Main entry | Lizars, R. (Robina) |
Birth place | Stratford, Ontario |
Birth date | 10 October 1850 |
Death place | Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario |
Death date | 26 August 1918 |
Identifier | 0204 |
Birth name | Robina Alison Lizars |
Married name | Smith |
Marital status | married |
Religious affiliation | Anglican |
Biography | Robina Alison Lizars (1850-1918), known sometimes as "Ruby," descended from Irish naval and military men and Scottish professionals and men of letters. Her father, Daniel Lizars (1822-1894), rose from barrister to judge of Perth County Court. Robina married a widower, the brilliant jurist Robert Smith (1838-1885), in 1876. Upon accepting appointment as judge to the Supreme Court of Manitoba, Robert went west, while Robina remained in Stratford to care for the couple's two young sons and Robert's three children from his first marriage. Six months later, when Robert suddenly died of tuberculosis, Robina returned to her family home with her boys. She then collaborated with her sister, Kathleen Lizars*, on two works of history and a local colour novel. Considered to be an organist of great ability, Robina served for a time on the executive of the Ontario Music Teachers' Association. She died after a short illness in 1918. |
Other notes | Death registry lists cause as something resembling "Plomasine Poisoning," with the immediate cause as heart failure. Son Robert Home Smith was a wealthy financier, lawyer, and builder who developed important parts of Toronto, including the neighbourhood known as "The Kingsway." |
Residences | Stratford, Ontario (1850-1891); Toronto, Ontario; Niagara, Ontario (-1918) |
Geographic regions | Southern Ontario |
Primary genres | non-fiction (history); fiction |
Books | all co-authored with Kathleen Lizars, IN THE DAYS OF THE CANADA COMPANY (1896); HUMOURS OF '37: GRAVE, GAY, AND GRIM (1897); COMMITTED TO HIS CHARGE: A CANADIAN CHRONICLE (1900) |
Other arts | music (organ) |
Father's name | Daniel Home Lizars |
Life dates of father | 11 February 1822, Renfrewshire, Scotland - 5 March 1894, Stratford, Ontario; m. 1848 |
Father's note | barrister; County Attorney (1858-); County Judge (1864-); master in chancery (1877-); local judge of High Court of Justice (1882-1886); lieutenant in first battalion of Huron militia |
Mother's name | Esther Longworth |
Life dates of mother | c1822, Westmeath, Ireland - after 1871; m. 1848 |
Spouse 1 | Robert Smith |
Life dates of spouse 1 | c1838, Loweswater, Cumberland, England - 19 January 1885, Winnipeg, Manitoba |
Spouse 1 note | lawyer; judge, Supreme Court of Manitoba; died of TB |
Marriage 1 date | 25 July 1876 |
Marriage 1 place | Stratford, Ontario |
Children number | 2 |
Children's names and dates | Robert Home (12 July 1877 - 4 February 1935);
Bruce Longworth (21 August 1879 - 1954), m. to Rosia Mayberry |
Biographical references | MacMillan Dictionary of Canadian Biography; Mitchell-Reid, Alison, University of Western Ontario Fonds description (2010); 1871 Census of Canada; 1881 Census of Canada; 1891 Census of Canada; Ontario, Canada Marriages, 1801-1928; Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947 |
Bibliographic references | Watters, CHECKLIST OF CANADIAN LITERATURE...1620-1960 (1970), p. 702 |
Research references | complete |
Archival references | Smith and Lizars Papers, University of Western Ontario Library; Lizars Family Papers, University of Guelph |
Image credits | Line drawing by Una Vernelli (Vancouver, British Columbia). |
Copyright | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. Please cite Canada's Early Women Writers. SFU Library Digital Collections. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada. 1980-2014. |