Robert Smith (Ontario politician)

Robert Smith (April 11, 1819 – September 19, 1900) was a Canadian politician and farmer.

Robert Smith
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Peel
In office
1872–1878
Preceded byJohn Hillyard Cameron
Succeeded byWilliam Elliott
Personal details
Born(1819-04-11)April 11, 1819
County Armagh, Ireland
DiedSeptember 19, 1900(1900-09-19) (aged 81)
Brampton, Ontario
Political partyLiberal

Born in County Armagh, Ireland, Smith immigrated to British North America with his family in 1828[1] and settled in the Home District of Canada West, which was to become the County of Peel in Ontario, where he became a farmer. In 1847, he married Eliza Jane McCandless.[1] Smith served on the councils for Chinguacousy Township and Peel County.[2] He was an unsuccessful candidate for a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1867.[1] Smith was narrowly elected to the 2nd Canadian Parliament in the 1872 federal election defeating the Conservative incumbent, John Hillyard Cameron, by 16 votes.[3] He sat as a Liberal representing the riding of Peel and was re-elected in the 1874 election that brought the Liberal Party to power but defeated in the 1878 election that returned a Conservative government.[4] Smith died in Brampton at the age of 81.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b c CH Mackintosh, ed. (1878). The Canadian Parliamentary Companion and Annual Register. Ottawa: Citizen Print. and Pub. Company. p. 175.
  2. ^ Municipal Experience, Parliamentary biography
  3. ^ Peel electoral results
  4. ^ Parliamentary biography
  5. ^ Johnson, J.K. (1968). The Canadian Directory of Parliament 1867-1967. Public Archives of Canada.
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