Robert Alexander Harrison, (August 3, 1833 – November 1, 1878) was an

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

lawyer, judge and political figure. He represented

West Toronto West Toronto was a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1904. It was located in the city of Toronto, in the provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. T ...

in the

1st Canadian Parliament 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 ...

as a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

member.

Early life

Harrison was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

in 1833, the son of

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

immigrants. The family moved to Markham Township and then

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. Harrison studied at

Upper Canada College Upper Canada College (UCC) is an elite, all-boys, private school in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as the country's most prestigious preparatory school, and has produce ...

and

Trinity College, Toronto Trinity College (occasionally referred to as The University of Trinity College) is a college federated with the University of Toronto, founded in 1851 by Bishop John Strachan. Strachan originally intended Trinity as a university of strong Angl ...

. He studied law and was called to the bar in 1855.

Career

He served as chief clerk of the Crown Law Department from 1854 to 1859; and then entered private practice. In 1867, Harrison was named

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

. He served on Toronto city council in 1867 and 1868. He was also a director of the

Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway The Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway (TG&B) was a railway company which operated in Ontario, Canada in the years immediately following the Canadian Confederation of 1867. It connected two rural counties, Grey County and Bruce County, with the provi ...

. In 1875, he was named chief justice for the Court of Queen's Bench of Ontario. Harrison contributed articles to several legal journals and newspapers, serving for a time as joint editor for the Upper Canada Law Journal. He was one of the arbitrators involved in establishing the western boundary for the province of Ontario.

Death

Harrison died in Toronto in 1878, at the age of 45.

Family

On 2 June 1859 Alexander first married Anna Eliza Muckle. In Toronto, Ontario, on 11 August 1864, they had their daughter, Anna. On 26 March 1866, wife Anna died. In 1868 Robert remarried. The second wife of Hon. Robert A. Harrison, U.C.L., Chief Justice of Ontario, was Kennithina Johana Mackay, daughter of Hugh Scobie, editor of the

British Colonist The ''Times Colonist'' is an English-language daily newspaper in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was formed by the Sept. 2, 1980 merger of the ''Victoria Daily Times'', established in 1884, and the ''British Colonist'' (later the ''Daily C ...

. The couple had one daughter, Justine A. Harrison, who was born in Toronto, and educated, mainly, abroad. While living at Dresden she studied Dresden decoration under Lamm, Ley Kauf and Mrs. Wagner.

References

*
''The Canadian portrait gallery''
JC Dent (1881)
''The lives of the judges of Upper Canada and Ontario...'', DB Read (1888)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Robert Alexander 1833 births 1878 deaths Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Justices of the Court of Appeal for Ontario Trinity College (Canada) alumni University of Toronto alumni Canadian King's Counsel