Robie Lewis Reid

Robie Lewis Reid (1866 – 1945), often referred to asRobie Reid, was a noted historian and jurist in BritishColumbia, Canada. Reid wrote many books and essayson the history of British Columbia, but his special in-terest was the study of the works of Rudyard Kipling.Another special field of interest was thet coins of earlyBritish Columbia, concerning which he remains one ofthe main authorities.

1 Biography

Reid was born in Cornwallis Township,Kings County,Nova Scotia, in the community of Steam Mill Village onNovember 3, 1866 but ventured to British Columbia in1885 to Victoria, British Columbia in 1885 to write theprovincial teacher’s examination. During this experiencehe met Frederic W. Howay, with whom he establisheda personal and professional relationship that lasted sixtyyears. Reid persuaded Howay to return to Nova Sco-tia with him to register for Law at Dalhousie University,from which they graduated together in 1890 and in 1893formed the lawfirm Howay & Reid. Reid was appointeddebenture commissioner for New Westminster after thatcity’s Great Fire in 1898.In 1907 Reid joined William J. Bowser, then Attorney-General of British Columbia and later Premier, and D.S.Wallbridge to form Bowser, Reid & Wallbridge. From1927 to 1943 Reid was a Bencher of the Law Society ofBritish Columbia. Reid was also a member of the UBCboard of governors from 1913 to 1935, and President ofthe British Columbia Historical Association in 1937, andis credited with the founding of the British Columbia His-torical Quarterly. He was made a Fellow of the RoyalSociety of Canada in 1936, and was also a Member ofthe American Historical Association, Washington.Dr. Reid’s interests in literature and the arts are also welldocumented. He was the first President of the VancouverLittle Theatre Association, and a member and chairmanof the Board of the Vancouver Public Library.He died on February 6, 1945 of failing health.

2 Legacy

• Mount Robie Reid to the north of the Maple Ridgeand Mission, British Columbia, near the GoldenEars, was named in commemoration of Reid, Mount

Judge Howay just to the northeast was named for hiscolleague F.W. Howay.

• The Howay-Reid Collection at the University ofBritish Columbia was founded by Reid’s donationof his personal book collection of 9,000 books,over 4,000 pamphlets, and a collection of assortedother media, including maps, photographs, corre-spondences, plus 50,000 file cards naming bookshe had been searching for. At the time of its cre-ation this was the largest collection of Canadianaanywhere in the country.

3 References• Biography from University of BC Special Collec-tions website

1

2 4 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

4 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

4.1 Text• Robie Lewis Reid Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robie%20Lewis%20Reid?oldid=659129967 Contributors: Jaraalbe, Skookum1,Jonhall, KenWalker, Cydebot, Waacstats, Niceguyedc, RogDel, Lightbot, RjwilmsiBot, Geoffrey turner, ChrisGualtieri and Anonymous: 1

4.2 Images

4.3 Content license• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0