{{Short description|Canadian politician (1842-1914)}} {{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Henry Nathan Jr. | honorific_suffix = | image = HenryNathan.png | office = Member of Parliament for Victoria<br />''Victoria District (1871–1872)'' | term_start = 1871 | term_end = 1874 | alongside = Amor De Cosmos | predecessor = None | successor = Francis James Roscoe | birth_date = {{birth date|1842|9|3}} | birth_place = London, England | death_date = {{death date and age|1914|2|5|1842|9|3}} | death_place = London, England | spouse = | party = Liberal | relations = | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = }} '''Henry Nathan Jr.''' (September 3, 1842 – February 5, 1914)<ref name="parl">{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=11960|nolist=yes}}</ref> was the first Jewish Canadian to be elected to the House of Commons.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishmuseum.ca/info/exhibits/ |title=Ties That Bind |publisher=Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia |accessdate=2009-09-13 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091120085445/http://www.jewishmuseum.ca/info/exhibits |archivedate=2009-11-20}}</ref> Born in London, England, Nathan was one of two MPs elected to represent the British Columbia riding of Victoria in the Canadian general election of 1872. They had won by acclamation special byelections held the year before to fill the newly created House of Commons seats upon British Columbia's admission to Confederation (in those byelections the riding was named Victoria District).<ref name="parl"/> The other representative for Victoria was B.C.'s Father of Confederation, Amor De Cosmos who was simultaneously Premier of that province until 1874. The third-place also-ran was Robert Beaven, who was to become the sixth Premier of British Columbia ten years later.
The son of Henry Nathan, Nathan was educated at the London University School and became a wholesale merchant in Victoria, British Columbia.<ref name="johnson">{{cite book |title=The Canadian Directory of Parliament 1867-1967 |last=Johnson |first=J.K. |year=1968 |publisher=Public Archives of Canada}}</ref> He represented Victoria City in the assembly of the Colony of British Columbia from 1870 to 1871.<ref name="parl"/> Like De Cosmos, Nathan was part of British Columbia's delegation to Ottawa to negotiate the terms of B.C.'s entry into Confederation.
Once in Parliament, Nathan supported the government of Sir John A. Macdonald. This strained his relationship with De Cosmos, who had become a supporter of MacDonald's opponent, Liberal Alexander Mackenzie. As a result, Nathan took to calling de Cosmos "Cupid" in private letters (de Cosmos' name roughly translates to "Lover of the Universe").<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/transactions/3/amordecosmos.shtml |title=Was Amor de Cosmos The Louis Riel of British Columbia? |publisher=Manitoba Historical Society |date=February 1971|last=Arnold |first=Abraham J |accessdate=2009-09-13}}</ref>
The byelection of 1871 was held to return members from newly admitted British Columbia to the 1st Parliament of Canada that had been elected four years earlier following Confederation. With Nathan joining that Parliament, the multicultural nature of the Canadian nation was firmly established.
In 1876, Nathan returned to England. He died in London at the age of 71.<ref name="johnson"/>
== Electoral record == {{1872 Canadian federal election/Victoria, British Columbia}} {{1871 Canadian federal by-elections/Victoria District}}
== References == {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nathan, Henry}} Category:1842 births Category:1914 deaths Category:Canadian people of English-Jewish descent Category:Merchants from London Category:Jewish Canadian politicians Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia Category:19th-century English businesspeople Category:19th-century Canadian Jews Category:19th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada