John Graves Simcoe, 1752-1806 Read online

  After they returned home, Simcoe was on edge. He wondered whether he should run for parliament again. He was negotiating through William Walcot to sell Elizabeth’s properties in Northamptonshire, so that he could consolidate his holdings in Devon. He had found the enclosures a great advantage:

  The Commissioners who reduce all its parts to money, for the purpose of division, have estimated my allotments in their present state, at upwards of Five Thousand Pounds per annum; and I have purchased all that has been sold, and mean to bid for the remainder that is to be sold to pay the expence; the amount will be less than Five Thousand Pounds.

  He would thus unite Wolford, Bywood and Windsor, nearly 10,000 acres “in a ring fence … I wish you could come and see us and suggest agricultural improvements.”:

  I have no estate that does not pay me nearer five than four per cent; and had I no family to provide for, for which purpose it is right to accumulate from income, I could extend my purchases to an immediate four percent, to any amount.

  He was succeeding as Lord of the Manor, yet so many promises had gone unfulfilled, even though his close friend was the Prime Minister. At Weymouth, he told Walcot, he had paid his duty:

  … and met as usual, with the most kind treatment, from the best friend I have ever known: His Majesty advised me not to hurry in selling, as many persons must soon want to purchase Estates on their return from foreign stations, and told me to have my Estate valued, above all things.19

  Wolford Chapel was now complete and the time had come for its dedication. Aunt Margaret Graves arrived from Bath, her first visit to Wolford Lodge since she had moved out while the Simcoes were in Upper Canada. Simcoe wrote to the Reverend John Pratt requesting him to conduct the ceremony “before our most valued Relation Mrs. Graves” wished to return to Bath:

  The chapel stands on the ancient precincts of a former church and over the bones of those who have departed centuries ago; circumstances that led me to prefer this site to the convenience of placing it adjoining the house.

  The family motto inscribed in the chapel was “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). The ceremony took place on 23 August 1802.20

  After Mrs. Graves left Wolford Lodge, the General and Mrs. Simcoe rode to Ugbrooke to visit the Cliffords. In the autumn they went travelling accompanied by Eliza. When his gout flared up, Simcoe returned home, while Elizabeth and Eliza went to London. On 11 November, Simcoe informed William Walcot that he would soon be sending an abstract of the title deeds to Aldwinkle, Elizabeth’s birth place. He was writing in a comfortable chair, reading history and waiting for his gout to subside.21

  Robert Clifford wrote on 30 November from the Hotel d’Orléans. He was taking advantage of the peace to visit his old haunts. Of the general situation in France, he warned his friend that French policy was the “Destruction of England.”22

  With the spring, Simcoe was spending considerable time in London. Robert Clifford’s prediction, unfortunately, turned out to be right. On 18 May 1803, Britain declared war on France. Britain refused to part with Malta, and Napoleon was interfering in the affairs of Italy and Switzerland. This news sent shivers up Simcoe’s spine. Robert Clifford was still in France. When he failed to arrive on the first mail packet after news of the resumption of hostilities became public, garbled rumours spread. Three English gentlemen had been hanged as spies, one of whom was likely Robert. During an emergency debate in parliament, John Bastard spoke on the fate of the English gentlemen. Simcoe drafted a letter to Lord Clifford commiserating over the fate of his “unfortunate brother.”23

  Out of the blue, Robert arrived in London. He had been detained, but a former officer of Dillon’s (Irish Jacobite) Regiment recognised him. He was temporarily released on Friday 20 May, on the understanding that he would not try to leave France until the next mail packet sailed on Monday. Robert boarded an English vessel that same Friday night, and brought along:

  … 200 weight of maps, plans and manuscripts of France and its environs which would in all probability have got me to the Temple [prison] … and as I had an order to let them pass at Dover, from the Treasury, they are safe in England without them being opened since they left Paris …

  With the help of Lord St. Vincent, Robert gained free entrance to the Admiralty, which “saved me £20 tax for my maps etc … I always fall on my legs, though sometimes gouty.”24

  Now that French threats had to be taken seriously again, Simcoe’s mind turned to national defense. On 7 June he wrote to the Duke of York to suggest building a set of towers along the coast, like those the Romans had erected in the Mediterranean. In 1794, the British had had difficulty taking such a tower at Cape Mortella, Corsica. He recalled that a tower had once stood in Plymouth, and he was enclosing some plans.25 (A series of Martello towers was built along the coast in 1804, and in the 1830s around Kingston, Upper Canada.)

