George Robert Parkin

1846-1922

Sir George Robert Parkin (educator, administrator, writer, imperialist) was born 8 February 1846 in Salisbury, New Brunswick, and died on 25 June 1922 in London, England. He attended Normal School in Saint John in 1862, and then taught briefly in Bouctouche and Campobello Island. He attended the University of New Brunswick in 1864. After graduation, Parkin taught at the Bathurst Grammar School from 1867–1871. In 1873, he was appointed Headmaster of the Fredericton Collegiate School (among his students were Charles G.D. Roberts and Bliss Carman).  He held that position until 1889. After retiring from the Fredericton Collegiate School, Parkin went to England from 1889 to 1895 to work for the Imperial Federation League, which promoted the idea of a unified British commonwealth of former colonies. He travelled and gave lectures for the Imperial cause across Britain and the world.  He returned to Canada and from 1895 to 1902, he was principal of Toronto’s Upper Canada College. In June 1902, he left UCC and became an administrator of the Rhodes Scholarship Trust. In 1892 Parkin wrote Imperial Federation: The Problem of National Unity and produced a school textbook, Round the Empire (1892).  During that same year, while working for the London Times, he wrote a series of reports on Canadian history and geography, later published as The Great Dominion: Studies of Canada (1895). He also published the books Edward Thring, Headmaster of Uppingham School: Life, Diary and Letters (1898), Sir John A. Macdonald (1908), and The Rhodes Scholarships (1912).

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Fredericton, Salisbury

Archival Material

• George Robert Parkin fonds
  ⌄
  Location

  Library and Archives Canada

  Website/Catalogue Record

  View Archival Record

  Retrieval Number

  R5370-0-5-E, MG30-D44

  Date Range of Material

  1809-1939

  Extent

  10.85 m of textual records.
  14 prints engravings, lithographs.
  11 photographs.
  7 drawings pencil, pen and ink.
  5 watercolours.
  2 medals

  Scope and Content Note

  The fonds consists of textual records, graphic material, and medals that document the life and work of author, educator, and political activist Sir George R. Parkin. The greater part of the textual records comprises Parkin's family, personal, and professional correspondence, 1865-1922. But there are also diaries dating between 1872 and 1922, subject files, newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous manuscripts. His wife Annie Connell Parkin's correspondence and manuscripts, 1879-1932, constitute a significant series in their own right. The graphic material in the fonds dates from 1860 to 1939 and includes prints, engravings, and watercolours of notable personalities like Sir Charles G. D. Roberts, Queen Mary, the Governors-General and their wives; sketches drawn or collected by Annie Connell Parkin of persons and outdoor views of Quebec; and photographs relating to Cecil Rhodes. There are also two medals commemorating the University of Padua's 700th Anniversary.