SIMCOE, JOHN GRAVES (1752-1806)

This article appears in Volume V25, Page 121 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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SIMCOE, JOHN GRAVES (1752-1806) , British soldier and first lieutenant-

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

of Upper Canada, was born at Cotter-stock, Northumberland, England, on the 25th of February 1752. His father, John Simcoe, who was a captain in the Royal Navy, died in 1759, and his only brother was drowned in early youth. During Simcoe's childhood the family removed to Exeter. He was sent to Eton at the age of fourteen, and three years later entered Merton College, Oxford. After two years of college life, he became

ensign

ENSIGN (through the Fr. enseigne from the Latin plural insignia)

in the 35th regiment, first seeing active service at Boston in 1775, and remaining in America during the greater part of the Revolutionary War. In 1776 he secured command of the Queen's Rangers with the rank of major. His military career in America ended with the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown (Oct. 19, 1781). He returned to England on parole, and for the next ten years divided his time between London and his family estate in Devon. In December
1782 he married Elizabeth Posthuma, only child of Colonel Thomas Gwillim of Old Court, Herefordshire. In 1790 he was elected member of parliament for St Mawes in

Cornwall

CORNWALL

, and at the close of his first session was appointed lieutenant-

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

of the new province of Upper Canada created under the Constitutional Act of 1791. He reached Kingston, Upper Canada, on the 1st of July 1792. There the first council was assembled, the government of the new province proclaimed, and the oaths of office taken. Immediately afterwards preparations were made for the election of the first

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

of assembly, which opened at Newark near the mouth of the Niagara river, on the 17th of September 1792. Simcoe's ideas of colonial government were dominated by military and aristocratic conceptions quite unsuited to the

pioneer

PIONEER

conditions of Upper Canada. Thus,
while his administration was characterized by the most dis- ecclesiastical

body

BODY

. interested devotion to what he conceived to be for the best interests of the province, it was rendered ineffective by the impracticable character of his projects and the friction which developed between himself and Lord Dorchester, the governor-general. He left Canada in September 1796, and was immediately afterwards sent on a mission to San Domingo, from which, however, he returned in a few months on account of ill-health. In October 1798 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general, and appointed colonel of the 22nd foot. During 'Soo--18ot he was in command at Plymouth. Desiring more active service, he was designated

commander

COMMANDER

-in-

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

for India to succeed Lord Lake, but before taking the appointment his health broke and he died at Exeter on the 26th of October 18o6.
See D. C. Scott, John

Graves

GRAVES, ALFRED PERCEVAL (1846— )

Si-woe (1905).

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