Hastings County Archives HC01477 (21326313568)

George Benjamin (15 April 1799 – 7 September 1864), born Moses Cohen, was an Orangeman and political figure in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...

Background and early career

Born in Sussex,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to a Jewish family, he worked for a time as a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

before emigrating to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In 1834, he arrived in Belleville, Upper Canada, where he established a

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

newspaper, named '' The Belleville Intelligencer''.

Orange Order activities

He became a Captain in the local militia and a member of the Orange Order in later years. He helped finance the building of a plank road between Belleville and Camden. He served as warden for

Hastings County Hastings County is located in the province of Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it is located on the border of Eastern Ontario and Central Ontario. Hastings County is the second-largest county in Ontario, after Renfrew County, and its county ...

from 1847 to 1862. Though he was

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish, in 1836 he became grand master in

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English overseas possessions, English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland (island), Newfound ...

for the Orange Order, replacing

Ogle Robert Gowan Ogle Robert Gowan (July 13, 1803 – August 21, 1876) was a farmer, Orangeman, journalist and political figure in Upper Canada and Canada West. He was born in County Wexford, Ireland in 1803, the son of Hunter Gowan, an Orangeman and small ...

. At this time, the Orange Order had a strong voice in Upper Canada. Gowan's attempt to regain control of the Order in 1853 led to a split in the organization which was only healed in 1856 when both he and Benjamin withdrew from the leadership. Benjamin had many political enemies and was the subject of a harsh caricature in Susanna Moodie's 1843 short story "Richard Redpath".

Elected to Parliament

In an 1856 by-election, he was elected to represent North

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

in the Legislative Assembly, becoming the first Jew elected to a Canadian parliament. He was re-elected in 1857.

Death

Benjamin died in Belleville in 1864 after a prolonged illness.

References

Brian Busby Brian John Busby (born August 29, 1962) is a Canadian literary historian and anthologist. Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, he attended John Abbott College and Concordia University. Busby began his writing career writing daytime soap operas a ...

, ''Character Parts: Who's Really Who in CanLit'', Toronto: Knopf Canada, 2003. p. 148-150.

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin, George 1799 births 1864 deaths English emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario Benjamin, Geo Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada West Benjamin, Geo Politicians from Belleville, Ontario Jewish Canadian politicians 19th-century Canadian Jews