Robert Sympson Jameson

Robert Sympson Jameson
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada for Leeds
In office 1834 – 1834?
Preceded by	Matthew Munsel Howard
Succeeded by	Ogle Robert Gowan
Member of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada - Canada West
Personal details
Born	1796 Harbridge, England
Died	August 1, 1854 Toronto, Upper Canada
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Middle Temple

Robert Sympson Jameson (1796 – August 1, 1854) was a lawyer, judge and political figure in Upper Canada.

He was born at Harbridge in the English county of Hampshire in 1796 and educated in Ambleside. He studied law at the Middle Temple and was called to the English bar in 1823. He practiced in London. He married Anna Murphy, a British author, in 1825. In 1829, he was appointed chief justice in the Dominica; his wife remained in Europe. In 1833, he returned to London after refusing the same post in Tobago. He was named chief justice of Upper Canada in the same year and arrived in York (Toronto) in June. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada for Leeds in 1834, but his election was later invalidated after an appeal; it was found that Ogle Robert Gowan's Orange supporters had intimidated voters. His wife finally joined him in 1836 but left him after less than a year. In 1837, he was named vice-chancellor of the Court of Chancery. He was appointed to the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada in 1841 and became its first speaker. He served on the councils for King's College and Trinity College. In 1842, he was named chief superintendent of education. He also was a member of literary clubs in Toronto and helped found the Toronto Society of Arts in 1847. In 1850, he retired from the Court and, in 1853, from the Legislative Council. He died in Toronto in 1854 of tuberculosis.

References

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• "Robert Sympson Jameson". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.