O-433.1

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painting (portrait)

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The Honourable Timothy Warren Anglin

Portrait of Speaker Timothy Warren Anglin

Timothy Warren Anglin was born in Ireland in 1822, and became a newspaper owner in Saint John, New Brunswick, where he emerged as an influential voice for the plight of Irish Catholics in Canada. Politically he was pragmatic, dedicated to individual rights and a strong role for religion in society. He opposed Confederation but resolved to give it a chance after 1867. He held his northern New Brunswick riding for 15 years and was named Speaker in 1874, a role he lost to scandal in 1877, only to win back the next year. His portrait was painted by John Colin Forbes in 1878.

John Colin Forbes

The Forbes family arches over Canada’s early official portraiture like no other. Between John Colin Forbes and son Kenneth Forbes, they painted seven Prime Ministers and 25 speakers of the Senate or House of Commons. They also painted several British monarchs, most notably John Colin Forbes’s portraits of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, which were destroyed in the fire at Parliament in 1916. Forbes was born in Toronto in 1846, and studied in London and Paris. He was friends with Wilfrid Laurier and painted more than one portrait of the MP and Prime Minister, including one that Laurier donated to the nascent National Gallery of Canada.