Robert Irwin (Canadian politician)

Robert Irwin (January 17, 1865 – May 16, 1941) was a merchant and political figure in Nova Scotia, Canada, and father of Robert Grandy and Prescott St. Clair. He represented Shelburne County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1906 to 1925 as a Liberal member. Irwin was the 17th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia from 1937 to 1940.

Robert Irwin
MLA for Shelburne County
In office June 20, 1906 – June 25, 1925 Serving with Moses H. Nickerson, Smith Nickerson, Maurice Nickerson, Frank E. Smith, Ernest Howard Armstrong
Preceded by	Thomas Johnston George A. Cox Thomas Robertson Moses H. Nickerson
Succeeded by	Ernest Reginald Nickerson
Speaker of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly
In office January 31, 1917 – June 25, 1925
Preceded by	James F. Ellis
Succeeded by	Albert Parsons
17th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia
In office April 7, 1937 – May 31, 1940
Monarch	George VI
Governors General	The Lord Tweedsmuir The Earl of Athlone
Premier	Angus Lewis Macdonald
Preceded by	Walter Harold Covert
Succeeded by	Frederick Francis Mathers
Personal details
Born	January 17, 1865 Shelburne, Nova Scotia
Died	May 16, 1941(1941-05-16) (aged 75) Shelburne, Nova Scotia
Political party	Liberal
Residence	Shelburne, Nova Scotia
Occupation	salesman

Life and career

He was born in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, the son of Robert Gore Irwin and Isabel Archer, and was educated there. Irwin worked for fifteen years as a travelling salesman before establishing a lumber and dry goods business at Shelburne. In 1894, he married Mary Prescott McGill. Irwin was speaker for the provincial assembly from 1917 to 1925. He died in Shelburne. His brother Harry Irwin was Hawaii Attorney General and a judge in Hawaii. His brother Fred was a physician and surgeon in Hawaii. They also had a brother named Archer.

References

• Allison, David; Tuck, C.E. (1916). History of Nova Scotia. Vol. III. Halifax: A.W. Bowen & Co. pp. 577–578.
• Marble, Allan E. (1977). Nova Scotians at Home and Abroad: including biographical sketches of over six hundred native born Nova Scotians. Windsor, NS: Lancelot. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-8899-9074-6.