Robbins, Harry M.

Harry M. Robbins was born in 1887, and spent his early years on a farm in Oxford County. He became a career civil servant, and held the post of inspector of prisons and public charities in the Conservative regime of G. Howard Ferguson. He later became Deputy Provincial Secretary and Deputy Hospitals Minister. His civil service career ended abruptly in 1934, with the election of the Hepburn Liberals. Robbins was one of many civil servants who were fired in a general purge of the bureaucracy. Between the years of 1934 and 1939, little is known about his life, but it is generally believed that he was a bank manager in Northern Ontario. In 1939, he went to work for the Ontario Conservative party as its public relations officer, a post which he held with varying degrees of effectiveness until 1961, when he retired. He maintained an active interest in politics until his death in 1970, and he came out of retirement more than once to help local candidates in their bids for election to various offices.