Robert Hamilton Coats (July 25, 1874 – February 7, 1960) was

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 first Dominion Statistician. He was born in Clinton,

Huron County, Ontario Huron County is a county of the province of Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeast shore of its namesake, Lake Huron, in the southwest part of the province. The county seat is Goderich, also the county's largest community. The populat ...

in 1874, the son of Robert Coats, who came to Canada from

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. In 1896, Coats received a B.A. from the

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies f ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. He worked as a journalist for ''

The Toronto World ''The Toronto World'' was a Canadian newspaper based in Toronto, Ontario. It existed between 1880 and 1921, and a Sunday edition operated from 1891 to 1924. Founded by William Findlay "Billy" Maclean, it was popular among Toronto's working class ...

'' and then the Toronto ''

Globe A globe is a spherical Earth, spherical Model#Physical model, model of Earth, of some other astronomical object, celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but, unlike maps, they do not distort the surface ...

'' until 1902 when, at the request of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who was the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Liberal ...

, he became editor of the '' Labour Gazette''; King himself had been the first editor of this publication which included statistical information related to labour. Coats was named Chief Statistician for the Department of Labour in 1905. In 1915, he was appointed Dominion Statistician and Controller of the

Census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

. Coats helped establish the

Dominion Bureau of Statistics The Dominion Bureau of Statistics was a Canadian government organization responsible for conducting Census in Canada, censuses. It was formed in 1918 by the Statistics Act, but was replaced by Statistics Canada in 1971. The Dominion Statisticians w ...

, now

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

. He also served on statistical committees with the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

. After he retired in 1942, Coats served as statistical advisor to the government of

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. He served four years as visiting professor of statistics in the Department of Political Economy at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. Coats, one of the first residents of Rockcliffe Park, died in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

at the age of 85. He had been married twice, first to Marie Hollbeister, and then, after his first wife's death, to Maida Skelly. The R. H. Coats Building in

was named after him.

References

Robert Hamilton Coats fonds, Archives Canada

Herbert Marshall, ''The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science / Revue canadienne d'Economique et de Science politique'', Vol. 26, No. 3. (Aug., 1960), pp. 482-483.

John A. Stevenson, ''The American Statistician'', Vol. 14, No. 2. (Apr., 1960), pp. 28-29.

Library and Archives Canada, Census of Canada, 1891, item number 1783098

External links

* 1874 births 1960 deaths Canadian civil servants Canadian statisticians Canadian people of Scottish descent Presidents of the American Statistical Association University of Toronto alumni Academic staff of the University of Toronto Presidents of the Canadian Political Science Association {{Canada-gov-bio-stub