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John Robarts

From Bahaipedia
John Robarts
Born
John Aldham Robarts

November 2, 1901
Waterloo, Ontario
DiedJune 18, 1991
Rawdon, Quebec
NSA memberCanada
1948 - 1953
South & West Africa
1956 - 1959
ABMAfrica
1954 - 1957
Spouse(s)Audrey FitzGerald
ChildrenAldham (1929-2021)[1], John (b. 1930), Patrick (1934-2013), Nina (1940-2024)[2]
Parent(s)Father: Aldham Wilson Robarts
Mother: Rachel Mary Montgomery-Campbell
Signature
 Works •  Media

John Aldham Robarts (November 2, 1901 - June 18, 1991) was a Canadian Bahá’í who was a Hand of the Cause of God.

He helped develop the Bahá’í community of Canada after declaring in 1938 and helped establish the countries National Spiritual Assembly serving on it from 1948 to 1953. He pioneered to Botswana in 1954 and was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh and appointed as an Auxiliary Board member and he was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of South and West Africa in 1956. He pioneered to Zimbabwe in 1957 after the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Botswana was formed.

Robarts was appointed a Hand of the Cause of God by Shoghi Effendi in 1957 and as a Hand of the Cause he traveled extensively across the world to stimulate and encourage Bahá’í communities for the rest of his life. As a Hand of the Cause he was assigned the responsibility of supporting the Faith in Africa until returning to Canada in 1966 which remained his home until his passing.

Biography[edit]

Early life and business career[edit]

Robarts was born in Waterloo, Ontario, in 1901 to Aldham Wilson Robarts and Rachel Mary Montgomery Campbell Robarts and he had two older sisters. His paternal grandfather was an Anglican Canon and his family were Anglican however in 1906 both his paternal Aunts, Ella and Grace, became Bahá’ís and his Aunt Grace introduced him to the Bahá’í Faith.[3]

Robarts grew up in Port Arthur where his father worked as a bank manager but moved to St. Catharines, Ontario, to attend Ridley College after completing his elementary schooling. In 1918 he left College and began working for Canadian National Railways as the secretary to a superintendent,[3] and in 1926 he co-established a business which sold heating for homes with James D. Graham and in 1927 they co-established the Overhead Door Company of Canada with Robarts serving as company president from Toronto. In 1928 he married Audrey FitzGerald and they had four children between 1929 and 1940.[4]

In 1934 Robarts sold his stake in the Overhead Door Company during the depression, securing work for his employees, and joined the Manufacturers Life Insurance Company. He then studied to become a qualified Chartered Life Underwriter and in 1938 he began working for the London Life Insurance Company as district manager for their Toronto Agency. He also began actively investigating the Bahá’í Faith in the 1930's studying under his Aunt Grace and her husband Harlan Ober and also learning from Howard Colby Ives and he and his wife came to believe in Bahá’u’lláh in 1937 and formally declared in 1938.[4]

Early Bahá’í service[edit]

After declaring the Robarts began holding regular firesides in their home and in 1940 John was appointed to the Ontario Regional Teaching Committee and shortly afterwards he was appointed to the Ontario Summer School Committee helping to organize the first Ontario Summer School in 1941.[4] He frequently visited Hamilton and Ottawa and his efforts contributed to the establishment of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Hamilton in 1940 and the Local Spiritual Assembly of Ottawa in 1948.[5] He served on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Toronto and in 1950 he and Audrey helped establish a Local Spiritual Assembly of Forest Hill, the area of Toronto where they lived.[5]

In 1946 Robarts was appointed to the inaugural National Teaching Committee of Canada as chairman which began working towards the establishment of an independent National Spiritual Assembly for Canada.[4] In 1948 the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada was established and Robarts was elected to the body as its first Chairman.[5]

In 1949 Robarts visited Europe to attend the Second European Teaching Conference held in Brussels, Belgium, and he then went on a teaching tour across the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, and England.[5] While in Denmark he met with government officials and negotiated to secure permission for a Bahá’í to pioneer to Greenland. He returned to Europe in 1950 to tour England, Ireland, and Scotland to stimulate local Bahá’í communities with the approval of Shoghi Effendi and his efforts assisted the British community in achieving its goals of its Six Year Plan.[6]

