Parker, Robert

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Phillip Buckner, “PARKER, ROBERT,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/parker_robert_9E.html
  • DCB profile:
    • Lawyer, politician, and judge; b. 26 June 1796 in Saint John, N.B., eldest son of Robert Parker and Jane Hatch and brother of Neville; d. 24 Nov. 1865 in Saint John.
    • Born into the loyalist and Anglican establishment of New Brunswick, Parker’s rise to prominence was assured, but he was undoubtedly assisted by his marriage in January 1820 to Susan Robinson, niece of John Robinson, mayor of Saint John and a member of the Council. In 1820 Parker became a director and the solicitor of the Bank of New Brunswick, of which Robinson was president. In 1824 he received the lucrative post of recorder of the city of Saint John. In 1826 he was elected by acclamation to the assembly to fill a vacancy in Saint John created by Ward Chipman’s appointment to the bench, and he was returned again in the general election of 1827.
    • Not until the death of another judge, John Murray Bliss*, later in 1834, did Parker become a puisne judge. Carter was to stand in Parker’s way yet again, for when Chipman died in 1851, Carter, whose appointment had preceded Parker’s by only a few months, became chief justice. Finally in 1865 Parker received the highest judicial position in the colony, largely by accident. Carter resigned in 1865 to allow Arthur Hamilton Gordon to offer the post to the leader of the anti-confederate government of New Brunswick, Albert James Smith. Smith declined the appointment and recommended Parker, who is said to have received Smith’s support for having declared that “he would rather vote for a hedgehog than for a supporter of Confederation.” Ironically, the promotion cost Parker £200 a year, since the salary of the chief justice had been reduced prospectively below that of the puisne judges. His appointment was short-lived for he died a few months later.
  • Son of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=6410
  • Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96603322/robert-parker