John Graves Simcoe

John Graves Simcoe

Born (1752-02-25)February 25, 1752
Cotterstock, Oundle, England
Died October 26, 1806(1806-10-26) (aged 54)
Exeter, England
Education Eton College,
Merton College, Oxford
Occupation Military officer,
First lieutenant governor of Upper Canada
Spouse(s) Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim
Children John Cornwall Simcoe (1798–1799)
Francis Gwillim Simcoe (1791–1812)
Eliza Simcoe
Henry Addington Simcoe (1800–1868)
Charlotte
Henrietta Maria (?–1845)
Caroline (?–1858)
Katherine Simcoe (1793–1794)
Sophia Jemima Simcoe (1789–1864)[1]
Parent(s) Captain John Simcoe
Katherine Simcoe
Relatives Henry Walcot Simcoe (1823–1848) - son of Henry Addington, grandson of J.G. Simcoe
Charlotte Simcoe (?– 1842)
Katherine (1801–1861)
Anne Simcoe (1804-?)
Anne Eliza Marke Simcoe (1824–1869) - daughter of Henry Addington
Paul Creed Guillim Simcoe (1835–1875)[2] - son of Henry Addington
Philip Francis Simcoe (1834–1885)[2] son of Henry Addington
John Kennaway Simcoe (1825–1891)[2]
Signature

John Graves Simcoe (February 25, 1752 – October 26, 1806) was a British army officer and the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada from 1791 until 1796. Then frontier, this was modern-day southern Ontario and the watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. He founded York (now Toronto) and was instrumental in introducing institutions such as courts of law, trial by jury, English common law, freehold land tenure, and the abolition of slavery. His long-term goal was the development of Upper Canada (Ontario) as a model community built on aristocratic and conservative principles, designed to demonstrate the superiority of those principles to the Republicanism and democracy of the United States. His energetic efforts to establish a local gentry, a thriving Church of England, and an anti-American coalition with the Indian tribes were only partially successful.

Early life

John Graves Simcoe was the only surviving son of John (1710-1759) and Katherine Simcoe (d. 1767); although his parents had four children (Percy (d. drowned 1764, Paulet William and John William died as infants), he was the only one to live past childhood. His father, a captain in the Royal Navy, commanded the 60-gun HMS Pembroke, with James Cook as his sailing master, during the 1758 siege of Louisbourg. When his father died of pneumonia a few months prior to the siege of Quebec, the family moved to his mother's parental home in Exeter. His paternal grandparents were William and Mary (née Hutchinson) Simcoe.

He was educated at Exeter Grammar School and Eton College. After a year at Merton College, Oxford,[3] Simcoe was admitted to Lincoln's Inn, but then decided to follow the military career for which his father had intended him. He was initiated into Freemasonry in Union Lodge, Exeter on November 2, 1773.[4]

Military career

In 1770, Simcoe entered the British Army as an ensign in the 35th Regiment of Foot. His unit was dispatched to the Thirteen Colonies. Later he saw action in the American Revolutionary War, in the Siege of Boston. During the siege, he purchased a captaincy in the grenadier company of the 40th Regiment of Foot. With the 40th, he saw action in the New York and New Jersey campaign and the Philadelphia campaign. Simcoe commanded the 40th at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, where he was wounded. At Brandywine, Simcoe ordered his men not to fire upon three fleeing rebels. One of those men was George Washington.[5]

In 1777, Simcoe sought to form a Loyalist regiment of free blacks from Boston but instead was offered the command of the Queen's Rangers on October 15, 1777. It was a well-trained light infantry unit comprising 11 companies of 30 men, 1 grenadier, and 1 hussar, and the rest light infantry. The Queen's Rangers saw extensive action during the Philadelphia campaign, including a successful surprise attack (planned and executed by Simcoe) at the Battle of Crooked Billet.

In 1778, Simcoe, during a foraging expedition opposed by rebel militia, commanded the attack on Judge William Hancock's house, killing ten American rebels in their sleep and wounding five others. William Hancock was also killed, although he was not with the Americans. The massacre took place at night and with bayonets. On June 28 of that year, Simcoe and his Queen's Rangers took part in the Battle of Monmouth, in and near Freehold, New Jersey.