  The General and Mrs. Simcoe had visited London, where they leased a house in Somerset Street, off Portman Square. They saw his old friend Thomas Milles, before going to Stowe to see the Marquis and Marchioness of Buckingham, thence to Bath and Wolford. To William Walcot, Simcoe wrote that he was fully occupied with enclosures. He was acquiring another 800 acres, and planning roads and out-buildings for the various new farms. (Enclosures have a bad reputation for depriving the common folk of grazing land for their animals. The old system was inefficient and needed reform. Simcoe’s reports on creating new farms added far more to the agricultural economy than what was lost through privatisation of the common lands.)

  Simcoe told Walcot that he had received a gift from “our Justices” some old armour he would “place in Battle array in the passage which leads to my Library.” He curtailed his book purchases when a farmhouse that burned down had to be replaced. He had bought Gorwell Farm in Hemyock, and some smaller properties, all with tenants. While in London, he trusted John Scadding implicitly, even to dealing with the enclosure commissioners, and with Lawyer Christopher Flood.

  Simcoe was again a lieutenant general on the staff, by authority of the King. His subordinates were Major Generals Thomas Garth, cavalry, Richard England, infantry, and John Calcraft, assisted by Messrs Grosvenor and Cawell, militia. The lord lieutenant reactivated the Devon Standing Committee, usually chaired by Fortescue himself. Again returns were compiled. Simcoe’s days were filled with inspections, surveys and field exercises. He had little time to spend with his family. Constant inspections proved the best method of keeping a good standard of efficiency. He travelled extensively, into Cornwall as well as Somerset and Devon — the inspecting officer for the entire Western District. Recruitment resumed for Volunteer Corps and individual companies, especially of light infantry. In the orders he issued, he stressed devotion to duty and discipline.

  John Bailey described the 1st and 2nd companies of the Honiton Volunteers, who exercised at Wolford. After practising firing, the General would treat them to “a nice dinner have tables fixe throo the avennue for 2 hundred of them the band at the frunt of the house playing some livley tuns …” the Luppitt Artillery under Captain Pearce would meet at the battery on St. Cyres Hill, to practise and to fire salutes on the King’s birthday. Bailey described a mock battle between “French” and “British.” The soldiers numbered 10,000, the spectators 20,000. The French retreated to Hembury Fort when the firing grew too hot. Just where Simcoe could have put 10,000 troops, let alone so many onlookers on a less -than-spacious site is a mystery.26 The various local companies were part of the Devon Corps. The Volunteer Pay List and the Returns have been preserved in the Public Record Office.27 A typical infantry company consisted of a captain, lieutenant, ensign, three sergeants, three corporals and sixty-three privates.

  Simcoe was again in touch with William Mudge, now a major, who offered such “Topographical assistance as the material of my office are able to afford.” Mudge would soon be based at Chudleigh, where he planned to consult Robert Clifford, who meanwhile, had been arrested as a spy. Lord St. Vincent had asked him to
undertake “A Grand Military Expedition through Kent.” Robert wrote to Simcoe on 13 August that he had been at Chatham, Rochester and Dover: “The day after my return I went to Sheerness, where I was taken up for a spy, but was soon liberated as I had a letter from Lord St. Vincent to the Commissioner.” Sheerness, on the Island of Sheppey, in the Thames estuary, he thought indefensible, which implied that Chatham was insecure.28

  Property owners were not always happy to find fortifications on their territory. John Perring, who owned land at the mouth of the River Yealm, was not pleased to find a battery under construction on his side of the river. Simcoe had intended placing it on the Plymouth side, and when he decided it should be across the water, Perring was livid at not being consulted. Major General Mercer, of the Royal Engineers, had been too zealous in carrying out his orders. Work began before Perring could be notified. John Bastard, a mutual friend, smoothed the situation, but only temporarily. Perring complained to Lord Hobart, now Secretary at War, thus involving the Army Legal Department. Simcoe wrote many letters; fewer would have sufficed had Perring not been wealthy and a former Lord Mayor of London.29

