Early Nova Scotians:
1800-1867.
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-B-- Barss, Joseph (1776-1824):
- A native of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Barss was a ship’s captain, privateer, and businessman.
- Bartlett, Wm. Henry (1809-54):
- Bartlett, a travel book illustrator, came to Canada in 1838. There were many travel book illustrators that went about their business in the 19th century: Bartlett, however, was different, in that -- in addition to being an accomplished artist -- he "travelled to all the places he drew." His output was "prodigious" and most all of it ended up in the hands of the engravers. Canadian Scenery, is a very handsome two volume work brought in England in 1842; it is a very valuable set of books these days, containing 120 steel engravings of drawings done by Bartlett, a number of them are scenes in and about Nova Scotia, depicting it as it was, in 1838.
- Bathurst, Henry, 3rd Earl of Bathurst (1762-1834):
- In 1812, Bathurst was appointed Secretary of State for War and Colonies; he remained in this position for the next fifteen years.
- Berkeley, Sir George Cranfield: (b.1753, d.1818 at London):
- Vice-Admiral Berkeley was the Commander-in-chief of the North American and West Indian Stations in 1806. He was the third son of Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley. "After his education at Eton College, George Cranfield Berkeley entered the Royal Navy in 1766. From 1767 to 1769 he served on the Guernsey under Hugh Palliser at Newfoundland, and in 1774 he was promoted lieutenant. In 1780 he became a captain, and the same year commanded the sloop Fairy off Newfoundland, capturing nine American privateers. Promoted rear-admiral in 1799 and vice-admiral in 1805, in 1806 he was named commander of the North American squadron, his first independent command." (DCB) Berkeley came to Halifax in July of 1806 to take up his duties. He alternated between Halifax and Bermuda. In 1808, after the "Chesapeake Incident" of 1807, Berkeley was sent to command the squadron on the coast of Portugal from 1808 to 1812.
- Bouchette, Joseph (1774-1841):
- An English army engineer, and, artist, who was with the troops in the Duke of Kent's regiment at Halifax, c. 1800.
- Blowers, Sampson Salter (1742-1842):
- Born in Boston, Blowers was educated at Harvard and was soon at the bar where he gained a reputation as a good trial lawyer. When the trouble between Great Britain and the colonies sprang up, particularly at Boston, Blowers retreated with his wife to England, returning, however, to Rhode Island in 1777. With British reverses mounting, Blowers, like many of the loyalists, went to the safety of New York where he was appointed its Solicitor General. With the final evacuation of New York by the British forces in 1783, Blowers came to Halifax. Blowers sought to practice law but things were slow at first, as, "there was no need of lawyers." His loyalty to the crown, however, was to pay off. In December, 1784, Blowers, in view of his experience at New York, was appointed the Attorney General for Nova Scotia. Uniacke expected that he should have gotten the position as Attorney General; but all he was to get at that time, in compensation, was the position as advocate general of the Vice-Admiralty Court, an appointment, incidently, that Blowers thought he should get in addition to that of Attorney General. Sufficient to say, at this place, that there was to be a great animosity between Uniacke and Blowers. In 1797, Blowers was appointed the Chief Justice of Nova Scotia. Doubtlessly, such positions as Blowers did receive during his career, came about because of his connections; but, Blowers was a very talented lawyer. As Justice Marshall was to write: Blowers was "truly eminent for a high standard of legal knowledge, logical skill, and power of argument and chasteness and attractiveness of language ..." In his retirement, Blowers was to spend his summers at Windsor (like so may of the elite of Halifax) and his winters at his townhouse at Halifax. Blowers was to die at the grand old age of 100.
- Broke, Philip Bowes Vere (1776-1841):
- The British captain of the victorious ship, HMS Shannon which captured the USS Chesapeake on June 1st, 1813. For a description of the event which includes a brief biographical note on Broke, see The Shannon and the Chesapeake.
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-C-- Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount (1769-1822):
- Castlereagh was an English politician, an examplar of Foreign ministers to all nations for all times, and on how they should conduct negotiations: "... in March 1812, when, as foreign secretary under Lord Liverpool, he became the soul of the coalition against Napoleon in 1813-15 ..." (Chambers.)
