Born in Ireland in 1824, Edward Whalen emigrated to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1831. After an apprenticeship in Joseph Howe's Printing Office, he left in 1842 to direct the "Register". Arriving in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, in 1843, he started the "Palladium" newspaper in which he advocated local reform. At the age of 22 he entered politics, winning a seat as Assemblyman for St. Peters in King's County. In August of 1847 he began to publish the "Examiner" in which, with biting wit and brilliant writing he explained and defended the major reforms of the Liberal Government. As a proponent of reform he had been named to the first Executive Council under responsible government in 1851 and had also been made Queen's Printer. Alone among the Liberals he supported Confederation and was a delegate to the Quebec Conference. By the mid 1860s he had cut himself off from the more radical demands of the Tenant League and had become committed to reform by parliamentary means. Although he and his running mate William Ewen Clark won their seats in the election of 1867, they were forced to resign and run again in a by-election as they had been named Queen's Printer and Collector of Excise and Inpost respectively. Although he had won every election in the previous 21 years, Whelan was defeated in the by-election by Edward Reilly, editor of the "Charlottetown Herald". Clark also suffered defeat at the hands of Anthony MacCormack. Whelan died on 10 December 1867.