During October of 1779, Simcoe and 80 men launched an attack, known as Simcoe's Raid, on central New Jersey from southern Staten Island from what is known today as the Conference House, resulting in the burning of rebel supplies, including hay and grain, inside a Dutch Reformed Church in Finderne, the release of Loyalist prisoners from the Somerset County Courthouse, and Simcoe's capture by Armand Tuffin de La Rouërie.[6][7][8] Simcoe was released in 1781 and rejoined his unit in Virginia. He was involved in a skirmish near Williamsburg and was at the Siege of Yorktown. He was invalided back to England in December of that year as a Lieutenant-Colonel.

Simcoe wrote a book on his experiences with the Rangers, titled A Journal of the Operations of the Queen's Rangers from the end of the year 1777 to the conclusion of the late American War, which was published in 1787.[9]

Marriage and family

Simcoe convalesced at the home of his godfather, British admiral Samuel Graves. in 1782, Simcoe married Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim, Graves' ward. Elizabeth was a wealthy heiress, who acquired a 5,000 acre estate at Honiton in Devon and built Wolford Lodge. Wolford was the Simcoe family seat until 1923.[10]

The Simcoes had five daughters prior to their posting in Canada. Son Francis was born in 1791. Their Canadian-born daughter, Katherine, died in infancy in York. She is buried in the Victoria Square Memorial Park on Portland Avenue. Francis returned with his father to England when his tenure expired and joined the army. He was killed in an infantry charge during the Peninsular Campaign in 1812.

Member of Parliament

Simcoe entered politics in 1790. He was elected Member of Parliament for St Mawes in Cornwall, as a supporter of the government (led by William Pitt the Younger). As MP, he proposed raising a militia force like the Queen's Rangers. He also proposed to lead an invasion of Spain. But instead he was to be made lieutenant governor of the new loyalist province of Upper Canada.[10] He resigned from Parliament in 1792 on taking up his new post.

Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada

The Constitutional Act 1791 divided Canada into the Provinces of Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec). The Act established separate governments and legislative assemblies for each province. Lower Canada was the French-speaking eastern portion, which retained the French code civil and protections for the Roman Catholic Church. Upper Canada was the western area, newly settled after the Revolutionary War. The settlers were mostly English speakers, including Loyalists from the Thirteen Colonies, and also the Six Nations of the Iroquois, who had been British allies during the war. The Crown had purchased land from the Mississaugas and other First Nations to give the Loyalists land grants in partial compensation for property lost in the United States, and to help them set up new communities and develop this territory.[11]

Simcoe was appointed Lieutenant-Governor on 12 September 1791, and left for Canada with his wife Elizabeth and daughter Sophia, leaving three daughters behind in England with their aunt. They left England in September and arrived in Canada on 11 November. Due to severe weather, the Simcoes spent the winter in Quebec City. Simcoe finally reached Kingston, Upper Canada on 24 June 1792.[10]

Under the Constitutional Act, the provincial government consisted of the Lieutenant-Governor, an appointed Executive Council and Legislative Council, and an elected Legislative Assembly. The first meeting of the nine-member Legislative Council and sixteen-member Legislative Assembly took place at Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) on September 17, 1792.

The Assembly passed the first Act Against Slavery in the British Empire in 1793, and the English colonists of Upper Canada took pride in this distinction with respect to the French-Canadian populace of Lower Canada. The Upper Canadians valued their common law legal system, as opposed to the code civil of Quebec, which had chafed them ever since 1763. This was one of the primary reasons for the partition of 1791. Simcoe collaborated extensively with his Attorney-General John White on the file.

The principles of the British Constitution do not admit of that slavery which Christianity condemns. The moment I assume the Government of Upper Canada under no modification will I assent to a law that discriminates by dishonest policy between natives of Africa, America, or Europe.
John Graves Simcoe, Address to the Legislative Assembly[12]

Slavery was thus ended in Upper Canada long before it was abolished in the British Empire as a whole. By 1810, there were no slaves in Upper Canada, but the Crown did not abolish slavery throughout the Empire until 1834.

