Charles Dalton

Who was Charles Dalton?

Sir Charles Dalton was a Prince Edward Island businessman, politician and philanthropist.

Charles Dalton was born at Tignish, Prince Edward Island, the son of Patrick Dalton and Margaret McCarthy. He first worked as a farmer and then a druggist. He married Anne Gavin in 1874.

Dalton earned his fortune through silver fox breeding, in the process making the island the centre of the world's trade in the fur-bearing animal. He Dalton used his fortune to purchase the Charlottetown Guardian newspaper. He served as a Conservative provincial cabinet minister and then the 13th Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island from 1930 until his death in 1933.

During World War I, he donated a motor ambulance to the Canadian government. He also built a school in his home town of Tignish. In 1916, he was named a Knight Commander in the Order of St. Gregory the Great

Dalton became devoted to the fight against tuberculosis after losing a daughter to the disease, donating funds to allow for the construction of a sanatorium on the island which was named in his honour.