Background
He was born in Wexford and came to Nova Scotia with his parents in the late 1830s.
politician Member of the Senate of Canada
He was born in Wexford and came to Nova Scotia with his parents in the late 1830s.
Howlan was educated in Charlottetown and was hired as a clerk in a store there in 1850.
He represented 1st Prince in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island from 1863 to 1873 as a Liberal member. He represented Alberton division in the Senate of Canada from 1873 to 1894 and was the province"s sixth Lieutenant Governor from 1894 to 1899. They settled in Prince Edward Island in 1839.
He moved to Cascumpec (later Alberton), first working for a Boston merchant there and then setting up his own business.
Howlan was named to the Executive Council in 1867, serving until 1873. Howlan initially opposed Confederation, believing that the island would have little say.
However, he supported railway building in the province and the resulting debt load forced the island to reconsider union with Canada. In 1873, he was named customs collector at Charlottetown.
In 1873, Howlan ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the House of Commons but was named to the Senate that same year.
Howlan resigned from his seat in the Senate in 1891 to run unsuccessfully for a seat in the House of Commons but was appointed again to the Senate later that year. Also in 1891, he went to England as a representative of the province to discuss with engineers there the feasibility of a tunnel connecting the island to the mainland. Howlan died in Charlottetown in 1901.
