Newfoundland Premiers versus Prime Ministers

Question

Working on Augustus Goodridge's profile, adding sources and such.  One of his relatives added in his spouse and children.  That person thinks that the use of the word Premier is incorrect and should be Prime Minister.  I know nothing about this and told him I'd ask you folks.  Here is the paragraph he sent:

I note there is an apparent error in the Canada project and Wikipedia entry for Augustus Goodridge.  It is stated that he was the 10th Premier of Newfoundland.  This is incorrect, as prior to 1949 Newfoundland was an independent crown colony, and according to the records he was the 10th Prime Minister, not Premier, for a period in 1894.  The first Premier of Newfoundland was Joey Smallwood, who became Premier after Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949.

So, what should it be, Premier or Prime Minister?

Comments

I feel like you've got a lot of the necessary structure there already Bob. In fact, it looks great.

As Dave suggests, I support renaming the category "Dominion of Newfoundland, Premiers" to "Dominion of Newfoundland, Prime Ministers". As Cliff suggests, I support adding Basque/French/whatever government officials if it becomes necessary, in their own dedicated categorical structure.

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Thanks, Brad.  I have changed the Dominion 'Premiers' to 'Prime Ministers'.

Answer 1

I think Augustus is styled correctly. He was Premier of the colony of Newfoundland. Leaders of the government were Premiers as they were with all other Canadian British colonies.

There were however Prime Ministers of Newfoundland for a while. The Imperial Conference of 1907 (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1907_Imperial_Conference) created the Dominion of Newfoundland. We should change the title for the leaders of the Dominion of Newfoundland to Prime Minister.

But Goodridge was a Premier.

Answer 2

Here is a list of the Prime Ministers and Premiers of Newfoundland Newfoundland%20Prime%20Ministers%20and%20Premiers.htm  There is a link to a biography section for Augustus Goodridge.

Answer 3

Historically the administrators of Newfoundland were a mixed bag including French, English & probably Basque as well. In the early years there were Admirals assigned in positions of power & then Governors (originally fishing Captains as well) but once there was an official Colonial government in place it was modeled the British format with "Prime Ministers" being chosen or elected as being the official leaders.

It was not until Canada joined Newfoundland that the leader of the province was given the title "Premier". So to be clear - Augustus Goodridge was the Prime Minister of Newfoundland.

Comments

I must respectfully disagree Cliff. Colonial governments were led by a Premier, not a Prime Minister. It was not until Newfoundland ceased to be a colony and became a Dominion in 1907 that the government leader was called Prime Minister.

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Hi; I just had another quick look at this issue & it seems that you may be correct as it seems that under "Responsible Government" during the period from 1855 to 1907 the title most commonly used was indeed "Premier". This changed to Prime Minister after this time until 1949 when it again became "Premier" after Confederation. In various historical records Mr. Goodridge is listed under both titles but it would seem that "Premier Goodridge" would be correct. Always something to learn!