View source for Henry Nathan Jr.

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = 
| name             = Henry Nathan Jr.
| honorific-suffix = 
| image            = HenryNathan.png
| office           = [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Victoria (British Columbia federal electoral district)|Victoria]]<br />''[[Victoria District]] (1871–1872)''
| term_start       = 1871
| term_end         = 1874
| alongside        = [[Amor De Cosmos]]
| predecessor      = None
| successor       = [[Francis James Roscoe]]
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1842|9|3}}
| birth_place      = London, England
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1914|2|5|1842|9|3}}
| death_place      = London, England
| nationality      = 
| spouse           = 
| party            = [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]]
| relations        = 
| children         = 
| residence        = 
| alma_mater       = 
| occupation       = 
| profession       = 
| religion         = 
}}
'''Henry Nathan Jr.''' (September 3, 1842 &ndash; February 5, 1914)<ref name="parl">{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=11960|nolist=yes}}</ref> was the first [[Jews in Canada|Jewish Canadian]] to be elected to the [[House of Commons of Canada|House of Commons]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishmuseum.ca/info/exhibits/ |title=Ties That Bind |publisher=Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia |accessdate=2009-09-13 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091120085445/http://www.jewishmuseum.ca/info/exhibits |archivedate=2009-11-20}}</ref> Born in [[London]], [[England]], Nathan was one of two MPs elected to represent the [[British Columbia]] riding of [[Victoria (British Columbia federal electoral district)|Victoria]] in the [[1872 Canadian federal election|Canadian general election of 1872]]. They had won by [[acclamation]] special byelections held the year before to fill the newly created [[House of Commons of Canada|House of Commons]] seats upon British Columbia's admission to [[Canadian Confederation|Confederation]] (in those byelections the riding was named [[Victoria District]]).<ref name="parl"/> The other representative for Victoria was B.C.'s Father of Confederation, [[Amor De Cosmos]] who was simultaneously [[Premier of British Columbia|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 [[University of London|London University School]] and became a wholesale merchant in [[Victoria, British Columbia]].<ref name="johnson">{{cite book |title=The Canadian Directory of Parliament 1867-1967 |last=Johnson |first=J.K. |year=1968 |publisher=Public Archives of Canada}}</ref> He represented Victoria City in the assembly of the [[Colony of British Columbia (1866–1871)|Colony of British Columbia]] from 1870 to 1871.<ref name="parl"/> 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 [[John A. Macdonald|Sir John A. Macdonald]]. This strained his relationship with De Cosmos, who had become a supporter of MacDonald's opponent, Liberal [[Alexander Mackenzie (politician)|Alexander Mackenzie]]. As a result, Nathan took to calling de Cosmos "Cupid" in private letters (de Cosmos' name roughly translates to "Lover of the Universe").<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/transactions/3/amordecosmos.shtml |title=Was Amor de Cosmos The Louis Riel of British Columbia? |publisher=Manitoba Historical Society |date=February 1971|last=Arnold |first=Abraham J |accessdate=2009-09-13}}</ref>

The byelection of 1871 was held to return members from newly admitted British Columbia to the [[1st Canadian Parliament|1st Parliament of Canada]] that had been elected four years earlier following [[Canadian Confederation|Confederation]]. With Nathan joining that Parliament, the [[multiculturalism|multicultural]] nature of the Canadian nation was firmly established.

In 1876, Nathan returned to England. He died in London at the age of 71.<ref name="johnson"/>

== Electoral record ==
{{1872 Canadian federal election/Victoria, British Columbia}}
{{1871 Canadian federal by-elections/Victoria District}}
== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nathan, Henry}}
[[Category:1842 births]]
[[Category:1914 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian people of English-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Merchants from London]]
[[Category:Jewish Canadian politicians]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia]]
[[Category:19th-century English businesspeople]]
[[Category:19th-century Canadian Jews]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]