Simcoe's first priority was the Northwest Indian War between the United States and the "Western Confederacy" of Native Americans west of the Appalachian Mountains and south of the Great Lakes (the Shawnee, Miami, Wyandot, and other tribes). This conflict had begun in 1785, and was still raging when Simcoe arrived in 1792. Simcoe had hoped to form an Indian buffer state between the two countries, even though he distrusted Joseph Brant, the main Indian leader. Simcoe rejected the section of the Treaty of Paris (1783) which awarded that area to the U.S., on the grounds that American actions had nullified the treaty.[13] However, the French Revolutionary Wars broke out in 1793. The government in London decided to seek good terms with the United States. Simcoe was instructed to avoid giving the U.S. reason to mistrust Britain but, at the same time, to keep the Native Americans on both sides of the border friendly to Britain. The Indians asked for British for military support, which was initially refused, but in 1794 Britain supplied the Indians with rifles and ammunition.[14]

In February 1794, the Governor-in-Chief, Lord Dorchester, expecting the U.S. to ally with France, said that war was likely to break out between the U.S. and Britain before the year was out. This encouraged the Indians in their war. Dorchester ordered Simcoe to rally the Indians and arm British vessels on the Great Lakes. He also built Fort Miami (present-day Maumee, Ohio) to supply the Indians. Simcoe expelled Americans from a settlement on the southern shore of Lake Erie which had threatened British control of the lake. U.S. President Washington denounced the "irregular and high-handed proceeding of Mr. Simcoe."[15] While Dorchester planned for a defensive war, Simcoe urged London to declare war: "Upper Canada is not to be defended by remaining within the boundary line."[16] Dorchester was officially reprimanded by the Crown for his strong speech against the Americans in 1794.

Simcoe realized that Newark made an unsuitable capital because it was on the American border and subject to attack. He proposed moving the capital to a more defensible position, in the middle of Upper Canada's southwestern peninsula between Lake Erie and Lake Huron. He named the new location London, and renamed the river there the Thames in anticipation of the change. Dorchester rejected this proposal, but accepted Simcoe's second choice, the present site of Toronto. Simcoe moved the capital there in 1793, and renamed the settlement York after Frederick, Duke of York, King George III's second son. The town was severely under developed at the time of its founding so he brought with him politicians, builders, Nova Scotia timber men, and Englishmen skilled in whipsawing and cutting joists and rafters.[17]

Simcoe began construction of two roads through Upper Canada, for defence and to encourage settlement and trade. Yonge Street (named after British Minister of War Sir George Yonge) ran north-south from York to Lake Simcoe. Soldiers of the Queen's Rangers began cutting the road in August 1793, reaching Holland Landing in 1796. Dundas Street (named for Colonial Secretary Henry Dundas) ran east-west, between York and London.

The Northwest Indian War ended after the United States defeated the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. They made peace under the Treaty of Greenville. While still at war with France, Britain could not afford to antagonise the U.S. In the Jay Treaty of 1794, Britain agreed to withdraw north of the Great Lakes, as agreed in the Treaty of Paris (1783). Simcoe evacuated the frontier forts.

Later career

Memorial in Exeter Cathedral

In July 1796 poor health forced Simcoe to return to Britain. He was unable to return to Upper Canada and resigned his office in 1798.

He served briefly as the commander of British forces in Saint-Domingue (later Haiti). There, in the spring of 1797, he defended the coastal town of Saint Marc but lost Mirebalais and the Central Plateau to the forces of Toussaint Louverture, leader of the slave revolt.[18] This campaign signaled the end of the English attempt, in collaboration with planters, to restore slavery and other aspects of the ancien regime to take over the rich, sugar-producing island while France was involved in internal affairs of its Revolution.[19][20]

Simcoe was commissioned Colonel of the 81st Foot in 1798, but exchanged the position for the 22nd Foot less than six months later. He was also commander of the Western District in Britain. In 1806, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, India (to succeed Cornwallis, who had died shortly after arriving in India.) Simcoe died in Exeter before assuming the post. Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake, was reappointed to replace Simcoe.