- Cochrane, Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis: (1758-1832):
- Vice-Admiral Cochrane was the Commander-in-chief of the North American and West Indian Stations for the year 1813. He was the father of Thomas John Cochrane. At the beginning of the war, c. 1793, Cochrane was appointed to be the captain of the Thetis, of 42 guns and 261 men. "During the spring and summer of 1793, he captured eight French privateers" off the American coast. "In February, 1799, he was appointed to the Ajax, of 80 guns, and sent in the following year upon the expedition against Quiberon, Belleisle, and Ferrol." In 1810, Cochrane was appointed governor and commander-in-chief of Guadaloupe and its dependencies and continued in that capacity until war broke out with the United States when he was appointed to the command of the fleet on the coast of North America. In 1815, Cochrane returned to England where he was raised to the rank of full admiral in 1819. [ This information was found on http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/cochrane_alexander.htm : 10/1/2005 ]
- Cochrane, Sir Thomas John: (b.1789, d. in England in 1872):
- Eldest son of Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane. "During their careers both Thomas John Cochrane and his father excited a great deal of envy and provoked considerable acid comment against themselves. Earl St Vincent [John Jervis] stated that the 'Cochranes are not to be trusted. They are all mad, romantic, money-getting and not truth-telling.' Reputedly Sir Alexander practised nepotism unduly, as when he entered his seven-year-old son on the books of his ship Thetis as a volunteer in 1796 and kept him under his pennant until 1805, when Thomas was promoted lieutenant on Jason. He became its captain in 1806 and saw service on it in the West Indies until 1809. By 1825 Thomas Cochrane had put in 26 years of service in the Royal Navy, including eight years on the North American Station, which were presumed to have been useful experience for his appointment as governor of Newfoundland on 16 April of that year." (DCB)
- Collins, Enos (1774-1871):
- Croke, Sir Alexander (1758-1843):
- Judge of the Admiralty Court at Nova Scotia, 1808-15.
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-D-- James Delancey (1747-1804):
- DeLancey's grandfather was Stephen DeLancey who is well known to the early history of New York. The DeLanceys took the wrong side in the American Revolution and fled the new, United States. They came to settle along the Annapolis River in Nova Scotia
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-F-- Freeman, Capt. Joseph
- Freeman was the captain of a number of privateers working out of Liverpool, including the Charles Mary Wentworth. "He was respected by naval officers, and enjoyed an equality with them accorded to few privateersmen."[C. H. J. Snider's Under The Red Jack (Toronto: Musson, n.d.) at p 132.] After the war he was to become a member of the legislature. "He had commanded the Liverpool privateers Charles Mary Wentworth, Nymph, and Duke of Kent in the French wars, between 1798 and 1805. The War of 1812 found him prospering as a mariner and merchant, forty-four years of age, keen, seasoned, ripe in experience. He was a strict disciplinarian, and kept his privateer in the same state of efficiency as if she had flown the whiplash pendant of the Royal Navy. Every Sunday morning the hands were turned up and he read them the articles of war." [C. H. J. Snider's Under The Red Jack (Toronto: Musson, n.d.) at p 132.] [See, too, James F. More's History of Queens County (Halifax: N.S. Print, 1873) at pp. 138-44.]
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-G-- Garneau, Fancois-Xavier Garneau (1809-66)
- See separate page on the Garneau, a French Canadian author.
- Godfrey, Alexander (d.1803):
- Born in New England, Godfrey came to Liverpool in 1784. He was the captain of the famed privateer Rover. "Captain Godfrey was a man considerably beyond the ordinary size, of an exceedingly quiet demeanour and retiring disposition." He died in 1803 of yellow fever, while on a trip to Jamaica. [See, "Notes on Nova Scotian Privateers" NSHS, #13 (1908), p. 129; and see James F. More's History of Queens County (Halifax: N.S. Print, 1873) at pp. 169-74.]
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-H-- Haliburton, Thomas Chandler (1796-1865):
- From Nova Scotia, Haliburton was: a lawyer, politician, judge, and writer. He made for himself an international reputation through his fictional character, Sam Slick.
