John Graves Simcoe, 1752-1806 Read online

  19. Reel A606 F29, (Mary Anne Burges’ letters to Elizabeth Simcoe have many references to the whims of Mrs. Graves), NA.

  20. Three different versions of Simcoe’s Journal, in four editions, have been published and are listed in the bibliography.

  21. AO. Reel 9 item 259, (Spencer to JGS, 16 June 1787), WCSL.

  22. Fryer, HA, p. 258.

  23. Peckham, Howard H., “Sir Henry Clinton’s Review of Simcoe’s Journal.” William and Mary Quarterly (Second series, 2, 1941).

  24. AO. Reel 9 item 212, (E. Gwillim to EPS, 14 May 1785), WCSL.

  CHAPTER 10: Into Parliament

  1. Genealogy of the Drewe family by Francis Drewe of Ticehurst, Sussex, and Broadhembury; Drewe family tree compiled by Chris Dracott from Burke’s landed gentry; Alumni Oxonienses.

  2. AO. Reel 9, item 276, (Simcoe to Yonge, 28 Nov.1788), WCSL.

  3. Ibid. Reel 9 item 270, (Scadding and Honiton turnpike, 18 Jan.1788).

  4. Sheldon, Gilbert, From Trackway to Turnpike. (London: Oxford University Press,1928), p. 91.

  5. Vancouver, C., A General Survey of the County of Devon. (London: 1808), p. 269, quoted in Sheldon, p. 91.

  6. Vowler, letter dated 2 Aug. 1789.

  7. Cruikshank, Brigadier General Ernest A. ed., The Correspondence of Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe. (Ontario Historical Society, 1923-31), 5 vols., vol. 1, pp. 7-8. Abbreviated as Sim/Corresp. For two very different interpretations about Vermont, see Mary Beacock Fryer, Buckskin Pimpernel. (Toronto, Dundurn,1981); Frederic F. VanDeWater, The Reluctant Republic. (Taftsville, Vermont:1954). Sherwood negotiated a neutral Vermont ahd strove for reunion with Britain.

  8. Sim/Corresp. vol. 1, pp. 16-17

  9. Biography of Banastre Tarleton, DNB.

  10. Page, John L. An Exploration of Exmoor. Seeley & Co. 1890, p. 16.

  11. Vowler, EPS to Miss Elliott, 10/9/1790.

  12. Sim/Corresp. vol. 1 p. 13. Grenville to Dorchester 3 June 1790.

  CHAPTER 11: The Great Empire Builder

  1. Polwhele, Rev. Richard, History of Devonshire, published between 1793 and 1806, vol. 2, p. 333; Memoir on the Geological Survey of England and Wales, Explanation of Sheet 331 by W.A.E. Ussher F.G.S., 1906, p. 39.

  2. AO. Reel 9, item 319, (Hawker to Simcoe, 26 June 1790), WCSL.

  3. Martin, Ged. “Simcoes Friends.” p. 14.

  4. Sim/Corresp, v. 1, p. 16, Simcoe to Dundas, 12 Nov. 1790.

  5. The Army List 1791.

  6. Sim/Corresp. v. 1, pp. 17-19, Simcoe to Banks, 8 Jan.1791.

  7. Ibid. p. 17, Simcoe to Grenville, Simcoe to Grenville, 24 Dec.1790.

  8. Fryer, EPS, p. 35.

  9. Reels A606 - and A607, F29, NA; AO. Simcoe Collection, B 1-2-, Reel 7-531. Letters of Mary Anne Burges to Elizabeth Simcoe. Those in AO are missing from NA collection, microfilm from DRO. The letters report Eliza’s mourning, the girls’ illnesses, their joy at receiving letters.

  10. Parliament Register for 1791.

  11. Fryer/HA, p. 258.

  12. Sim/Corresp., vol. 1, p. 71, Yonge to Simcoe, War Office, 20 Dec. 1791; Vowler, re the horse Salem; EPS to Miss Elliott, 11 May 1791.

  13. Innis, Mary Quayle ed., Mrs. Simcoe’s Diary. (Toronto: MacMillan, 1965), p. 92.

  14. Reel A606, F29, (undated letter near the beginning of the folder), NA.

  CHAPTER 12: Winter at Quebec

  1. Sim/Corresp. v. 1, pp 71-73. Formation of what Dundas then called an independent corps, 30 June 1791. Royal assent was given in a letter from Sir George Yonge to Simcoe, vol. 1 p. 75, 7 Oct. 1791.

