Henry Nathan, Jr.

Who was Henry Nathan, Jr.?

Henry Nathan, Jr. was the first Jewish Canadian to be elected to the House of Commons. Born in London, England, Nathan was one of two MPs elected to represent the British Columbia riding of Victoria in the Canadian general election of 1872. They had won by acclamation special byelections held the year before to fill the newly created House of Commons seats upon British Columbia's admission to Confederation. The other representative for Victoria was B.C.'s Father of Confederation, Amor De Cosmos who was simultaneously Premier of that province until 1874. The third-place also-ran was Robert Beaven, who was to become the sixth Premier of British Columbia ten years later.

The son of Henry Nathan, Nathan was educated at the London University School and became a wholesale merchant in Victoria, British Columbia. He represented Victoria City in the assembly of the United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia from 1870 to 1871. Like De Cosmos, Nathan was part of British Columbia's delegation to Ottawa to negotiate the terms of B.C.'s entry into Confederation.

Once in Parliament, Nathan supported the government of Sir John A. Macdonald. This strained his relationship with De Cosmos, who had become a supporter of MacDonald's opponent, Liberal Alexander Mackenzie. As a result, Nathan took to calling de Cosmos "Cupid" in private letters.