora Hind, journalist and women's rights activist (died 1942)
* September 19 – Charles Ernest Gault, politician (died 1946)
* October 31 – James Bowman, politician (died 1940)
* November 4 – Raoul Dandurand, politician (died 1942)
* November 6 – James Naismith, sports coach and innovator, inventor of basketball (died 1939)
* November 17 – Archibald Lampman, poet (died 1899)
* November 26 – Laura Borden, wife of Robert Borden, 8th Prime Minister of Canada (died 1940)
* December 22 – Sara Jeannette Duncan, author and journalist (died 1922)

## Deaths

* February 3 – Louis-Théodore Besserer, notary, soldier, politician, and businessman (born 1785)
* February 13 – Denis-Benjamin Viger, politician, businessman and politician (born 1774)
* November 9 – Howard Douglas, soldier, educator, author, inventor, and colonial administrator (born 1776)