Norman Lubbock Robinson (1890-1951) was a photographer, born in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, known for taking historic photographs of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

's north. The Northwest Territories Archives contains 709 historic photographs he took.

Biography

Robinson served in the

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian paramilitary police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory to ...

(precursor to the RCMP) when he first moved to Canada. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he served with the

19th Alberta Dragoons The 19th Alberta Dragoons was a cavalry regiment and later an Royal Canadian Armoured Corps, armoured regiment of the Canadian Militia and later the Canadian Army. It was placed on the Supplementary Order of Battle in 1965. In 2006, it was taken ...

, and then with the British Army, Royal Field Artillery. Robinson was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, and, according to the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...

'', he was mentioned in dispatches, twice. After he returned to Canada, following the war he served as an Inspector with the Soldiers Settlement Board. In the early 1920s he travelled to the

North-West Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of the three territories in Northern Canada. Its estimated pop ...

, spending five years working as a trapper, a guide, and later as

purser A purser is the person on a ship principally responsible for the handling of money on board. On modern merchant ships, the purser is the officer responsible for all administration (including the ship's cargo and passenger manifests) and supply. ...

on the steamship ''

Mackenzie River The Mackenzie River (French: ; Slavey language, Slavey: ' èh tʃʰò literally ''big river''; Inuvialuktun: ' uːkpɑk literally ''great river'') is a river in the Canadian Canadian boreal forest, boreal forest and tundra. It forms, ...

''. It was during this five-year period he took the bulk of his historic photos. In 1925 he tried to rejoin the RCMP, but was turned down because he no longer measured up to the eyesight requirements. He then operated a lumber business, in

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the North Thompson River, North and South Thompson Rivers, which join to become the Thompson River in Kamloops, and east of Kamloops Lake. The city is the ad ...

, until the early 1930s. He married in 1928. Following his work in the timber industry he then became a game warden, a position he held until 1938, when he and his wife spent two years in Ireland. When he died in 1951 he was working for the Unemployment Insurance Commission as an employment claims officer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Norman Lubbock 1890 births 1951 deaths Canadian photographers 19th Alberta Dragoons Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers Irish emigrants to Canada People from County Wicklow