Henry Nathan Jr. (September 3, 1842 – February 5, 1914) was the first Jewish Canadian to be elected to the House of Commons. Born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

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, Nathan was one of two MPs elected to represent the

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

riding of Victoria in the Canadian general election of 1872. They had won by

acclamation An acclamation is a form of election that does not use a ballot. It derives from the ancient Roman word ''acclamatio'', a kind of ritual greeting and expression of approval towards imperial officials in certain social contexts. Voting Voice vot ...

special byelections held the year before to fill the newly created House of Commons seats upon British Columbia's admission to

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

(in those byelections the riding was named Victoria District). The other representative for Victoria was B.C.'s Father of Confederation, Amor De Cosmos who was simultaneously

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

of that province until 1874. The third-place also-ran was

Robert Beaven Robert Beaven (January 20, 1836 – September 18, 1920), son of James Beaven, was a British Columbia politician and businessman. Beaven moved to British Columbia from Toronto, where he had been educated at Upper Canada College, because of t ...

, who was to become the sixth

Premier of British Columbia Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

ten years later. The son of Henry Nathan, Nathan was educated at the London University School and became a wholesale merchant in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

. He represented Victoria City in the assembly of the

United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

from 1870 to 1871. Like De Cosmos, Nathan was part of British Columbia's delegation to Ottawa to negotiate the terms of B.C.'s entry into Confederation. Once in Parliament, Nathan supported the government of

Sir John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...

. This strained his relationship with De Cosmos, who had become a supporter of MacDonald's opponent, Liberal Alexander Mackenzie. As a result, Nathan took to calling de Cosmos "Cupid" in private letters (de Cosmos' name roughly translates to "Lover of the Universe"). The byelection of 1871 was held to return members from newly admitted British Columbia to the

1st Parliament of Canada The 1st Canadian Parliament was in session from November 6, 1867, until July 8, 1872. The membership was set by the 1867 federal election from August 7 to September 20, 1867. It was prorogued prior to the 1872 election. It was controlled by a ...

that had been elected four years earlier following

. With Nathan joining that Parliament, the multicultural nature of the Canadian nation was firmly established. In 1876, Nathan returned to England. He died in London at the age of 71.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nathan, Henry 1842 births 1914 deaths Canadian people of English-Jewish descent Merchants from London Jewish Canadian politicians Liberal Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia 19th-century English businesspeople 19th-century Canadian Jews