Article

Robert Thorpe

Published Online January 22, 2008

Last Edited December 15, 2013

Robert Thorpe, judge and political theorist (b at Dublin, Ire c 1764; d in London, Eng 11 May 1836). Appointed puisne judge of the Court of King's Bench, Thorpe arrived in Upper Canada in 1805.

Thorpe, Robert

Robert Thorpe, judge and political theorist (b at Dublin, Ire c 1764; d in London, Eng 11 May 1836). Appointed puisne judge of the Court of King's Bench, Thorpe arrived in Upper Canada in 1805. He became associated with a faction of officials who, having fallen out of favour with the administration of the late lieutenant-governor Hunter, hoped to win the ear of the newly appointed Francis GORE who had yet to arrive in the colony. To this end Thorpe agitated to discredit Hunter and his favourites, denouncing their activities as contrary to the constitution. The Executive Council, he contended, was in reality not responsible to the lieutenant-governor, but was a cabinet which, after the model of the English Parliament, should be appointed from, and be responsible to, the Assembly. This, he asserted, would be the view of the new governor. It was not; and he was suspended from office.