Robert Corrigan

Robert Corrigan, ( 1816 or 1817 – 19 October 1855) was an Irish-Canadian who was murdered by a group of men in Saint-Sylvestre, Lower Canada. Corrigan converted from the Roman Catholic faith to the Anglican faith which caused him to be disliked by the majority-Catholic community of Saint-Sylvestre. The search for the mob was hindered by the townspeople, but several months after his murder the men suspected to be part of the mob were voluntarily arrested. At the criminal trial, the men were acquitted. The jury's decision in the trial angered Protestants in Upper Canada, who used Corrigan's death to support claims that Catholics held an outsized amount of power in Lower Canada and the Province of Canada.

Life and family

Corrigan was born in 1816 or 1817 in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. His father was Patrick Corrigan and his mother was Grace McNult; he was their fourth child, and he had seven siblings. He married Catherine Mortin and they had three children. Corrigan followed the Catholic beliefs of his parents at the beginning of his life, but converted to Anglicanism at an unknown time.

Corrigan's family immigrated to Canada in 1831. He bought land in Saint-Sylvestre, Lower Canada, in 1852 or 1853. He was disliked by the Irish community in the town because he had converted to Anglicanism and ridiculed the Catholics of his former faith. He frequently challenged his enemies to tests of strength. The jury acquitted the men on 18 February.