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Peter J. Cashin, the eldest child of Michael and Gertrude (Mullowney) Cashin, was born on March 6, 1890, in Cape Broyle, Newfoundland. First elected to the House of Assembly in 1923 as a Conservative in Ferryland District, by 1928 Cashin had become minister of finance in the Liberal Administration led by Sir Richard Squires. He soon became aware that Squires was irresponsible with public money and resigned from Cabinet and the Liberal party early in 1932 in protest. Cashin did not stand in 1932, the first time since 1893 that no Cashin contested Ferryland. He played no part in Newfoundland’s surrender of self-government in December 1933, but he soon became a prominent and persistent critic of the Commission of Government that replaced it. He opposed Joey Smallwood’s campaign for Confederation with Canada and became the chairman of the Responsible Government League, leading it into the 1948 referendums. After Confederation, Cashin served in the legislature as an independent and as a member of the Progressive Conservative party, before retiring from public life in 1953. Cashin was married to Blanche Fitzpatrick of Placentia, with whom he had two children, Mary and Michael. He died in St. John’s on May 21, 1977.