  2. The coat most often shown was the green one, but the portrait in the collection of the Province of Ontario, on the cover of this work, has him in a red coat.

  3. The Army List 1792, the Queen’s Rangers.

  4. Wright, Loyalists, Appendix.

  5. Biography of Edward Littlehales, DCB.

  6. The Army List 1792, garrison list for Upper Canada shows Stephenson and Drewe.

  7. Innis, Diary, pp. 26-27

  8. Ibid. p. 31.

  9. Ibid.

  10. Ibid., p. 37

  11. Fryer, EPS pp. 38-39.

  12. Sim/Corresp. v. 1, p. 13; Grenville to Dorchester, 3 June 1790; pp. 27, 29; see Memorandum to Dundas, 30 June 1791. Green uniform reference is p. 75; p. 145, Simcoe to Dundas, 12 Aug. 1791. See also Earle Thomas. Sir John Johnson: Loyalist Baronet. (Toronto: Dundurn, 1986), p. 129.

  13. Sim/Corresp., v, 1 p. 118, Simcoe to Dundas, 10 Mar. 1792, re Talbot.

  14. Innis, Diary, p. 47.

  15. Ibid., pp. 50-51.

  16. Biography of Françrois Baby, DCB.

  17. Innis, Diary, p. 51.

  18. Ibid., p. 58.

  19. Ibid.

  20. Sim/Corresp. v. 1, p. 27, independent corps; p. 37, royal assent for the Rangers.

  21. Fryer, EPS, pp. 51-52.

  22. Robertson, Diary, p. 89.

  CHAPTER 13: A Viceregal Progress and a Royal Visit

  1. Innis, pp. 72-80.

  2. Leavitt, Thad. W.H. History of Leeds and Grenville, (Brockville, 1879), pp. 32-33.

  3. Fryer, Mary Beacock, J. William Lamb and Larry Turner. The Meaning of These Stones, (Wall Street United Church, Brockville, 1998), pp. 22-26, (early Methodist missionaries in Upper Canada).

  4. Innis, pp. 72, 73.

  5. Quebec Gazette, 12 May 1784, notice of appointment.

  6. Sim/Corresp. v. 2, pp. 194-195, (Simcoe to Dorchester, 26 March 1794).

  7. Fryer, King’s Men, pp. 131-125, 333.

  8. For a comprehensive treatment of the British Indian Department see Robert S. Allen, “The British Indian Department on the Frontier in North America, 1755-1830.” Parks Canada, Public Information Branch, Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History. 1975, pp. 49-58 for Simcoe’s era.

  9. Sim/Corresp. v. 1, p. 205.

  10. Innis, p. 77.

  11. Ibid., pp. 79.

  12. Reel A605, F2, (Simcoe to Eliza, Aug. 1792) NA..

  13. Reel A606, F24, (Simcoe to Charlotte, 23 Aug. n. yr), NA.

  14. F29, (letter 20 Nov. 1792), NA.

  15. Innis, p. 80

  CHAPTER 14: Simcoe the Administrator

  1. Armstrong, Frederick H. Handbook of Upper Canadian Chronology. (Toronto: Dundurn, 1985), pp. 74-75.

  2. Riddell, p. 175.

  3. Fryer, EPS, p. 66; Armstrong, Handbook, pp. 74-75, ridings, members of First Parliament 1792-96.

  4. Biography of Sir David William Smith, DCB.

  5. Innis, pp. 85, 109.

  6. Fryer, EPS, p. 67.

  7. Innis, p. 83.

  8. Biography of “Thayendanegea” Joseph Brant, DCB.

  9. Biography of Hugh Percy 2nd Duke of NOrthumberland, DNB.

  10. Innis, p. 83.

  11. Reel A606, F24,(section with poetry), NA.

  12. Fryer/HA p. 259.

  13. Innis, pp. 84-87.

  14. Simcoe, Journal, 1844 or 1968 edition, p. 328.

  15. Riddell, p. 192.

  16. Innis, p. 91.

  17. Reel A606, F29. letter of 26 September 1792 NA.

  18. Innis, p. 89, EPS to Mrs Hunt, 13 March 1793.

  19. Ibid., p. 10, from a “Journal of a Treaty held in 1793….” Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 3rd series, v. 5 (1936) pp. 123-24.

