The following is a list of lieutenant governors of Ontario and the lieutenant governors of the former colony of Upper Canada. The office of Lieutenant Governor of Ontario was created in 1867, when the Province of Ontario was created upon Confederation.Constitution Act, 1867, s. 58. The predecessor office, lieutenant governor of Upper Canada, was a British colonial officer, appointed by the British government to administer the government of the colony, from 1791 to 1841. (Prior to 1791, the territory which is now Ontario was part of the old Province of Quebec, which was administered by the colonial governors of the Province of Quebec.)

In 1841, the two provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada were abolished and merged into the new Province of Canada, with a single Parliament and Governor General. Upper Canada was known as Canada West, but did not have a separate government or lieutenant governor. It was simply an administrative division of the Province of Canada.

Prior to Confederation, the lieutenant governors of Upper Canada were either British colonial administrators or British Army officers. The first lieutenant governor of Ontario, General Sir Henry William Stisted, was the last British lieutenant governor. From 1868 onwards, only Canadians were appointed to the position.

Lieutenant governors of Upper Canada, 1791–1841 Portrait Name(birth–death) Term of officeMonarchReign Took office Left office1John Graves Simcoe(1752–1806)17911798George III(1760–1820)–Peter Russell(1733–1808)Administrator of the Government179617992Peter Hunter(1746–1805)17991805–Alexander Grant(1734–1813)Administrator of the Government180518063Francis Gore(1769–1852)18061817–Sir Isaac Brock(1769–1812)Acting18111812–Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe1st Baronet(1763–1851)Acting18121813–Sir Francis de RottenburgBaron of Rottenburg(1757–1832)Acting18131813–Sir Gordon Drummond(1772–1854)Acting18131814–Sir George Murray(1772–1846)Acting18151815–Sir Frederick Philipse Robinson(1763–1852)Acting18151815–Samuel Smith(1756–1826)Administrator of the Government181718184Sir Peregrine Maitland(1777–1854)18181828George IV(1820–1830)5Sir John Colborne(1778–1863)18281836William IV(1830–1837)6Sir Francis Bond Head(1778–1863)18361838Victoria(1837–1901)7Sir George Arthur(1778–1863)183818398Charles Poulett Thomson1st Baron Sydenham(1799–1841)18391841

Lieutenant governors of Ontario, 1867–present

Portrait Name(birth–death) Term of officeMonarchReignPremierTenure Took office Left office1Henry William Stisted(1817–1875)1 July186714 July1868Victoria(1837–1901)John Sandfield Macdonald(1867–1871)2William Pearce Howland(1811–1907)15 July186811 November1873Edward Blake(1871–1872)Sir Oliver Mowat(1872–1896)3John Willoughby Crawford(1817–1875)12 November187313 May1875–Sir William Buell Richards(1815–1889)Administrator of the Government13 May187518 May18754Donald Alexander Macdonald(1817–1896)18 May187530 June18805John Beverley Robinson(1821–1896)1 July188031 May18876Sir Alexander Campbell(1822–1892)1 June188724 May1892–John Hawkins Hagarty(1816–1900)Administrator of the Government24 May189230 May18927George Airey Kirkpatrick(1841–1899)30 May18927 November1896Arthur Sturgis Hardy(1896–1899)–Sir Casimir Gzowski(1813–1898)Administrator of the Government{7 November189618 November18978Sir Oliver Mowat(1820–1903)18 November189719 April1903Sir George William Ross(1899–1905)Edward VII(1901–1910)–Sir Charles Moss(1840–1912)Administrator of the Government19 April190321 April19039Sir William Mortimer Clark(1836–1915)21 April190321 September1908Sir James Whitney(1905–1914)10Sir John Morison Gibson(1842–1929)21 September190826 September1914George V(1910–1936)11Sir John Strathearn Hendrie(1857–1923)26 September191420 November1919Sir William Howard Hearst(1914–1919)Ernest Charles Drury(1919–1923)12Lionel Herbert Clarke(1859–1921)20 November191929 August1921–Sir William Ralph Meredith(1840–1923)Administrator of the Government29 August192110 September192113Henry Cockshutt(1868–1944)10 September192112 January1927Howard Ferguson(1923–1930)14William Donald Ross(1869–1947)12 January192725 October1931George Stewart Henry(1930–1934)–Sir William Mulock(1843–1944)Administrator of the Government25 October19311 November193215Herbert Alexander Bruce(1868–1963)1 November193223 November1937Mitchell Hepburn(1934–1942)Edward VIII(1936)George VI(1936–1952)16Albert Edward Matthews(1873–1949)23 November193726 December1946Gordon Daniel Conant(1942–1943)Harry Nixon(1943)George A. Drew(1943–1948)17Ray Lawson(1886–1980)26 December194618 February1952Thomas Laird Kennedy(1948–1949)Leslie Frost(1949–1961)Elizabeth II(1952–2022)18Louis Orville Breithaupt(1890–1960)18 February195230 December195719John Keiller MacKay(1880–1970)30 December19571 May1963John Robarts(1961–1971)20William Earl Rowe(1894–1984)1 May19634 July196821William Ross Macdonald(1891–1976)4 July196810 April1974Bill Davis(1971–1985)22Pauline Mills McGibbon(1910–2001)10 April197415 September198023John Black Aird(1923–1995)15 September198020 September1985Frank Miller(1985)David Peterson(1985–1990)24Lincoln Alexander(1922–2012)20 September198510 December1991Bob Rae(1990–1995)25Hal Jackman(born 1932)11 December199124 January1997Mike Harris(1995–2002)26Hilary Weston(1942–2025)24 January19977 March200227James Bartleman(1939–2023)7 March20025 September2007Ernie Eves(2002–2003)Dalton McGuinty(2003–2013)28David Onley(1950–2023)5 September200723 September2014Kathleen Wynne(2013–2018)29Elizabeth Dowdeswell(born 1944)23 September201414 November2023Doug Ford(since 2018)Charles III(since 2022)30Edith Dumont(born 1964)14 November2023Source:

See also Office-holders of Canada Canadian incumbents by year

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