Simcoe was buried in Wolford Chapel on the Simcoe family estate near Honiton, Devon. The Ontario Heritage Foundation acquired title to the chapel in 1982.

Legacy

The 1903 unveiling of the General John Graves Simcoe monument at Queen's Park in Toronto.

Many places in Canada were named in honour of Simcoe:

There are two places named for Simcoe with the title Lord, but Simcoe was not made a Lord in his lifetime. They are the following:

Captain John Kennaway Simcoe, the last member of the Simcoe family, died without issue in 1891 and was survived by widow beyond 1911.[1]

In fiction

Footnotes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Graves Simcoe.
  1. 1 2 The Distributed Proofreaders Canada eBook of The Diary of Mrs. John Graves Simcoe, by J. Ross Robertson. Fadedpage.com (2012-07-06). Retrieved on 2013-07-24.
  2. 1 2 3 Read the ebook Visitation of England and Wales (Volume 5) by Joseph Jackson Howard (page 14 of 25). Ebooksread.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-24.
  3. Slater, John G. (2005). Minerva's Aviary: Philosophy at Toronto, 1843-2003. University of Toronto Press. p. 3. ISBN 0802038700.
  4. Union Lodge. Minute Book (1766–1789). p113.
  5. Jarvis Archives and Museum "John Graves Simcoe and the Queen's Rangers." Accessed May 8, 2015.
  6. Hester, John. "Queen's Rangers raid brings destruction and terror." NJ.com Accessed May 8, 2015
  7. Cote, Joe (August 4, 2008). "If you don't like Toronto, blame him". Toronto Star (Torstar). pp. AA6.
  8. Wilson, W. R. (2007). "John Graves Simcoe". Retrieved September 16, 2008.
  9. A Journal of the Operations of the Queen's Rangers, from the End of the Year 1777, to the Conclusion of the Late American War, 1787
  10. 1 2 3 Dictionary of Canadian Biography SIMCOE, JOHN GRAVES
  11. Gerald M. Craig, Upper Canada: the formative years, 1784-1841 (1963) ch 2
  12. Early Canada Historical Narratives "An Act to Prevent the Further Introduction of Slaves"
  13. Taylor, pg. 269
  14. S. R. Mealing, “SIMCOE, JOHN GRAVES,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography (2003)
  15. Taylor, pg. 284
  16. Taylor, pg. 287
  17. Peppiatt, Liam. "Chapter 46: The Smith Homesteads". Robertson's Landmarks of Toronto Revisited.
  18. Madison Smartt Bell, Toussaint Louverture, New York: Vintage Books, 2007, p.143
  19. Fryer, Mary B.; Dracott, Christopher (1998). "17 San Domingo". John Graves Simcoe, 1752-1806: A Biography. Toronto: Dundurn Press.
  20. Smith, Donald b (1987). "Simcoe in Haiti". Horizon Canada (112).
  21. "History - The Townsend Family and Raynham Hall". Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  22. Townsend Cemetery#History
  23. The real Castle Frank
  24. 1 2 Holidays in the Provinces and Territories Archived September 2, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
  25. 1 2 Toronto.com – A holiday with history Archived July 25, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
  26. April 20, 2014. "Turn – Cast – Amc". Amctv.com. Retrieved 2014-05-17.

Further reading

Primary sources

External links

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Sir William Young
Hugh Boscawen
Member of Parliament for St Mawes
1790–1792
Succeeded by
Sir William Young
Thomas Calvert
Government offices
Preceded by
new title under Governor in Chief of British North America Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester
Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada
1791–1796
Succeeded by
Peter Russell
Military offices
Preceded by
Sir Hew Dalrymple
Colonel of the 81st Regiment of Foot
1798
Succeeded by
Sir Henry Johnson
Preceded by
William Crosbie
Colonel of the 22nd (the Cheshire) Regiment of Foot
1798–1806
Succeeded by
Sir James Henry Craig
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