  Throughout the summer, new companies were raised. Defense returns arrived at Wolford Lodge, again the command post. One order required “the Name of any Foreigner resident within their respective parishes in which Description Americans are included.”30

  To the Devon Standing Committee, Simcoe recommended a chain of signals along the coast — a system of beacons that dated back many centuries and had been used when the Spanish Armada had threatened invasion. Devon beacons were at Culmstock and Dumpdon Hill, both near Wolford Lodge. In Somerset, beacons shone on high points at Castle Neroche (in the Blackdowns), Borough Chapel, Glastonbury Tor and Beacon Hill near Shepton Mallet.

  By September, Whitehall sent permission to extend recruitment to 12,000 men. From St. Mary’s Castle, near the Scilly Isles off the toe of Cornwall, Simcoe received entreaties from Daniel Lyman, the captain in command of the islands. The tone of his letter implied that he had served with Simcoe in North America. He wanted the resources to defend the Scillies. Simcoe was sympathetic but, shades of Upper Canada, defending the Scillies was not a priority, and he could do nothing for Lyman.31 Meanwhile, on 3 October he called a meeting at Wolford Lodge of representatives from all the parishes in the Hundred.

  The visitors felt reassured to have the commander in chief resident in their area, but people in certain parts of Devonshire felt very neglected. On 19 November, Lieutenant Colonel H.J. Downe, commanding the 1st North Devon Regiment of Volunteer Infantry, wrote from his headquarters at Bideford. He complained that he had not “a single regiment of the line or artillery of any kind on the north coast as far as Lands End.” He had only Volunteers to depend on and no speedy means of communication should the enemy land. Downe, too, considered a system of coastal beacons. Simcoe again was sympathetic, but official thinking favoured a direct assault from the Continent, not a threat from the French using Ireland as a base. 32 The war with France dragged on, dominating a lifetime for the young as well as their elders.

  TWENTY–ONE

  UNIVERSALLY LAMENTED

  If John Scadding was a right-hand man, Christopher Flood was another. To Henry Addington on 3 December 1803, Simcoe wrote:

  I can only repeat that I was much beholden to Mr. Flood for his attention to my children when for years I was absent from them in Public Service in Canada. This obligation is of the most permanent nature.

  Flood had been a useful counselor during the food riots, and he continued giving Simcoe good professional service. Now he sent the General a copy of new legislation to assist him in calculating his income tax. It had first been levied in 1799, and abolished in 1802. Income tax was introduced again in 1803, and Simcoe had appealed to the lawyer. As the owner of so many pieces of property, and with his army commissions, Simcoe’s finances were complex.1

  He received a letter dated 5 December from Charles Yorke, member of Parliament and for a short time Prime Minister Addington’s secretary at war. A firm opponent of Pitt, he was now acting home secretary. Yorke’s letter concerned an offer from Robert Russell to form a “Corps of Waggoners.” His Majesty approved, but the Corps would not need to be armed or exercised. Nevertheless the members would not be exempt from “Militia or Ballots.” Officers could be commissioned by the lord lieutenant. Russell’s patriotism was also business. Aiding the cause would lead to opportunities for gain later on. In time he was a successful banker in Exeter.2

  Simcoe made his last will and testament in 1803. Elizabeth would be his sole executrix, and apart from legacies to his children, his principal beneficiary. William Walcot of Oundle, John Pollexfen Bastard of Kitley, and longtime friend Thomas Milles, were appointed trustees of Simcoe’s properties in England and of lands granted to him in Upper Canada.