Pioneering in the Ten Year Crusade[edit]

In October 1953 Robarts traveled to New Delhi, India, to represent the Canadian Bahá’í community at the New Delhi Intercontinental Teaching Conference held to launch the Ten Year Crusade at the direction of Shoghi Effendi. Hand of the Cause Siegfried Schopflocher was supposed to represent Canada but had passed away in July. While at the Conference he and Audrey decided they would pioneer to one of the goal territories and cabled Shoghi Effendi that they would pioneer to Bechuanaland and he approved of their decision.[6]

Robarts (right) in Africa with his family.

Robarts arrived in Bechuanaland in February, 1954, with his wife, his son Patrick, and his daughter Nina, and they were named Knights of Bahá’u’lláh with the exception of Nina who was under the age of fifteen and as such had not yet reaffirmed as a Bahá’í. They purchased a house in Mafeking shortly after arriving.[6] During 1954 Robarts secured a job as a district manager for the Prudential Assurance Company,[7] Dr. Modiri Molema became the first Bahá’í of Bechuanaland through the Robarts family, and Robarts was appointed as an Auxiliary Board member for Africa by Músá Banání.[8]

In 1956 the Robarts family went on pilgrimage and met Shoghi Effendi in person,[9] and that year the National Spiritual Assembly of South and West Africa was formed with Robarts being elected as an inaugural member. In February 1957 the Local Spiritual Assembly of Mafeking was established and the Robarts family departed the country pioneering to Southern Rhodesia to open the city Bulawayo to the Faith.[8] The Prudential Assurance Company granted him a position as district manager in Southern Rhodesia.[7]

In October 1957 Shoghi Effendi appointed Robarts a Hand of the Cause of God for Africa and also designated him as one of his representatives at the 1958 Intercontinental Conference in Kampala, Uganda, directing him to visit Canada after the Conference.[7] Shoghi Effendi passed away just one month later and Robarts traveled to the Holy Land and participated in the Conclave of the Hands at which the Hands of the Cause of God consulted on the future of the community.[10] After the Conclave he returned to Rhodesia and continued to serve the African community resigning from his job in 1959 to devote more time to serving the Faith.[7]

In January 1958 Robarts attended the Kampala Intercontinental Conference then went to Canada as instructed and during the year he also attended the Wilmette and Frankfurt Intercontinental Conferences in the United States and Germany.[11] During the Ministry of the Custodians, which spanned from 1957 to 1963, Robarts visited Haifa annually to attend the Conclaves of the Hands traveling through western Africa when on his way to the Holy Land and returning home via eastern Africa in order to allow him to visit more Bahá’í communities while traveling.[12] In 1960 he visited Canada again at the request of the Custodians,[11] and made plans to return to North America.[13]

In 1961 the Custodians announced they had decided Robarts would continue to serve as a Hand of the Cause for Africa,[14] and he was appointed as the Trustee of the Continental Fund of Africa and served in the role until 1966. He attended the First International Convention in the Holy Land and the First Bahá’í World Congress in London, England, in 1963 and in 1964 he represented the newly formed Universal House of Justice at the formation of the National Spiritual Assembly of West Africa in Monrovia, Liberia.[11]

Return to the Americas[edit]

In 1966 Robarts returned to Canada in order to strengthen the countries Bahá’í community. In 1968 he attended the Second International Convention then visited Asia where he convened the first meeting of the Continental Board for Northeast Asia before touring east Asia, visiting Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. He then made a visit to Hawaii before returning home.[11]

Robarts and Rúḥíyyih Khánum at the Third International Convention, 1973.

