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Key Events in the History of Nova Scotia: 1811.
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[Forward In Time (1812)]
§With his father, George III, seriously ill, the Prince of Wales (1762-1830) took over as the Prince Regent. On his father's death, in 1820, the Prince Regent became George IV.
§"1811. January 19. Sir George Prevost transmitted to the Earl of Liverpool a petition from merchants and others, of Halifax, praying that the king would permit the coal mines in Nova Scotia to be opened and worked under such regulations as it might be advisable to establish. He tells the minister that there is evidence of coal abounding in this province, and that in parts of it, veins of coal were partially wrought by the proprietors of the soil whereon they are found, for their supply of fuel and their neighbours, notwithstanding the restraining clause inserted in all grants to prevent such practice; and he recommends that the petition be acceded to by the crown. (Some of the early grants only reserved mines of gold and silver.)" (Murdoch.)
§The Bill allowing £15,000 to be spent on roads and bridges is passed by the house, but returned by the Council. Same old problem, the rural areas, well represented in the house, want roads; and the Council, the members of which represent the interests of those in Halifax, do not.
§May 16: The British Man-of-war, Little Belt, 32 guns, a ship that came in and out of Halifax Harbour during these times, was met as sea by the American frigate the President a battle ensued. (It was June 12th, 1812, before the American Congress declared war on Britain.) The outcome was predictable. The President was a considerably larger vessel with better than 40 guns. Nine men were killed outright on the Little Belt, twenty-three wounded. She was badly damaged and there were many shot holes in her sides. Refusing to take any help from the President, the Little Belt slowly made her way to Halifax arriving there on May 26th. Much excitement at Halifax.
§May 27: A census is carried out in Great Britain.
§The Census Rolls of Cape Breton for 1811 are set out in Holland's Description Cape Breton Island (Halifax: PANS, Publication, No. 2; 1935) Appendix 'A' at p. 136 et seq. For example, at Arichat there are 108 males and 99 females between 14 and 60 years; 266 males and females unmarried; 31 above age 60; 85 males under 14; 102 females under 14; 178 cattle; 245 sheep; 4 horses; and 30 vessels.
§16 January, 1811: "W. Madden begs to acquaint the ladies and Gentlemen of Halifax, that he has fitted up Three Carriages etc. etc. .. these Carriages to be found on the stand fronting the Custom House ..."
§An act is passed establishing that grammar schools be built in certain parts of the province.[FN Murdoch, vol. 3, p. 306.]
§From the Halifax Gazette of May 1st, 1811: "Died, on Thursday morning last, in the 52d year of her age, Mrs Catharina Newton, wife of John Newton, esq'r, of this town. She was a woman of exemplary piety, and possessed of every domestic virtue." (Murdoch.)
§We see from the Halifax Gazette of May 15th, 1811, that a Captain Gisner is in command of the "6th Batt. Militia." (Murdoch.)
§"The "Ninth Assembly" dissolved and an election writ issued Aug 17th, 1811 and the "Tenth Assembly" was convened on February 6th, 1812 which lasted to 1818.
§August 13th: "The corner stone of the Provincial Building was laid yesterday by His Excellency Sir Geo. Prevost." (John Liddell, a merchant at Halifax, in his diary.)
§August 25th: Sailed the Frigate, H.M.S. Melampus, 36 guns, Capt. Hawker, for Quebec with His Excellency Sir Geo. Prevost, his family & suite passengers -- also H.M.S. Rattler, 16 guns, Capt. Gordon for Quebec. (John Liddell.)
§"On 16 October, General Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, K.B., arrived with his lady and family at Halifax, after 37 days passage from Portsmouth, in H.M.S. Manilla [36 guns]. At 10, A.M., Lady Sherbrooke and her sister landed, and went to Government House. His excellency landed at 11, at the king's slip, and was sworn in at the Council chamber." (Murdoch and Sherbrooke to Liverpool, October 19th, 1811.)
§"During the war on the Spanish peninsula, when news arrived of one of Lord Wellington's victories, the merchants of Halifax usually procured a military band, who, mounted on the flat roof of the market house, played marches and loyal tunes during the evening. Across the square, the merchants assembled in their reading room, (now occupied as city offices,) up stairs, and drank toasts in honour of the victory. Meanwhile, the people all illuminated their dwellings, and the young and cheerful visited from house to house, where all comers were welcomed, or sauntered about to view the effect of the illumination." (Murdoch.)
§"At this time, government and all other bills drawn on England could not be disposed of at less than 15 to 20 per cent." (Murdoch.)
§December 24th: The governor, by proclamation, opens the Port of Halifax to the vessels of Neutrals. (Haliburton.)
§An anti-slave trade bill, the Felony Act, was passed by the English Parliament; it killed the slave trade dead.
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