  In February 1804, John Bastard, in his role as Colonel of the 1st Devon Militia, reminded him of the thorny matter of quartering troops at local inns. So many troops were squeezed into the district between the rivers Dart and Yealm that officers were allowing their men to find their own lodgings. As the district had but one “Pot House Ale House” he might have to move some troops inland. Inn keepers did not mind billeting soldiers who were stationed for a time, but they objected to provisioning troops that were just passing through. For the first they received allowances, but all too often they served the transients without remuneration. They complained to Simcoe that they could not afford the expense. The number of inns in Honiton “does not exceed 21 and 15 are very small pot houses.” They asked to be relieved of the burden of the troops passing and re-passing daily.3

  Following the renewal of the war, discipline had become a problem in some of the Volunteer Corps. Unlike the breaches of discipline during the food riots of 1801, those of 1804 were a more general form of rowdiness. Acting Secretary Yorke recommended that infractions be dealt with by regimental court martial. In March, a drunken volunteer had struck Sir John Kennaway, the high sheriff of the county and a neighbour of the Simcoes. A retired servant in the East India Company, Sir John had purchased Escot House from Sir George Yonge. While Kennaway’s attacker was in jail awaiting a regimental court martial, another volunteer incited people to release him. Magistrate Lord Rolle dealt with the “inciter.”

  Colonel Tyrwhitt, of the Stannary Volunteers, finding two offenders guilty at their court martial, sentenced them to corporal punishment, and ordered them drummed out of the corps. Simcoe admitted that even the few lashes administered had caused grumbling in the ranks.4 When Lord Clifford had asked his friend to help him get a King’s commission, Simcoe had replied that he did not need one, as volunteers were not subject to military law. Yet military law governs sentencing at a court martial. Either the law had changed, or the court martial was less than legal.

  Some of Simcoe’s correspondence dealt with the health of the troops.

  His Inspector of Hospitals, J. Borland, M.D., submitted a report on the condition of the barracks and hospitals. He had already visited Truro and Pendennis, in Cornwall, and he recommended enlarging the hospital at Berry Head. It could accommodate only nineteen men, but it should contain “5 sick men for every 100 men the barracks can accomodate.” He wanted separate circular cooking houses, and ranges of “railways” erected along the length of the barracks “on which beds and bedding ought to be exposed to the air in fine weather; as there was no room for cleaning sheds, iron hooks could be placed alongside the railways for men to attach their belts when cleaning them.”

  Most of the rooms were at ground level, which meant that the floors became encrusted with dirt. Scrapers and dry brushes would serve “rather than constant washing which encouraged a damp atmosphere and consequently invites disease.”5

  On 31 July, Elizabeth gave birth to their eleventh and last child. Anne (sometimes spelt Ann) was “received into the church” on 30 July 1805.6 Incidentally, after losing John Cornwall Simcoe, none of the family letters refer to inoculation for Henry, the second
Katherine, or Anne. Their parents may have decided that they would risk catching smallpox in the course of events, rather than by what was known as elective infection.

  By August 1804, Simcoe had learned that Lord George Lennox was dying. He wrote to ask the Duke of York that he be considered as Lennox’s replacement. He was informed, rather tersely, that his application would be submitted to His Majesty with others from general officers. In time, an impersonal circular reached him, addressed merely to “Sir”:

  I have received the Commander in Chief’s direction to request that you will adopt such Precautions & give out such orders as you may judge necessary for the Preservation of the Game in the District under your Command and to prevent the interference of the Officers with Manorial Rights of the Gentlemen of the Country and above all to secure the Farmers from any inconvenience and damage which might arise from Officers and Soldiers trespassing over their lands …7

  Fortunately, Simcoe had the comfort of good friends. Vicary Gibbs, then living at Bromley, Kent, wrote happily of his appointment as Chief Justice at Chester: “ … in the point of emolument I am a considerable loser” (but the job led eventually to his appointment as Attorney General).

  The Bishop of Exeter sent the Simcoes an aqua tint of Niagara Falls, the work of his younger brother, Captain George Fisher, Royal Artillery. Elizabeth, in particular, admired his artistry. She remembered George making the sketch ten years before when he was stationed in Upper Canada. Mrs. Fisher, the Bishop added, sent her best regards to the General and Mrs. Simcoe, “and the young ladies, not forgetting the little Captain [Francis].” 8

  From London, Robert Clifford enquired of his brother: “You do not mention the General, what is become of him, I fear he will not be pleased at the change of Ministry.”9 Henry Addington, rigid and high Tory, was not the man to head an administration in wartime. With some encouragement he resigned, and accepted a peerage — pushed upstairs as Lord Sidmouth. Pitt was again the prime minister, which was bad news for Simcoe, who could not expect any advancement from him.