Robert Spence was a journalist and political figure in Canada West.

He was born in Dublin in 1811 and came to Upper Canada

Upper Canada

The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...

 in 1836. He taught school in Dundas

Dundas, Ontario

Dundas is a formerly independent town and now constituent community in the city of Hamilton in Ontario, Canada. It's nickname is the Valley Town. The population has been stable for decades at about twenty thousand, largely because it has not annexed rural land from the protected Dundas Valley...

. In 1846, he launched a newspaper, the Dundas Warder and Halton County General Advertiser. He helped promote the incorporation of Dundas as a town and served on the town council. In 1858, he was elected warden for the United Counties of Wentworth

Wentworth County, Ontario

Wentworth County, area , is a historic county in the Canadian province of Ontario.It was created in 1816 as part of the Gore District in what was then Upper Canada and later Canada West...

 and Halton

Halton County, Ontario

Halton County is a historic county in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is also one of the oldest counties in Canada.-History:Halton County is named after Major William Mathew Halton who was appointed in 1805 as Secretary to the Upper Canada provincial Lieutenant-Governor Sir Francis...

. In 1854, he was elected to the 5th Parliament of the Province of Canada

5th Parliament of the Province of Canada

The 5th Parliament of the Province of Canada was in session from 1854 to November 1857. Elections were held in the Province of Canada in July 1854. Sessions were held in Quebec City until 1856 and then in Toronto....

 representing Wentworth as an independent. He became Postmaster General

Postmaster General of Canada

The Postmaster General of Canada was the Canadian cabinet minister responsible for the Post Office Department . In 1851, management of the post office was transferred from Britain to the provincial governments of the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward...

 in the government of Allan MacNab

Allan MacNab

Sir Allan Napier MacNab, 1st Baronet was a Canadian political leader and Premier of the Province of Canada before Canadian Confederation .-Biography:...

 and Augustin-Norbert Morin

Augustin-Norbert Morin

Augustin-Norbert Morin was a lawyer, judgeBorn in Saint-Michel, Lower Canada, into a large Roman Catholic farming family, Morin was identified by the parish priest at a young age as a boy of exceptional talent and intelligence. The parish priest therefore arranged for his education at the...

. His acceptance of a cabinet post stirred up resentment among the Clear Grits

Clear Grits

Clear Grits were reformers in the Province of Upper Canada, a British colony that is now the Province of Ontario, Canada. Their support was concentrated among southwestern Ontario farmers, who were frustrated and disillusioned by the 1849 Reform government of Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte...

 and he was not re-elected. He introduced reduced rates for mailing newspapers and other improvements to the postal service. In 1857, he was appointed collector of customs at 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...

.

He died in Toronto in 1868.

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online