  20. Craig, Gerald M. Upper Canada : the Formative Years. Toronto, M. and S., 1963, p. 30.

  21. Scott, Duncan Campbell. John Graves Simcoe. Toronto, Makers of Canada Series 1910, pp. 89-90.

  22. Innis, p. 105.

  CHAPTER 15: Simcoe Versus Dorchester

  1. Innis, p. 103.

  2. Martin, “Simcoes Friends” pp. 104-05.

  3. Innis, p. 107.

  4. Scadding, Henry. Toronto of Old. F.H. Armstrong ed., (Toronto: Oxford, 1987), p. xiii.

  5. Innis, p. 15.

  6. Sim/Corresp, (account of the journey by Macdonnell), v. 2, p. 70.

  7. Ibid. pp. 11-12.

  8. Ibid., pp. 109-113, (Simcoe to Dorchester, 2 Dec.
1793).

  9. Innis, p. 113.

  10. Bull, p. 89, (from letters written in early May).

  11. Ibid., p. 89, from Sim/Corresp. v. 2, pp. 182-84, (Simcoe to Dorchester).

  12. Bull, p. 89.

  13. Innis, pp. 125-26. The letter is quoted in full, dated York, May 1794.

  14. Martin, “Simcoe Friends” p. 109 and fn. 26; Reel A606 F30, (last letter in folder), NA.

  15. Innis, pp. 120-12.

  16. Ibid., pp. 126-130.

  17. Biography of William Osgoode, DCB.

  18. Innis, p. 131.

  19. Sim/Corresp. v. 2, pp. 109-110; AO. Berczy Papers, narrative of Berczy. See also John André, William Berczy: Co-founder of Toronto. A Centennial Project of the Borough of York, 1967.

  20. AO. Berczy Papers, Berczy to David William Smith, 30 Nov. 1794.

  21. Sim/Corresp. v. 2, pp. 403, 404, 407, (Campbell to Wayne; Wayne to Campbell).

  22. Ibid., pp. 220-21, Simcoe to Dorchester.

  23. Fryer, EPS, pp. 110-111; The Army List 1795. The date on the commission was 3 October 1794.

  24. AO, Simcoe Coll. reel 7-531, Simcoe Burges B 1-2, 17 Apr. re Spencer, 20 Apr. re Drewe and Margaret Graves.

  CHAPTER 16: Major General

  1. Reel A607 F39, (Simcoe to daughters, 22 Oct. 1794; 8 Nov. 1794, Simcoe to Charlotte), NA.

  2. Bull, p. 93, from Cruikshank, v. 3, p. 119, Simcoe to R. England.

  3. AO. reel 7-631, Simcoe-Burges, B 1-2, letters 8 and 21 Apr. 1795, M.A. Burges to EPS.

  4. Ibid., 15 May 1795.

  5. Innis, p. 149.

  6. Ibid., pp. 150-158.

  7. Ibid., p. 155.

  8. Ibid., p. 158; Riddell, pp. 273, 276.

  9. Sim/Corresp. v. 4, p. 201, (Simcoe to Portland 27 Feb. 1796).

  10. Reel A607 F39, (Simcoe to Charlotte, 12 Feb. 1796), NA.

  11. Bull, p. 84, quotes part of a letter fro Cartwright to Isaac Todd, from (Cruikshank) Sim/Corresp. v. 2 pp. 87-89.

  12. Sim/Corresp. v. 2, pp. 297-98. Nothing came of this hope.

  13. Ibid., v. 2, pp. 3, 123, 137, 154, 165, 203; v. 3, p. 28; v. 4, pp. 25, 36, 37, 230, 242-43.

  14. Ibid., v. 4, p. 124.

  15. Ibid., pp. 155-158.

  16. Innis, p. 178.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Biography of Samuel James Ballard, DNB.

  19. Innis, pp. 193-200.

  20. Ibid., p. 198.

  21. Ibid., pp. 200, 202, 204.

  22. Ibid., p. 207.

  23. Biography of Sir David Wiliam Smith by S.R. Mealing, DCB.

  24. Bradley, A.G., Guy Carleton (Lord Dorchester). Makers of Canada Series. Revised edition, Toronto: Oxford, 1926; A.L. Burt, Guy Carleton — Lord Dorchester. Canadian Historical Association Historical Booklet No. 5, 1955.

