The Honorable Edward Whelan died at his residence, in Charlottetown, on
the tenth of December, 1867, at the comparatively early age of
forty-three. He was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1824, and received
the rudiments of education in his native town. At an early age he
emigrated to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where, shortly after his arrival, he
entered the printing-office of the Honorable Joseph Howe, then a
newspaper publisher in that city. Here he gave such proofs of that great
facility for newspaper writing which distinguished him in after life
that he was occasionally employed to write editorial articles for Mr.
Howe's newspaper during the absence or illness of the latter. At the age
of eighteen he came to Prince Edward Island, which was then ruled by
parties who could scarcely be said to be amenable to public opinion. Mr.
Whelan, ranging himself on the side of the people, threw the weight of
his influence as a journalist into the struggle for popular rights.