- Hartshorne, Lawrence (1755-1822):
- Hartshorne, from a Quaker family which had established itself in New Jersey, came up with the loyalists when the final evacuation of New York by the British forces occurred in 1783. In Halifax, he became a hardware dealer, in partnership with a Thomas Boggs, of whom, other than he was a fellow refugee from New Jersey, I know little about. Hartshorne chances of making his way up the social ladder, as with so many loyalists who came to the Nova Scotia, were greatly increased when John Wentworth was named the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia in 1792. Indeed, it has been suggested (DCB) that it was this connection to Wentworth which helped Hartshorne to win, by election, a seat in the House of Assembly for Halifax County in 1793. (He was defeated in the general election of 1799 by one of the reformers under the leadership of Tonge. But then, as it seems yet today, a defeat of a person loyal to the head man, in this case Wentworth, meant a cushy appointment in the governmental setup; in this case, for Hartshorne, a seat on the ruling Council. In and around 1792, Hartshorne formed a partnership with Richard Tremain; the pair were responsible for building a combined grist-mill and bakehouse at Dartmouth, across the harbour from Halifax Harbour. His partnership with Boggs continued and indeed flourished when war came once again in 1793. Hartshorne continued to nurture his relationship with the governor, including, loaning "money to the frequently hard pressed Wentworth family." (DCB.) Though it is clear that Hartshorne's good fortune in business was brought on by his connection to the Wentworths, even when Wentworth was suddenly replaced by Prevost, Hartshorne continued to be in the good graces of government; and, often when special inquiries were to be made, such as whether the province should issue paper money (1812), Hartshorne was consulted. Hartshorne was married before he came to Nova Scotia, as a loyalist from New Jersey. He married a second time in 1802, to Abigail Tremain, the daughter of his business partner. There were children from both of his marriages, a family of three sons and six daughters.
- Holland, Captain Samuel Johannnes:
- Captain Holland was among the leading lights in the post war reconstruction of Nova Scotia.
- Howe, Joseph (1804-73):
- Beloved figure in early Nova Scotian political history.
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-I-- Inglis, Bishop Charles (1734-1816):
- Charles Inglis was a loyalist leader during the American Revolution, and, coming to Nova Scotia, became the first Anglican Bishop whose diocese was outside of Britain. Inglis is credited with being the founder of the oldest overseas English University and boys' residential school.
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-J-- (Click on letter to go to index.)
-K-- Kent, Edward, Duke of
(1767-1820):- Edward was the fourth son of George III. (He had a great crowd of brothers and sisters.) Except for a sojourn back to England during the winter of 1798/99, for health reasons, Edward resided at Halifax between May, 1796 and September, 1799. He was at Halifax to serve the King, his father; first, as the Commander of the garrison at Halifax; then (1799) as the Commander in Chief of British Forces in North America. One of the reasons he was called back to London was to father an heir, which he did, in 1817: Queen Victoria.
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-L-- Liverpool, Robert Banks Jenkinson, Earl of (1770-1828):
- Lord Liverpool succeeded Perceval who was assassinated in the lobby of the House of Commons on May 11th, 1812. Liverpool had the good sense to speak plainly and not too often which is a fact which likely led to his long tenure (1812-27). Lord Castlereagh with Lord Liverpool's elevation was to become the Foreign Secretary.
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-M-- McNutt, Colonel Alexander (1725-1811):
- McNutt was a colonizer and land agent who was responsible for the founding of New Dublin and Londonderry by bring in Irishmen during the years 1761 and 1762.
- Mitchell, Admiral Andrew (d.1806):
- Vice-Admiral Mitchell was the Commander-in-chief of the North American and West Indian Stations in 1802-1806. Could not find out too much about Admiral Mitchell. There was a short bit in Murdoch: "Married, at Halifax, May 3, 1805, [at] ... St. Paul's, Vice Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell, K.B., commander-in-chief of H.M. Fleet on that station, to Miss Mary Uniacke, eldest daughter of R.J. Uniacke, esq'r., of this town; and Thomas N. Jeffery, esq'r., Collector of H.M. Customs, to Miss Martha Maria Uniacke, second daughter of the same gentleman."
