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The Three Robinson Sisters
Painted in 1846
The Three Robinson Sisters
Painted in 1846
Sir John Beverley Robinson, (1791 - 1863) was by 1846 a very distinguished gentlemen. He was one of the 'family compact' that held the majority of political, economic and judicial power in Upper Canada (modern day Ontario). The painting of three of his daughters is on display in the Art Gallery of Ontario in The Grange. The Grange is a house built by D'Arcy Boulton (1785–1846), who married Sarah Anne Robinson (1789–1863), great, great granddaughter of Christopher Robinson (1645 - 1683).
The story of the painting is told by Julia Jarvis, in Three Centuries of Robinsons - The Story of a Family, 1967.
Between the years 1844 and 1847 five members of the family were married. Augusta married Captain James McGill Strachan in 1844; Lukin married Elizabeth Arnold in 1845; Emily and Louisa were married on the same day to John Henry Lefroy and George William Allan in 1846; and John Beverley married Mary Jane Hagerman in 1847.
The Three Robinson Sisters (1846)
by George Theodore Berthon (1806 - 1892),
in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario
Augusta's wedding is described by an American visitor to Upper Canada named Julia Lambert, who has been quoted here before, as follows:
"Yesterday we were witnesses of a gay and interesting event when Captain Strachan, the Bishop's oldest son, was married to Miss Augusta Robinson, second daughter of the Chief Justice. A very numerous company of relatives and friends were present in the Cathedral, and afterwards at a Déjeuner à la Fourchette at the Chief's. The Bishop performed the ceremony, assisted by Mr. Grasett, and gave the whole service in the prayer book, which took up a long time. Later, after congratulations at the Chief's house, the happy pair took their departure for Buffalo. Soon after, we went down to breakfast about twelve o'clock. Everything was very well arranged and elegant-plenty of champagne and toasts."
The double wedding on April 16th 1846 of Emily and Louisa was described by one of the bridegrooms, John Henry Lefroy, as follows:
"The spring of 1846 was made memorable by my happy engagement to the eldest of Chief Justice Robinson's daughters ... There was at that time but one moderately good artist in Upper Canada, a Frenchman by birth, M. Berthon [who considered his portrait of Sir John Beverley Robinson as his greatest achievement]. We, that is Allan, James Strachan and I, conceived the idea of presenting Mrs. Robinson with the portraits of the three married daughters on the day when two of them were to leave their father's roof.
Berthon was only too happy to lend himself to the plot, and we so contrived it that the necessary sittings were given the few weeks preceding our marriage, without, I believe, the faintest rumour reaching the parents that anything was going on. George Allan and I were married together on the 16th April, amid public rejoicings not very often elicited by merely domestic happiness, and it was not until her return to her drawing-room that Mrs. Robinson saw the picture for the first time suspended there, and was affected to tears at the unexpected sight."
John Henry Lefroy, husband of Emily Mary Robinson
John Henry Lefroy, husband of Emily Mary Robinson
'Love and magnetical science by the Taddle Creek ravine'
The courtship, wedding and marriage of John Henry Lefroy and Emily Robinson is told by Sharon Lefroy in an article in Fife and Drum, Journal of The Friends of Fort York & Garrison Common, July 2019.
The article can be viewed at this link.
Scene in the Northwest: Portrait of John Henry Lefroy, c.1845
The painting depicts British explorer John Henry Lefroy on his successful expedition to map the Magnetic North Pole.
John Henry Lefroy, c.1880
During his long career John Henry Lefroy was an acclaimed explorer scientist who did much to describe terrestrial magnetism . In 1842, Lefroy was sent to Toronto as the superintendent of the new Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory built there as part of that project. He immediately began planning a field expedition to the Canadian northwest to measure magnetism there. With an assistant and a Hudson's Bay Company brigade, he travelled more than 5,000 miles in the Northwest from May 1843 to November 1844, taking measurements at over 300 stations in an attempt to map the geo-magnetic activity of British North America from Montreal to the Arctic Circle, and locate the North Magnetic Pole. Upon his return to London in April 1853, Lefroy held various office positions in the British Army. He became involved in the army reform, and in that function corresponded from 1855 to 1868 with Florence Nightingale. He also served as Governor of Bermuda, 1871 to 1877, and Administrator of Tasmania 1880-81. After Emily died in 1859, he married Charlotte Anna née Dundas (widow of Col. Armine Mountain).
John Henry Lefroy was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1870, and knighted in 1877 (KCMG).
Sir John Henry Lefroy
George William Allan
1822 - 1901
George William Allen,
husband of Louisa Maud Robinson
George William Allen,
husband of Louisa Maud Robinson
Allan attended Upper Canada College and served with the Bank Rifle Corps when it helped put down the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion. He went on to study law and was called to the bar in 1846 when he also married his first wife, Louisa Maud Robinson. He served as the 11th Mayor of Toronto and later as Speaker of the Senate of Canada.
James Mcgill Strachan,
husband of Augusta Anne Robinson
James Mcgill Strachan,
husband of Augusta Anne Robinson
James McGill Strachan,1808 – 1870, was a lawyer, business and political figure in Canada West (now Ontario), in the Province of Canada.
Stachan was born in Cornwall in Upper Canada, the oldest son of John Strachan, the first Anglican Bishop of Toronto. He purchased a commission in the British 68th Regiment of Foot and studied at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. In 1836, he returned to Upper Canada where he began the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1838. During the Upper Canada Rebellion, he served as military secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, Sir Francis Bond Head. He joined the law practice of John Hillyard Cameron in Toronto as a partner.
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