David Wark

David Wark, (February 19, 1804 – August 20, 1905) Irish-born, was a prominent Canadian Senator who served nearly 38 years in office.

He represented Kent County in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1843 to 1850. Wark was named to the Legislative Council in 1850 and served until Confederation. He served in the province's Executive Council as a minister without portfolio from 1858 to 1862 and as Receiver General from 1866 to 1867.

Wark was named Senator by a Royal Proclamation in 1867. Known as the "Grand Old Man of the Canadian Senate", Wark served until his death at the age of 101. At the time of his demise, Wark was the longest lived legislator in the world; he was later surpassed by another Canadian Senator, Georges-Casimir Dessaulles, who died in 1930 at the age of 102.

Famous quotes containing the words david wark and/or david:

    We do not fear censorship for we have no wish to offend with improprieties or obscenities, but we do demand, as a right, the liberty to show the dark side of wrong, that we may illuminate the bright side of virtue—the same liberty that is conceded to the art of the written word, that art to which we owe the Bible and the works of Shakespeare.
    —D.W. (David Wark)

    It matters little comparatively whether the fields fill the farmer’s barn. The true husbandman will cease from anxiety, as the squirrels manifest no concern whether the woods will bear chestnuts this year or not, and finish his labor with every day, relinquishing all claim to the produce of his fields, and sacrificing in his mind not only his first but his last fruits also.
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)