- Moody, James (1745-1809):
- Moody was from New Jersey. He married Elizabeth Brittain, by whom he had three children. [See, "The Moody Families of Weymouth and Yarmouth" by John Wentworth Moody, NSHR#3:2(1983) at p.89.] When the American Revolution broke out, Moody, while initially quite happy to stay out of the conflict, was drawn in on the British side. He became a member of the New Jersey Volunteers, and because of his knowledge of the territory was to lead a number of raids on rebel strongholds. At one point in the conflict, Moody was taken as a prisoner, however, he managed to escape and returned to active service with the British forces. He was sent, at one point, "to break into the state-house at Philadelphia, Pa, and steal congressional books and documents. The plan was exposed, and he was forced to spend two days in a cornstack without food or water to avoid capture. His brother, who had accompanied him, was caught and executed as a spy." (DCB.) By 1782, the result of the war between Great Britain and its former colonies became predictable. When James Moody had an opportunity to escape to England, he did so, leaving his new wife and his children behind with his father. [His first wife, Elizabeth took a bad fall from a horse during one of those times that Moody was off fighting the rebels; she died from her injuries. James remarried a widow, Jane Robinson Lynson (Lynston) at New York in March of 1782; there was to be no issue from this second marriage.] He spent four years in England during which time he managed to obtain compensation and a pension as a result of his efforts in America on the side of the English. He determined to return to America, to the British colony of Nova Scotia. He arrived at Halifax in the spring of 1786. (See, "Loyalist Squire, Loyalist Church" by Susan Burgess Shenstone, NSHR#3:2(1983) at p. 73.) "By the summer of 1788, James Moody had become well established in his new situation at Sissiboo. His father was now dead, and he had retrieved his nearly grown children from New Jersey. Already he was described as a 'public benefactor to the settlement,' every Sunday reading 'prayers and a sermon in his own house to a number of his neighbours who attend.'" (Shenstone, p. 74.) Moody was to represent Annapolis County in the legislature for a number of years beginning in 1793. We see (Shenstone, p. 70) where Moody was responsible for building a number of ocean going sailing vessels. His first vessel appears to be the 250 ton ship, the Loyalist, which he built at the mouth of the Sissibo River. Moody died in 1809 and was buried in the churchyard of St. Peter's, a small Anglican church which was built mostly through the encouragement and efforts of Moody.
- Morris, Charles (1731-02):
- At first I thought there was only one Charles Morris, then I realized that there were three: grandfather, father & son. Here we deal with the father, viz. the eldest child of Charles Morris and Mary Read. The younger Charles married Elizabeth Bond Leggett. They were to have eleven children. As the eldest son, it will not be surprising to read that he was to succeed his father as the Surveyor General for Nova Scotia. Between 1770 and 1785 Charles served in the House of Assembly. He was registrar of the Vice-Admiralty Court from 1771 until his death, registrar of wills and probate from 1792 to 1798, surrogate general of the Probate Court from 1798 to 1802, and a justice of the peace. In 1785, Charles took a seat at the Council table (similar to our modern day cabinet). "Despite his complaints of the expenses of his offices, Morris amassed a considerable estate, probably through his property transactions." (DCB.)
- Morris, Charles (1759-31):
- At first I thought there was only one Charles Morris, then I realized that there were three: grandfather, father & son. Here we deal with the son, viz. the child of Charles Morris (1731-02) and Elizabeth Leggett. This Charles married Charlotte Pernette. They were to have Fifteen children. (There has to be a lot of descendants from these Morrises, here in Nova Scotia and beyond.) Morris was to succeed to the job held by his father and his grandfather, to being the Surveyor General. During the war years he was a captain (later major) in the Halifax militia. He was also, we read in the DCB, a justice of the peace, registrar of wills and probate from 1798, and from 1802 surrogate general of the court of probate and registrar of the Vice-Admiralty Court. We further read: "Besides his difficulties as surveyor general [everyone was looking for a grant of land from the government], Morris encountered problems from his duties in the Vice-Admiralty Court. In 1805 actions taken against him in the High Court of Appeals in England for the refund of commissions of more than £1,200 put him to great expense before the case was settled in his favour." The fourth in the line of Morrises was also to take the position of Nova Scotia's Surveyor General, when, in April of 1831, John Spry Morris, took over his father's office in charge of crown lands.
