Robert Thorburn

Who was Robert Thorburn?

Sir Robert Thorburn was a Newfoundland merchant and politician who served as the colony's Premier from 1885 to 1889.

Born in Scotland, Thorburn emigrated to Newfoundland in 1852 when he was sixteen. From 1870 to 1885 and again from 1893 to 1906 he was a member of the colony's appointed Legislative Council, the Upper House of Newfoundland's parliament.

Thorburn was an opponent of Sir William Whiteway's plans to build a cross-Newfoundland railway as a means of diversifying and industrialising the economy. Thorburn, a leading merchant, argued that the colony should be developed along strict commercial lines based on the fisheries.

Traditionally, Newfoundland politics had been divided along sectarian lines with Catholics supporting the Liberals and Protestants supporting the Conservative Party of Newfoundland. Whiteway, however, who had been elected as a Conservative with the support of Protestants had lost the support of much of the business community with his support of the railway over the fishery and reached out to the Catholic Liberals In order to stay in power creating a cross denominational coalition.

Thorburn created the New Party to represent the interest of St.