William Edward O'Brien was a lawyer, farmer, editor and political figure in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada. He represented Muskoka and Parry Sound

Muskoka and Parry Sound

Muskoka and Parry Sound was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1883 to 1904. It was located in the province of Ontario...

 in the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 from 1882 to 1896 as a Conservative

Conservative Party of Canada (historical)

The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...

 member.

He was born in Thornhill

Thornhill, Ontario

Thornhill is a community in the Greater Toronto Area of Southern Ontario, Canada, located on the northern border of the city of Toronto. Once a municipal village, Thornhill is now a community and postal designation geographically split into two municipalities along Yonge Street, the city of...

, Upper Canada

Upper Canada

The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...

, the son of Edward G. O'Brien, an immigrant from Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, and was educated at Upper Canada College

Upper Canada College

Upper Canada College , located in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is an independent elementary and secondary school for boys between Senior Kindergarten and Grade Twelve, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The secondary school segment is divided into ten houses; eight are...

. In 1864, he married Elizabeth Loring. He was called to the Ontario bar in 1874. O'Brien was an unsuccessful candidate for a seat in the House of Commons in 1878. He was a lieutenant-colonel in the militia and commanded a regiment during the North-West Rebellion

North-West Rebellion

The North-West Rebellion of 1885 was a brief and unsuccessful uprising by the Métis people of the District of Saskatchewan under Louis Riel against the Dominion of Canada...

 of 1885. In 1889, O'Brien introduced a motion in the House of Commons that the Jesuit Estates Act

Jesuit Estates Act

The Jesuit Estates Act was an 1888 law compensating the Society of Jesus for land confiscated in Canada by the British Crown after the suppression of the Society in 1774. When the revived Society returned to Canada in 1842, they began to campaign for the repossession of their allegedly confiscated...

, which had been passed by the Quebec assembly, be struck down by the federal parliament; that motion was defeated. He was defeated when he ran for reelection in 1896.