Norman Lubbock Robinson (1890-1951) was a photographer, born in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, known for taking historic photographs of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

's north. The Northwest Territories Archives contains 709 historic photographs he took.

Biography

Robinson served in the

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territory ...

(precursor to the RCMP) when he first moved to Canada. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he served with the

19th Alberta Dragoons The 19th Alberta Dragoons was a cavalry regiment and later an armoured regiment of the Canadian Militia and later the Canadian Army. It was placed on the Supplementary Order of Battle in 1965. In 2006, it was taken off the Supplementary Order of ...

, and then with the British Army, Royal Field Artillery. Robinson was promoted to

2nd Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

, and, according to the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

'', he was mentioned in dispatches, twice. After he returned to Canada, following the war he served as an Inspector with the Soldiers Settlement Board. In the early 1920s he travelled to the

North-West Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

, spending five years working as a trapper, a guide, and later as purser on the steamship '' Mackenzie River''. It was during this five-year period he took the bulk of his historic photos. In 1925 he tried to rejoin the RCMP, but was turned down because he no longer measured up to the eyesight requirements. He then operated a lumber business, in

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...

, until the early 1930s. He married in 1928. Following his work in the timber industry he then became a game warden, a position he held until 1938, when he and his wife spent two years in Ireland. When he died in 1951 he was working for the Unemployment Insurance Commission as an employment claims officer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Norman Lubbock 1890 births 1951 deaths Canadian photographers 19th Alberta Dragoons Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers Irish emigrants to Canada