Robert Grant Haliburton

Robert Grant Haliburton Q.C., D.C.L. (3 June 1831 – 6 March 1901) was a Canadian lawyer and anthropologist. He became famous after founding the Canada First organization that saw English Canadian society as the "heirs of Aryan northmen" and that the French Canadians were a "bar to progress."[1]

Robert Grant Haliburton
Robert Grant Haliburton 1868
Born
Robert Grant Haliburton

3 June 1831
Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada
Died6 March 1901(1901-03-06) (aged 69)
Pass Christian, Mississippi, US
Alma materUniversity of King's College
OccupationLawyer, Anthropologist
Parent(s)Thomas Chandler Haliburton
Louisa Neville
AwardsQ.C., D.C.L.

Early life

Haliburton was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia. His father was the famous Judge Haliburton who wrote the best selling Clockmaker series about the humorous adventures of the Sam Slick character. Like his father he graduated from University of King's College and was part of the local volunteer militia where he rose to the rank of Lieutenant-colonel. He was a lawyer, called to the bar in 1853.[2]

Canada First and the Aryan North

The Canada First movement was organized in Ottawa in 1868. It was at first supported by Goldwin Smith and Edward Blake. Ontario residents, George Denison, Charles Mair, William Alexander Foster and Robert Grant Haliburton founded the movement.[3] Haliburton and like minded authors that made up the Canada First movement saw that the milder southern climate was said to lead to "degeneration, decay, and effeminacy."[4] The harsher northern climate they argued was said to produce the most Canadian of characteristics, "the inclination to be moderate".[4] The Canada First movement saw the French Canadian and Métis cultures as dead weight that was holding the advancement of English Canada back.[1]

Later life

Ill health required Haliburton to move to warmer climates and he spent his winters in Jamaica. After a lucrative career in law he was able to live off his investments and spent some time as an anthropologist and was instrumental in discovering the "dwarf races" of northern Africa and the Atlas region.[2] A "rover" he died in Pass Christian, Mississippi, United States, on 6 March 1901; he was 69.[5]

Works
  • An Address On The Present Condition...British North America, (1857)
  • Men Of The North And Their Place In History..., (1869)
  • A Sketch Of The Life And Times Of Judge Haliburton, (1897)
  • Voices From The Street

Source:[6]

References
  1. Francis & Jones 2011, p. 61
  2. Chamberlain 1901, pp. 62–63
  3. Vigod 2010
  4. Holman 2009, p. 85
  5. Davies 2005, p. 231
  6. "Author - Robert Grant Haliburton". Author and Book Info.

Further reading
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