Robert Alexander Harrison Explained

Robert Alexander Harrison
Constituency Mp:West Toronto
Parliament:Canada
Successor:John Willoughby Crawford
Term Start:November 6, 1867
Term End:July 8, 1872
Birth Date:3 August 1833
Birth Place:Montreal, Lower Canada
Death Place:Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality:Canadian
Party:Conservative

Robert Alexander Harrison, (August 3, 1833  - November 1, 1878) was an Ontario lawyer, judge and political figure. He represented West Toronto in the 1st Canadian Parliament as a Conservative member.

Early life

Harrison was born in Montreal, Lower Canada in 1833, the son of Irish immigrants. The family moved to Markham Township and then Toronto. Harrison studied at Upper Canada College and Trinity College, Toronto. 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. He served on Toronto city council in 1867 and 1868. He was also a director of the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway. 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.[1] 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 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.[2]

References

Notes and References

  1. Mary S. Wilson, Rootsweb.
  2. Book: Morgan . Henry James . Henry James Morgan . Types of Canadian Women and of Women who are or have been Connected with Canada . Toronto . Williams Briggs . 1903 . 151.