In 1971 Robarts undertook another notable teaching tour attending the Oceanic Teaching Conferences in Jamaica and Iceland and then undertaking a lengthy tour of Australasia, which lasted into 1972, visiting Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Fiji, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, Western Samoa, and Hawaii.[11] He continued traveling throughout the 1970's attending the Third International Convention in 1973, participating in International Teaching Conferences in Alaska, France, and Kenya in 1976, and attending the Fourth International Convention in 1978.[11]

In 1981 Robarts visited Africa with his wife to represent the Universal House of Justice at the establishment of the National Spiritual Assembly of Bophuthatswana in South Africa and visited Zimbabwe during the trip.[15] In 1982 he represented the House of Justice at an International Teaching Conference in Lagos, Nigeria, and later the same year he participated in the International Conferences in Dublin, Ireland, and Montreal, Canada. He made a travel teaching trip across Canada to visit Native American communities in 1983 and attended the dedication of a Yukon Bahá’í Centre in 1984.[11] He served on a Local Spiritual Assembly for the last time in 1984, being elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Rawdon as he was one of only nine Bahá’ís residing in the locality, but was able to retire from the body after a declaration in the community in 1985.[16] He made his last international trip in 1986 visiting eleven cities in Ireland.[16]

In the late 1980's Robarts health began to fail and his wife had arranged for him to receive care in a nursing home near their home by 1990.[17] He passed away in Rawdon in 1991 and the Universal House of Justice conveyed the following message after his passing:

WITH SADDENED HEARTS ANNOUNCE PASSING MUCH-LOVED STAUNCH PROMOTER FAITH, KNIGHT BAHA'U'LLAH, HAND CAUSE GOD JOHN ROBARTS. HIS DISTINGUISHED ADMINISTRATIVE TEACHING PIONEERING ACTIVITIES IN HIS NATIVE CANADA, IN AFRICA AND EUROPE, DURING MINISTRY BELOVED GUARDIAN AND SUBSEQUENTLY ON WORLD SCALE THROUGH HIS INTERNATIONAL TRAVELS WERE SOURCE ABUNDANT INSPIRATION COUNTLESS FRIENDS MANY LANDS. HIS RELIANCE AND EMPHASIS ON PRAYER IN ALL EFFORTS PROMOTION CAUSE AND HIS SUSTAINED SERVICES PATH LOVE FOR BLESSED BEAUTY WERE CHARACTERIZED BY SPIRIT CERTITUDE, SELF-EFFACEMENT AND VIGOUR WHICH SET A STANDARD OF STEWARDSHIP THAT HAS ENRICHED ANNALS FAITH. HE HAS ASSUREDLY EARNED BOUNTIFUL REWARD ABHA KINGDOM. PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS RADIANT SOUL. ADVISE HOLD BEFITTING MEMORIAL GATHERINGS IN HIS HONOUR THROUGHOUT WORLD INCLUDING ALL HOUSES WORSHIP. CONVEY DEAR AUDREY, BELOVED CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES MOST LOVING SYMPATHY.[18]

Talks[edit]

Bahai.works has a related page: Audio:John Robarts
Bahai.media has a related page: Category:John Robarts

References[edit]

  • Harper, Barron (1997). Lights of Fortitude (Paperback ed.). Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0853984131.

Notes[edit]

  1. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/250386317/aldham_edward_robarts
  2. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/273863508/nina_grace_tinnion
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 801. View as PDF.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 802. View as PDF.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 803. View as PDF.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 804. View as PDF.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 805. View as PDF.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Earl Redman, The Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, George Ronald Press: London, p 111
  9. ↑ Earl Redman, The Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, George Ronald Press: London, p 110
  10. ↑ Rabbani, Ruhiyyih (Ed.) (1992). The Ministry of the Custodians 1957-1963. Bahá’í World Centre. ISBN 0-85398-350-X., p 29-30
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 807. View as PDF.
  12. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 806. View as PDF.
  13. ↑ Iran Furutan Muhajir, Dr. Muhajir, Baha'i Publishing Trust of India, 2013, p 81
  14. ↑ Rabbani, Ruhiyyih (Ed.) (1992). The Ministry of the Custodians 1957-1963. Bahá’í World Centre. ISBN 0-85398-350-X., p 320
  15. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1986). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 18 (1979-1983), Pg(s) 514. View as PDF.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 808. View as PDF.
  17. ↑ https://bahai-library.com/washington_recollections_hands_cause&chapter=11
  18. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 809. View as PDF.
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