Lieutenant-Colonel John By - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

The monument was commissioned by the Historical Society of Ottawa and unveiled in 1971.

The sculptor is Joseph-Emille Brunet.

From Wikipedia:

Lieutenant-Colonel John By (probably 7 August 1779 – 1 February 1836) was an English military engineer, best remembered for supervising the construction of the Rideau Canal and, in the process, founding what would become the city of Ottawa.

Born in Lambeth in London, England in 1779, By studied at the Royal Military Academy. He was commissioned in the Royal Artillery on 1 August 1799 but transferred to the Royal Engineers on 20 December the same year. In 1802 he was posted to Canada for the first time, where he worked on the fortification of Quebec City and on improving the navigability of the Saint Lawrence River. During the Napoleonic wars he returned to Europe, where he served in Spain under the Duke of Wellington from 1811 until 1815.

With the end of the war By retired from the military but in 1826, in view of his engineering experience in Canada, he was recalled and returned to Canada to supervise the construction of the Rideau Canal. Since the canal was to begin in the wild and sparsely populated Ottawa River valley, his first task was the construction of a town to house the men who were to work on the canal, and associated services. The resulting settlement, called Bytown in his honour, would later become famous under the new name of Ottawa.

The canal was completed in six years, and was acclaimed as an engineering triumph. Upon his return to London, however, By faced accusations about the finances of the project. Officials of the British Treasury Board suggested that he had made a number of unauthorised expenditures, and By spent the remaining years of his life attempting to clear his name. He died in 1836 and is buried in the village of Frant in East Sussex in the South East of England.

URL of the statue: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
You must have visited the site in person, not online.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   07/17/2019 The Burrow visited it 07/20/2017 gemeloj visited it 07/15/2017 Metro2 visited it 08/11/2016 ToRo61 visited it 05/23/2015 Castor007 visited it 09/06/2014 Cyrano-Bella visited it 11/20/2013 lindeye visited it 08/06/2013 Graham-Crunch visited it 11/24/2012 MAPSIT visited it 07/24/2012 Amalthee visited it 07/19/2012 jiggs11 visited it 05/20/2012 RCN Sailor visited it 04/28/2012 Sires4 visited it 11/06/2011 Weathervane visited it 10/16/2011 Mr. Packrat visited it 10/02/2011 petendot visited it 08/26/2011 InGodsHands visited it 05/17/2011 elyob visited it 04/16/2011 Jman & Magoo visited it 04/07/2011 TigrePlus visited it 04/01/2011 model12 visited it 03/29/2011 SigsPig visited it 02/13/2011 JoMari visited it 10/16/2010 JSDAFM visited it 10/04/2010 Capt.Kirk + Mimi visited it

View all visits/logs