Robert Cunningham was a Canadian journalist and Member of Parliament

3rd Canadian Parliament

The 3rd Canadian Parliament was in session from March 26, 1874 until August 17, 1878. The membership was set by the 1874 federal election on January 22, 1874, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was dissolved prior to the 1878 election.It was controlled by a...

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Cunningham was born in Stewarton

Stewarton

Stewarton is a town in East Ayrshire, Scotland. In comparison to the neighbouring towns of Kilmaurs, Fenwick, Dunlop and Lugton, it is a relatively large town, with a population of over 6,500. It is 300 feet above sea level.Groome, Francis H. . Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland. Pub. Caxton. London....

, Scotland. He studied at Glasgow College

Trinity College, Glasgow

Trinity College, Glasgow, Scotland, is the Church of Scotland's College at the University of Glasgow. It provides special supervision of candidates for the ministry through a Principal and a College Council...

 and the University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

. Cunningham moved to Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 in 1868 where he began work as a journalist. Cunningham served as a correspondent, covering the Red River Rebellion

Red River Rebellion

The Red River Rebellion or Red River Resistance was the sequence of events related to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by the Métis leader Louis Riel and his followers at the Red River Settlement, in what is now the Canadian province of Manitoba.The Rebellion was the first crisis...

for the Toronto Globe

The Globe and Mail

The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...

 and Toronto Telegraph. Cunningham chose to stay in the new province

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

 and co-founded his own newspaper, The Manitoban.

Cunningham and the newspaper were strong supporters of Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 causes. He formed close relationships with Métis

Métis people (Canada)

The Métis are one of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who trace their descent to mixed First Nations parentage. The term was historically a catch-all describing the offspring of any such union, but within generations the culture syncretised into what is today a distinct aboriginal group, with...

 and francophone community leaders notably Joseph Dubuc and Louis Riel

Louis Riel

Louis David Riel was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political and spiritual leader of the Métis people of the Canadian prairies. He led two resistance movements against the Canadian government and its first post-Confederation Prime Minister, Sir John A....

. Cunningham’s political allies urged him to run for Parliament 1872 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1872

The Canadian federal election of 1872 was held from July 20 to October 12, 1872, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 2nd Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Sir John A...

. Cunningham was elected as a Liberal in the Marquette riding, defeating future Premier John Norquay

John Norquay

John Norquay was the Premier of Manitoba from 1878 to 1887. He was born near St. Andrews in what was then the Red River Colony, making him the first Premier of Manitoba to have been born in the region....

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While in Parliament, Cunningham was a strong supporter of the Métis community. He supported a general amnesty for those involved in the Red River Rebellion as well as land reforms for Métis. Cunningham acted independently of his party in other matters as well. Prime Minister Macdonald

John A. Macdonald

Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...

 noticed Cunningham’s independent record and asked him to join the government caucus in 1873. Cunningham however stayed a Liberal and was re-elected in the following general election

Canadian federal election, 1874

The Canadian federal election of 1874 was held on January 22, 1874, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 3rd Parliament of Canada. Sir John A...

. Cunningham was appointed as a member of the interim executive of the North-West Territories

Temporary North-West Council

The Temporary North-West Council more formally known as the Council of the Northwest Territories and by its short name as the North-West Council lasted from the creation of Northwest Territories, Canada, in 1870 until it was dissolved in 1876...

 but died in Minnesota, while en-route to take up his new position.

Following his death, Cunningham's opponent from the general election, Liberal Joseph Ryan, was declared to be the MP for the riding upon review. Ryan only narrowly defeated the deceased Cunningham in a subsequent by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

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