Article

Hamilton Hartley Killaly

Published Online December 18, 2007

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Hamilton Hartley Killaly, engineer, civil servant (b at Dublin, Ire 1800; d at Picton, Ont 28 Mar 1874). Killaly attended Trinity College, Dublin, and worked as an engineer on canal projects before immigrating to Upper Canada in 1835.

Killaly, Hamilton Hartley

Hamilton Hartley Killaly, engineer, civil servant (b at Dublin, Ire 1800; d at Picton, Ont 28 Mar 1874). Killaly attended Trinity College, Dublin, and worked as an engineer on canal projects before immigrating to Upper Canada in 1835. He worked on the WELLAND CANAL and in 1841 was appointed chairman of the Board of Public Works of the Province of Canada.

Canada was then building CANALS between Lake Erie and Montréal, a program Killaly pursued vigorously and competently. Unfortunately, he was notoriously casual about financial controls and resistant to political restraint, and by 1846 the government had removed him. In 1851, however, he was appointed assistant commissioner of public works. He was soon challenging the chief commissioner, and in 1859 legislative action forced him out. Thereafter, Killaly, responsible for so many public works, worked in various temporary government positions, including a royal commission on fortifications in 1862.