- Murray, Vice-Admiral George (1759-1819):
- Vice-Admiral Murray was the Commander-in-chief of the North American and West Indian Stations in 1794-1796. Murray made lieutenant in 1778; Captain, 1782; Rear-admiral, 1804; Vice-admiral, 1809. In 1795 he commanded the Nymphe (36). We see that during June of 1800, Murray was at Spithead as captain of the Achille (74; built in 1798).
As for reference of Murray at Halifax, we have this:
1794: "... news [Rec's July 25th] that Admiral Murray has fell in with the second fleet that sailed from the Chesapeake for France, under convoy of the Concorde & some smaller ships, said to consist of about fifty sail, and that the convoy & the whole fleet are taken. Some of the men-of-war and some of the prizes are arrived at Halifax. This fleet being loaded with flour, bread, etc. will be a great acquisition to us, and a material loss to the French. (Simeon Perkins.)
1796: "6 June ... A vessel arrived from Halifax reports that a Commodore is arrived at Halifax in a sixty gun ship, that Admiral Murray is to go home." (Perkins.)
1796: "14 September ... News that Admiral Murray's Squadron has captured a French Frigate of 44 guns & carried her into Halifax." (Perkins.)- (Click on letter to go to index.)
-N-- (Click on letter to go to index.)
-O-- Ogilvie, General James (c.1740-1813):
- I have not been able to find out too much on Ogilvie. He was made Commander-in-Chief at Halifax in 1789 and stayed in that position until 1794. (Piers'.) In the DCB we find: "The 4th was posted to Halifax, N.S., in 1787, and upon arrival Ogilvie was made brigadier commanding the Nova Scotia district. Little is known about his relations with Lieutenant Governor John Parr, but those with Lieutenant Governor John Wentworth were strained, largely because their jurisdictions overlapped." With war having been declared between England and France in 1793, an expedition was fitted out at Halifax under General Ogilvie which sailed to the French Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon. These French Islands gave up without a fight and a population of 1500 French inhabitants surrendered to the English authorities. Six hundred of them were brought to Halifax that June and imprisoned. In 1798, with the arrival of the Duke of Kent, Ogilvie was appointed as the administrator of Cape Breton. On June 20th, Ogilvie and his suite boarded the "H.M Sloop of War Rover (18 guns, Captain George Irvinat) at Halifax and sailed for Sydney. On June 24th the Rover struck on "a ledge of rocks near the Island of Scatari, one life was lost, and although efforts were made to save the rigging and other materials the Rover was expected to be totally lost on Point Nova." (Fergusson) Notwithstanding the wreck of the Rover, Ogilvie made it to Sydney, there to occupy his administrative post. Ogilvie did not last long in this difficult position. After returning to Halifax in 1799, he held on until the Duke received his appointment, after which it seems he retired to London where de died in 1813.
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-P-- Parker, Vice-Admiral, Sir William (1743--1802):
- Vice-Admiral Parker was the Commander-in-chief of the North American and West Indian Stations in 1800-1802. He was an experienced naval man but a controversial one. In May of 1798, Nelson was picked to re-establish the British navy's power in the Mediterranean. (In August of that year Nelson destroyed Napoleon's fleet in the Battle of the Nile.) This choice made Parker furious, not only because Nelson was his junior, but it would seem he thought Nelson took too much credit for the successful outcome of the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in the previous year (February, 1797), and, in particular, the taking of the San Josef. Parker was of the view that Nelson took too much credit for the taking of this 112 gun, first-rate, Spanish man-o-war. Commodore Nelson, Parker was of the view, boarded the San Josef and took possession of her alright, but only after the HMS Prince George, a ship presumably under the charge of Rear-Admiral Parker, had already pounded her into submission.
- Perkins, Simeon (1734-1812):
- Born in Connecticut, Perkins came to Liverpool, N.S., in 1762. He became a leading citizen of Liverpool. Perkins is likely best known to historians because he kept a "comprehensive and voluminous diary" between the years 1766-1812 and it has proven to be a valuable resource to the history of the province during this period.