  25. Biography of Simcoe by S. R. Mealing, DCB v. 5, pp. 754-759.

  26. Martin, Ged, “Simcoe Friends” p. 105.

  CHAPTER 17: San Domingo

  1. Swete, Rev. John, “Picturesque Sketches of Devon.” 1792-1801, manuscript, v. 9, DRO.

  2. AO. Reel 10, p. 34, Bastard to Simcoe 10 Nov. 1796, WCSL.

  3. Chatham Papers, 30/8/178, PRO; AO. Reel 10, item 54, WCSL.

  4. Riddell, p. 304.

  5. Chatham Papers, 30/8/178, PRO.

  6. Wilson, Ellen Gibson. Thomas Clarkson. Facsimile edition, Wm. Sessions 1996, p. 58.

  7. Smith, Donald B.., “Simcoe in Haiti.” Horizon Canada No. 112, 1987. Background on San Domingo.

  8. AO Reel 10, items 37 and 43, (correspondence between Simcoe and Williamson), WCSL.

  9. Ibid., item 77, EPS to JGS, 20 Dec. 1797.

  10. Ibid., item 96, Northumberland to Simcoe, 18 Aug. 1797.

  11. Reel A606 F28, (E. Gwillim to EPS, 19 Nov. 1796), NA.

  12. Fryer, EPS p. 172.

  13. Will of Eliza Simcoe, #337B/30/1, DRO; also Biography of Sir Adam Williamson, DNB.

  14. Mole Valley District Council Archives, Dorking, Surrey. The guns are on display at the Leatherhead Leisure Centre.

  15. Ibid.

  CHAPTER 18: THREATS FROM FRANCE

  1. AO. Reel 10, item 108, (Windham to Simcoe, 19 Jan. 1798), WCSL.

  2. Fisher, W.G. History of the Somerset Yeomanry, Volunteer and Territorial Units. (Goodman: 1924), p. 25.

  3. Watson, Steven. The Reign of George III 1760-1815, (London, Oxford, 1960), p. 372.

  4. Gibson, Jeremy, and Mervyn Medlicott, Militia Lists and Musters 1757-1876 Federation of Family History Societies 1990. Similar lists known as Levee En Masse lists were called for in 1803-04, which were even more detailed.

  5. Hemyock Local History Group 1974. “Hemyock v. France.”

  6. Reel A606 F28, (E. Gwillim to EPS), NA.

  7. Vowler, (EPS to Miss Elliott, 13 May 1798).

  8. Coleridge, Lord, K.C. The Story of a Devonshire House. (T. Fisher Unwin, MCMV [1905]), p. 164.

  9. Vowler, (EPS to Miss Elliott, 13 May 1798).

  10. Clifford, Hugh. The House of Clifford. Phillimore, 1987; records in the Clifford Papers at Ugbrooke, and the following articles by Prof. William Revenhill, University of Exeter; “The Honourable Robert Clifford (1788-1817) Officer in Dillon’s Regiment. Journal of the Society of Army Historical Research, summer 1991, v. LXIX, p. 278; “A Cartographer’s Response to Napoleon.” The Geographical Journal, v. 160, no. 2, 2 July 1994, pp. 159-172; “Skeletons at Ugbrooke Park.” Cartographic Journal vol. 25, June 1988. WCSL, Sellman, M.A., PhD. “More Notes and Transcripts from Ugrooke Records.” (Cliffordiana) Published privately 1981.

  11. Biographies of George Henry Lennox and Charles Lennox 4th Duke of Richmond, DNB; DRO Resolutions of the Devon Standing Committee, pp. 281-89.

