Reprinted from The Newfoundland Rangers
by Darrin McGrath, Robert Smith, Ches Parsons, Norman Crane.
Published by DRC Publishing, 2005. Page 87
Regimental Number 116 – Samuel Drover
Samuel “Sam” Drover was born 1911 in Hodge’s Cove, Trinity Bay. His father was Captain Samuel Drover, his mother Hannah Pond. Sam Jr. was one of nine children.
Sam was not only a Newfoundland Ranger, but was the MHA for White Bay district from 1949-1956, making him one of only two ex-Rangers to be elected representative (the other being Bill Smith #56).
Sam was educated at Hodge’s Cove and worked as a teacher and served as a member of the Newfoundland Constabulary for four years.
In the spring of 1942 he joined the Newfoundland Rangers after being rejected for the RCAF due to a heart murmur. He was now 31 years old. He was posted to detachments in Meadows, Port aux Basques, Lamaline and La Scie.
While stationed In Port aux Basques, Sam helped recover bodies from the sinking of the SS Caribou in October 1942. He was eventually promoted to Corporal. In 1945, he wed Daphne Butler of Port Rexton.
In 1949, Drover was elected to the first House of Assembly after Confederation as the Liberal member for White Bay, his old Ranger territory.
According to the Dictionary of Newfoundland Biography, Drover left the Liberal Party in 1956 and sat as a member of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) Party, the first person to represent that Party in Newfoundland.
Drover was defeated as the CCF candidate in the general election later that year and ran unsuccessfully in several subsequent elections. He returned to teaching and then private business in Hodge’s Cove and passed away in June 2005 at the age of 94 years.
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Special thanks to Phyllis Stringer for providing us with this record. Transcribed by Wanda Garrett, September 2017. The full picture of Samuel is from William and Beatrice Stoyles Album.
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Reprinted from the Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, page 645.
Samuel Drover (1911-2005). Photo taken in 1933.
Politican. Born Hodge’s Cove. Educated Public School, Hodge’s Cove; Memorial University. Samuel Drover taught school in several Newfoundland communities from 1929 to 1938, when he resigned to join the Newfoundland Constabulary. He left the police force in 1942 to enlist in the Royal Air Force but was not successful. He subsequently enlisted in the Newfoundland Ranger Force and served with the force until 1949, when he decided to enter provincial politics. He was elected as the Liberal member from White Bay district to the first House of Assembly after Confederation and was re-elected in 1951. Before the provincial general election of 1956 Drover left the Liberal Party and crossed the floor of the House of Assembly to sit as a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F., later the New Democratic Party), the only time a member of that political party sat in the Newfoundland Legislature. In the 1956 election Drover ran as the C.C.F. candidate in White Bay South but was defeated. He retired from politics and entered into private business in Hodge’s Cove. J.R. Smallwood (1967), Canadian Parliamentary Guide (1953). BGR.
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Transcribed by Wanda Garrett, April 2015. Updated January 2022
These transcriptions may contain human errors. As always, confirm these as you would any other source material.