- Prevost, Sir George (1767-1816):
- Sir George Prevost was the military Governor of Nova Scotia between the years, 1808 to 1811.
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-Q-- (Click on letter to go to index.)
-R-- (Click on letter to go to index.)
-S-- Seely, Caleb (1787-1869):
- One of the commanders of arguably the most successful privateer in Nova Scotia, the Liverpool Packet. "Caleb Seely was born August 31st, 1787, and died February 14th, 1869, a fine old man of eighty-one. He gave up privateering in October, 1814, and became an extensive shipowner and merchant in Liverpool, at first in partnership with his friend, Enos Collins, whose sister, Phoebe, he married, and later on his own account."[C. H. J. Snider's Under The Red Jack (Toronto: Musson, n.d.) at p 44.]
- Sherbrooke, Sir John Coape (c.1764-1830):
- Army officer and colonial administer. Sherbrooke was appointed the Lt.-Governor of Nova Scotia in 1811, a position he was to stay in until 1816.
- Strange, Thomas Andrew Lumisden (1756-1841):
- After an aristocratic education (Westminster School and then Christ Church, Oxford) Thomas Strange went to the law. On October 20th, 1789, he was appointed Chief Justice of Nova Scotia and President of the Council and continued in that capacity until 1797.
(Click on letter to go to index.)
-T-- Tonge, William Cottnam (1764-1832):
- William Cottnam Tonge was the eldest son of Winckworth Tonge who came to Nova Scotia with the British army in 1746. After the war, the senior Tonge settled in Nova Scotia and held a number of important positions within the government of Nova Scotia. The oldest son, of whom we write, followed along in his father's footsteps. In 1792, William Cottnam Tonge was elected to the Assembly and succeeded his father as the Naval Officer.
- Tremain, Richard (1774-1854):
- Tremain's life in Nova Scotia is closely allied to that of his partner, Lawrence Hartshorne. Tremain's father built up at New York City "a successful mercantile business." To be successful in business at New York meant the family had solid royal connections; so, at the end of the American Revolution, like thousand of others, the Tremains fled, in their case to Quebec. (Richard had a younger brother, James. I have not been able to sort out their respective mercantile activities. This is the case also with the Hartshornes, there was a Robert and a Lawrence.) Three years after moving to Quebec, in 1786, the Tremains moved on to Halifax, there to go into business with Hartshorne. Richard Tremain married, in 1801, Mary Boggs; they had seven daughters and five sons. During the war years, and especially when the Americans were back to fighting the British: "Much of his business involved the purchase of prize goods for later sale in the United States, a lucrative enterprise at the height of the War of 1812." (DCB.) By 1826, Tremain had sold his interests in his Dartmouth properties, and, thereafter, "withdrew from active business, his income apparently being that of a rentier." He built an estate in the southern suburbs of Halifax, Oakland. He continued on his community activities, which included: being, for a time, president of the chamber of commerce; churchwarden of St Paul’s; chairman of the Halifax firewards; lieutenant-colonel in the local militia; commissioner of the house of correction (1825 to 1831); deputy chairman and treasurer of the poor-house commission (1826 to 1830). Notwithstanding all of his public spirited activities, Tremain came under the gun of Joseph Howe who railed against the existing order during that time in Nova Scotia (the subject of a separate book), during the middle third of the 19th century when the aristocracy ran out of power and the people claimed it for themselves through their elected representatives. After that, as Professor Sutherland observed in his brief biographical sketch of the man in the DCB, Tremain's "personal affairs appear to have suffered considerable decline. The bankruptcy of his brother John in the mid 1830s and the related loss of £800 had undermined his financial security. Then, in 1848, his house at Oakland burned. Tremain’s death six years later drew no more response than a two-line obituary notice in the Halifax Church Times."
-U-
- Uniacke, Richard (1753-1830):
- See separate page on the Uniacke.
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-W-
- Wallis, Sir Provo William Parry (1791-1892):
- Wallis was born in Halifax. During the 19th century, Wallis' career in the British Navy led to the highest level, Admiral of the Fleet. His notoriety stems back to the time that he was a young lieutenant when he served under Broke on the Shannon. He was with them both, when, on June 1st, 1813, the USS Chesapeake was captured off of Boston. For a description of that event which includes a brief biographical note on Wallis, see The Shannon and the Chesapeake.