  12. AO. Reel 16, item 57,) Windham to Simcoe 26 June 1798), WCSL; returns, Reel 10, many items.

  13. Reel A606 F30, (M. Graves to Eliza,? July 1798), NA.

  14. Clifford family papers, (Simcoe to Lord Clifford, 10 Sept. 1798).

  15. Ibid., Simcoe to Lord Clifford,? Sept. 1798; DRO AO coll. reel 11, items 41-51.

  16. AO. Reel 10, by date, (E. Gwillim to EPS, 13 Oct.1798), WCSL.

  17. Ibid., item 407, Nov. 1798.

  18. Ibid., item 390, (letter from The King’s School, undated).

  19. Ibid., item 354, (Samuel Pierce, Clerk to the Trustees, Exeter, 11 Aug. 1798).

  20. DRO, Lieut. Papers, 1262M, 16. 20. 98.

  21. Clifford papers, (Simcoe to Clifford, 16 Dec. 1798).

  22. AO. Reel 16, item 57, WCSL.

  CHAPTER 19: Troubled Times

  1. AO. Reel 11, item 39, (re gout); Fryer, EPS, pp. 173, 174, WCSL.

  2. SRO, Taunton, 9/5/1799; Land Tax; title deeds to new house courtesy of Fairlynch Museum, Budleigh Salterton.

  3. AO. Reel 11, item 79, Bastard to Simcoe, 20 May 1799, WCSL.

  4. Ibid., item 80.

  5. Bailey, Memoir

  6. AO. Reel item 102, WCSL.

  7. Ibid., items 136, 140, and 143-5.

  8. Fryer/HA p. 259.

  9. AO. Simcoe coll. (F47), reel 1811, JGS to FGS, 30 Apr. 1800.

  10. DRO, Luppitt Land Tax.

  11. DRO, Lieut./1262M.

  12. AO. Reel 11 item 248, WCSL.

  13. Reel A605 F7, (Caroline to Mrs. Hunt, 9 Jan. 1800; should be 1801, she wrote that Henry was learning to walk), NA.

  14. Fryer/HA pl 259.

  15. AO. Reel 11, item 247, WCSL.

  16. Ibid., reel 12, item 213, (Nelson to Addington, 2 Feb. 1801, marked from Sidmouth Papers).

  17. Ibid., item 248.

  18. Ibid., item 250.

  19. Ibid., Reel 16, items 51, 53. (AO. Ref. A-4-3).

  20. Ibid., Reel 12, item 213, 1 Feb. 1801.

  21. Ibid., Reel 16, item 53. AO Tor. Ref. A-4-3.

  22. DRO, Lieut. 1262 ML/45; Bohstedt, J.H., Riots in England 1790-1810. (Cambridge, Mass., Dept. of History, Harvard Univ.,1972), p. 381.

  23. Biography of William Mudge, DNB; WCSL, quotation from EFP, 28 Aug. 1800; Ravenhill, “Skeletons at Ugbrooke Park” p. 54.


  24. Ravenhill, “A Cartographer’s Response” pp. 164-65.

  25. Ibid., p. 164; recently 77 of Robert Clifford’s skeletons were discovered in the archives of Ugbrooke House. Ravenhill’s conclusions regarding their origins and purpose were clarified by correspondence between Simcoe and Clifford.

  26. Ibid., Journal of the Society of Army Historical Research, (exchange of defense plans, JGS and R. Clifford); AO Reel 12, item 315, (marked 1801), WCSL.

  27. Ibid, item 323, (marked 1801).

  28. Ibid., reel 112, items 11, 322, 326, and 333-4.

  29. Clifford papers, Ugbrooke House.

  30. Bohstedt, pp. 123 et al.

  CHAPTER 20: A BRIEF PEACE

  1. DRO, Lieut./1216/L/52.

  2. AO. Reel 12, item 33, WCSL.

  3. Ibid., reel 11, item 401; reel 12, item 3 (by Simcoe).

  4. Ibid., item 40; item 28, 19 Apr.; (re Francis item 133, Geo. Coleridge).

  5. DRO, Lieut./1262M. Fortescue.

  6. AO. Reel 12, items 26, 13; reel 16, item 27, WCSL.

  7. DRO, Lieut./1262M/L.

  8. AO, Reel 16, item 164, WCSL.

  9. Ibid., reel 12, item 168, (Clifford 1 June); item 242, (4 Aug.); item 264.

  10. Ibid., item 264, (26 Sept. 1801); item 291.

  11. DRO, Enc. Z/17/3/9, Land Tax for Awliscombe and Hemyock.

  12. Vancouver, C. General Views of the Agriculture of Devon, general reference.

  13. Bailey Memoir.

  14. AO. Reel 12, item 340; item 346, WCSL.

  15. EFP, 20 May 1802, WCSL.

  16. Bull, p. 104.

  17. Reel A607 F30, Margaret Graves to Eliza, 23 Aug. 1800, NA; Elizabeth’s journal of the visit to Weymouth is from Reel A605 F24, 18-26, NA.

  18. Riddell, pp. 320-21.

  19. Ibid.

  20. Ibid., p. 319; Macdonald Stewart Foundation, Montreal, Simcoe Coll. Simcoe to Rev. Pratt, 19 Aug. 1802. Three copies of the letter are in AO, two dated 1801, correct date 1802, year of JGS’ 50th birthday.

  21. Reel A605 F7, (Simcoe to Walcot, 11 Nov. 1802), NA.

  22. AO. Reel 12, items 356 and 358, WCSL.

  23. Ibid. Reel 14, item 269, draft letter dated 23 May.

  24. Clifford Archives, Ugbrooke, R. Clifford to his sister, 30 May 1803.