Robert Jacob (December 5, 1879 – 1944) was a politician in

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

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. He served in the

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (french: Assemblée législative du Manitoba) is the deliberative assembly of the Manitoba Legislature in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly at provincial gener ...

as a

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from 1918 to 1920, and again from 1922 to 1927. Jacob was briefly a

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

in the government of

Tobias Norris Tobias Crawford Norris (September 5, 1861 – October 29, 1936) was a Canadian politician who served as the tenth premier of Manitoba from 1915 to 1922. Norris was a member of the Liberal Party.J. M. Bumsted"Tobias Crawford Norris" ''The Cana ...

. Jacob was born at

Baltonsborough Baltonsborough is a village and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. According to the 2011 census the parish had a population of 864. As well as Baltonsborough village, the parish contains the hamlets of Ham Street, Catsham ...

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. He came to Canada as a farm worker in 1893, and was educated at public schools in

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. He later attended law school in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, and opened a private practice in the city after graduating in 1906. He was a member of the

Winnipeg School Board The Winnipeg School Division is a school division in Winnipeg, Manitoba. With 78 schools, it is the largest of six public school divisions in Winnipeg, as well as the largest and oldest school division in Manitoba. Its schools collectively te ...

, and served as chair of the Mothers' Allowance Commission for a time. He was awarded life membership of the Manitoba Curling Association. Jacob was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

, held on January 15, 1918 in the

Winnipeg North Winnipeg North (french: Winnipeg-Nord) is a federal electoral district in Canada that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1917. It covers the northern portion of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Geography The riding includes the ne ...

"B" constituency following the resignation of

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Richard Rigg. Jacob ran as a "Union" Liberal supporting federal

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Robert Borden Sir Robert Laird Borden (June 26, 1854 – June 10, 1937) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920. He is best known for his leadership of Canada during World War I. Borde ...

's wartime

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, and received support from Winnipeg's

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organization. He defeated independent candidate E.R. Levinson by about 700 votes. After serving as a government backbencher for two years, Jacob sought re-election as a Liberal in the 1920 provincial election. Prior to this campaign, the three two-member constituencies in Winnipeg had been amalgamated into a ten-member district, with members elected by

Single transferable voting Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...

. Jacob finished fourteenth on the first count, and was eliminated after the thirty-first count. At the provincial level, Norris's Liberals were reduced to an unstable

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...

. They governed the province with difficulty for two years, and were defeated in the legislature in 1922. Jacob was chosen to lead the Liberal campaign in Winnipeg for the 1922 provincial election, and as such was named to cabinet as

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on June 6, 1922. He was easily returned to the legislature, placing second in the city and winning election on the first count. The Liberal Party was defeated provincially, however, as the

United Farmers of Manitoba The Progressive Party of Manitoba, Canada, was a political party that developed from the United Farmers of Manitoba (UFM), an agrarian movement that became politically active following World War I. See also * List of political parties in Canada ...

won most seats in rural areas. The Norris administration, including Jacob, resigned from office on August 8. He served as an opposition member for the next five years, and did not seek re-election in the 1927 campaign.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob, Robert 1879 births 1944 deaths People from Mendip District Manitoba Liberal Party MLAs Members of the Executive Council of Manitoba