Sir Robert Thorburn (March 28, 1836 – April 12, 1906) was a British-born

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

merchant and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who served as the

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

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 ...

from 1885 to 1889.

Life

Born in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, Thorburn emigrated to Newfoundland in 1852 when he was sixteen. From 1870 to 1885 and again from 1893 to 1906 he was a member of the colony's appointed Legislative Council, the

Upper House An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...

of Newfoundland's

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. Thorburn was an opponent of Sir William Whiteway's plans to build a cross-Newfoundland

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

as a means of diversifying and industrialising the economy. Thorburn, a leading merchant, argued that the colony should be developed along strict commercial lines based on the fisheries. Traditionally, Newfoundland politics had been divided along sectarian lines with

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

supporting the Liberals and

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

supporting the

Conservative Party of Newfoundland The Conservative Party of Newfoundland was a political party in the Dominion of Newfoundland prior to confederation with Canada in 1949. The party was formed by members and supporters of the establishment around 1832. In the 1840s they opposed ...

. Whiteway, however, who had been elected as a Conservative with the support of Protestants had lost the support of much of the business community with his support of the railway over the fishery and reached out to the Catholic Liberals In order to stay in power creating a cross denominational coalition. Thorburn created the ''New Party'' to represent the interest of St. John's businessmen. The Harbour Grace Affray, an 1883 sectarian melee between Irish Catholics of Riverhead and the Southside of Harbour Grace who confronted a parade of Orangemen. The resulting battle killed five and wounded seventeen. The riot strained relations between Catholics and Protestants and led to the collapse of Whiteway's government when Protestants deserted it. The religious violence gave Thorburn an opportunity. He joined with Orangemen and Protestants who had deserted Whiteway's government in the wake of the riot to create a new party, the ''Reform Party'' as a ''Protestant Rights'' organization and swept to power in the 1885 election making Thorburn the new premier. In power, Thorburn's government turned away from the sectarian agenda that had brought it to power and implemented Thorburn's real agenda, the rejection of the railway plan and focussing on developing the economy along the fishers. An economic downturn was exacerbated by the colony's one industry economy forcing Thorburn to belatedly reverse himself and implement a public works agenda. It was too late, however, and Thorburn was defeated in 1889 by Whiteway and his new Liberal Party which had been created to promote the railway plan. The Reform Party collapsed and a new

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. Th ...

Party emerged from its ashes but was only able to hold power twice for brief periods before disappearing.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorburn, Robert 1836 births 1906 deaths Premiers of Newfoundland Colony Members of the Legislative Council of Newfoundland