Article

John Rolph

Published Online January 22, 2008

Last Edited December 16, 2013

John Rolph, barrister, physician, politician, educator (b at Thornbury, Eng 4 Mar 1793; d at Mitchell, Ont 19 Oct 1870). Educated in England, he practised law and medicine in Upper Canada from 1821, operating medical schools in 1824-25 in St Thomas and from 1832 in York [Toronto].

Rolph, John

John Rolph, barrister, physician, politician, educator (b at Thornbury, Eng 4 Mar 1793; d at Mitchell, Ont 19 Oct 1870). Educated in England, he practised law and medicine in Upper Canada from 1821, operating medical schools in 1824-25 in St Thomas and from 1832 in York [Toronto]. By 1828 he shared leadership of the REFORM MOVEMENT with M.S. BIDWELL and the BALDWINS. A secretive, 11th-hour supporter of William Lyon MACKENZIE's ill-fated REBELLION OF 1837, he fled to Rochester, NY. He returned in 1843 to reopen his medical school, which soon flourished. An ineffectual member of the Hincks-Morin ministry, 1851-54, he severely disappointed his ultra-reform (CLEAR GRIT) supporters. Thereafter, he concentrated on running his school. By eloquently defending American settlers' rights and opposing special privileges for the Church of England, Rolph contributed greatly to the rising popularity of the constitutional reform movement before 1837 and did more than anyone before the 1860s to provide first-class medical training in the province.