Robert Brown Somerville was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

-born merchant and political figure in Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

. He represented Huntingdon

Huntingdon (electoral district)

Huntingdon was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1917.It was created by the British North America Act of 1867...

 in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada

Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada

The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the legislature for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known as Canada West and later the...

 from 1854 to 1866.

He was born in Athelstaneford

Athelstaneford

Athelstaneford is a village in East Lothian, Scotland. It is close to the town of Haddington and lies approximately 20 miles east of Edinburgh. The village is also known locally as Elshingford....

, son of Andrew Somerville, a landowner in East Lothian

East Lothian

East Lothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy Area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Scottish Borders and Midlothian. Its administrative centre is Haddington, although its largest town is Musselburgh....

, and was educated in Haddington

Haddington, East Lothian

The Royal Burgh of Haddington is a town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is the main administrative, cultural and geographical centre for East Lothian, which was known officially as Haddingtonshire before 1921. It lies about east of Edinburgh. The name Haddington is Anglo-Saxon, dating from the 6th...

. Somerville came to Lower Canada

Lower Canada

The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...

 in 1833 and settled at Athelstan, where he operated mills and a tannery

Tanning

Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...

. He was a school commissioner, justice of the peace

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 and commissioner for the Trial of Small Causes. He commanded a volunteer unit during the Lower Canada Rebellion

Lower Canada Rebellion

The Lower Canada Rebellion , commonly referred to as the Patriots' War by Quebeckers, is the name given to the armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada and the British colonial power of that province...

 and reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the local militia. He was mayor of Huntingdon

Huntingdon, Quebec

Huntingdon is a small town in Huntingdon County in the Haut-Saint-Laurent Regional County Municipality and the Montérégie region of the province of Quebec, Canada. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 2,587...

 and served on the councils for Hinchinbrook and Godmanchester counties. In 1840, he married Mary Susan Macnider. Somerville supported Confederation

Canadian Confederation

Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...

.