Robert Wallace was a Canadian

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...

 Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

. He represented the Vancouver Island riding

Vancouver Island (electoral district)

Vancouver Island was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1871 to 1874. It was created when the province of British Columbia joined Confederation in 1871....

 in British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 during the finals months of the 1st Canadian Parliament

1st Canadian Parliament

The 1st Canadian Parliament was in session from November 6, 1867 until July 8, 1872. The membership was set by the 1867 federal election from August 7 to September 20, 1867, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was prorogued prior to the 1872 election.It was...

 from 15 December 1871 until 8 July 1872 as part of the Conservative

Conservative Party of Canada (historical)

The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...

 party.

The son of Robert Wallace and Margaret Stewart, he was educated in Glasgow and later came to Canada. In 1843, he married Jean Cameron. Wallace was a commission merchant in Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

. He was president of the convention of delegates to the "Confederation League" held in Yale, British Columbia

Yale, British Columbia

Yale is an unincorporated town in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was founded in 1848 by the Hudson's Bay Company as Fort Yale by Ovid Allard, the appointed manager of the new post, who named it after his superior, James Murray Yale, then Chief Factor of the Columbia District...

 in 1868 which had the aim of speeding up the entry of British Columbia into 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...

. Wallace also served as a member of the city council for Victoria from 1863 to 1864. He did not run for reelection to the House of Commons in 1872. In 1887, Wallace returned to Scotland.

Research by employees of the Public Archives of Canada and the Library of Parliament found no record of his death.

External links

• Electric Scotland: "The Scot in British North America, Chapter VII British Columbia" (includes one paragraph about Robert Wallace)