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Key Events in the History of Nova Scotia: 1809.
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[Backward In Time (1808)]
[Forward In Time (1810)]
§From the Halifax paper, the Royal Gazette, established c.1790, its edition of Tuesday, January 19th: "Married, Thursday evening, by the Rev. Dr. Stanser, Richard Uniacke, Attorney General, &c., to Miss Eliza Newton, daughter of the late Captain Newton, of H.M. 45th regt." (Murdoch.)
§April 15: Prevost with his troops arrives back at Halifax after having captured Martinique.
§On Monday, August 1st: Six men, viz., the boatswain, three seamen and two marines attempted a mutiny off St. Andrews on sloop H.M.S. Columbine.
§September 18th: The six mutinous seamen of the Columbine are "hung in gibbets on Mauger's beach."
§Horse racing is carried on by the officers of the garrison; the Rockingham Club holds diners. As the artist, Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786-1846) was to write in his autobiography: "Wherever the British settle, wherever they colonise, they carry and will ever carry trial by jury, horse-racing and portrait-painting."
§James Madison (1751-1836) is sworn in as President (4th) of the United States. He served from 1809 to 1817.
§May 19th, Halifax: Prevost transmits a copy of John Howe's (Joe's father) showing the results of his secret mission. Prevost points out "the merit of Mr. Howe who has traversed the United States from North to South, in pursuit of intelligence, and has proven himself an industrious gleaner and a judicious observer. The information that I received from Mr. Howe in December, respecting the disposition of the Eastern States, was so satisfactory, that on it I decided on proceeding to the West Indies. I therefore recommend him to the favourable consideration of His Majesty's Ministers."
§August 30th: Lt. Governor gives directions to continue working on the Chester-St. Margaret's Bay Road.
§September 7th: The government responded to Messrs. Robt. Letson & Son, Sadlers and Harness Makers, advising that the current Lt Governor (Prevost) will "assume no liability for the debt which was the subject of their memorial." It is suggested "that they apply to Sir John Wentworth that he [Letson] include their demand in his unsettled accounts."
§September: The Keeper of the Sambro Light House is Mathew Pennell.
§October: With the death of the Duke of Portland, Spencer Perceval became the English Prime Minister and Liverpool (1779-1828) Secretary for War and the Colonies. "Perceval remains one of those insubstantial, shadowy prime ministers of the first third of the nineteenth century: Addington, Perceval, Liverpool, Goderich -- unrealizable figures when placed beside Pitt, Peel, Wellington, Gladstone, or Disraeli." [Spater, William Cobbett: The Poor Man's Friend (Cambridge University Press, 1982) at vol.#1, p.208.]
§November 24th: The Lt. Governor recommends the payment of John Howe's bill for "extra printing for the government."
§In the political circles of London there was the sordid question as was raised by the case of Mrs Clarke. I quote G. M. Trevelyan [Lord Grey of the Reform Bill (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1929, 2nd ed. at pp. 166-7]: "The Duke of York, so long commander-in-chief, had a mistress, Mrs. Clarke, who quarrelled with him and sought revenge. Under the patronage of a member of Parliament of low character named Wardle, she brought forward her charges. She was able to prove that she had received money from officers to use her influence on their behalf with her royal lover. All England was ablaze. ... the agitation, though not officially supported, had done more to stir up popular feeling against the Tory Government, the Royal Family, and the whole oligarchic system ..."
§October 23rd: The 50th anniversary of the reign of King George the 3rd, His Jubilee, was celebrated at Halifax with "great ceremony."
§November 23rd, Monday: Edward Jordan is hung on the beach near Freshwater Bridge; "hung in chains" on Black Rock Point. Jordon was convicted of piracy and murder on board the Three Sisters, September 13th, 1809.
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[Backward In Time (1808)]