- Warburton, George (1816-57):
- Warburton, an army officer, was born in Ireland. He was stationed at Montreal from Sep 4, 1844 to Jul '45 and from Dec 19th, '45 to Mar 1st, '47. That knowledge of George Warburton comes down to us is a credit to his brother, Eliot (1810-52). Eliot, a lawyer by training, made a living as a travel writer. (DCB.) Eliot, an acquaintance of de Tocqueville, must have convinced his brother George that if he wrote of his travels he, Eliot, would see it through the press. Eliot, himself, got off on his own adventures; and, indeed, was lost off the coasts of South America "sailing to Panama ... lost in the Amazon." (Chambers.) It is George, however, in which we, as admirers of early Canadian history, have the most interest: Hochelaga was to become staple reading material for a generation of travellers to Canada. Warburton's two historical works are Hochelaga and The Conquest of Canada (1534-1760).
- Warren, Admiral, Sir John Borlase (1753-1822):
- Vice-Admiral Warren was the Commander-in-chief of the North American and West Indian Stations during the years 1807-1810, then again in 1812. Warren, not like too many of his kind, attended Cambridge and received both a B.A. (1773) and a M.A. (1776). Since 1771, all along, Warren was in the navy; though apparently he did not have to spend too much time with his naval brothers. His family was that connected, that, in 1774, he was elected to parliament and "sat for several constituencies between then and 1807." (DCB.) In 1775, he became a baronet; inherited through his family line.
Warren became familiar with American waters when the Revolutionary War was under way. He was then serving on British ships as a young officer. During the war with revolutionary France beginning in 1793, he was conspicuous in a number of actions in the English Channel. From the DCB we learn that in concert with the British squadrons, in 1796, there was "captured 220 sail, including 37 naval vessels." After climbing the naval ladder, in 1810, be became an admiral in the British navy. It was in 1807, as already mentioned, that he was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Halifax station.
Admiral Mahan wrote that Warren was "a man of courtly manners," "an officer of good fighting record, but from his previous career esteemed less a seaman than a gallant man."- Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of (1769-1852):
- To confess an interest in the history of these times, obliges one to take in account, "The Iron Duke." He was born in Ireland, the fourth son to a poor, tough aristocratic family. The family somehow managed to send young Arthur off to Eton, from there to a French military school at Angers for a year. The young Wellesley was not a good student, but he changed himself around in the British army and he seriously set himself about the business of becoming a proper "Regimental Officer." In 1787, Wellesley received an ensign's commission; he soon achieved captain. He "learned how things should not be done, and he carefully took note of the lesson." (Chambers.) In 1797, he went with his regiment to India, where both the English and the French were pushing one another around to determine just who owned what. Having proved himself to be a superior officer, and diplomat when dealing with the various Indian factions, Wellesley returned home in 1805. In 1806 he married and shortly after that became a member of parliament. In support of a Spanish rising, in July, 1808, Wellesley was called to duty and the "Sepoy General," as his detractors called him, led the first small British force of 9000 men into the Peninsula of Spain; a gate into the hostile fortress of Napoleonic Europe. Eventually, Wellesley and his soldiers did something not one European army had been able to do since the beginning of the war in 1793: they beat Napoleon. Wellesley drove the French army out of Spain and brought them to submission at Toulouse in 1814. With the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 bringing the war to a final end, Wellesley became much fêted; both his own government and foreign governments -- so thankful they were to be rid of Napoleon -- hung many ribbons and labels on him. The Duke of Wellington, after the war, turned to politics and was active in a number of administrations culminating in him becoming the Prime Minister in 1827.
- Wentworth, Governor, Sir John (1737-1820):
- Coming from a family that had great influence, both in England and in the colonies, Wentworth was, first, the governor of New Hampshire, then after, the governor of Nova Scotia. He had a great impact on his times, an impact which is to be remembered today by the shape of our political institutions.
- White, Captain Gideon (1752-1833):
- Gideon White came to Shelburne in 1784 and became a successful merchant and farmer.
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