FIRST Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada
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model12
N 43° 39.727 W 079° 23.413
17T E 629793 N 4835605
This statue of Lieutenant-Colonel John Graves Simcoe stands on the grounds of King's College.
Waymark Code: WMBKMK
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 05/30/2011
Views: 14
John Graves Simcoe (February 25, 1752 – October 26, 1806) was the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada from 1791-1796. Then frontier, this was modern-day southern Ontario and the watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. He founded York (now Toronto) and was instrumental in introducing institutions such as the courts, trial by jury, English common law, freehold land tenure, and in abolishing slavery. He ended slavery in Upper Canada long before it was abolished in the British Empire as a whole - by 1810 there were no slaves in Upper Canada, but the Crown did not abolish slavery throughout the Empire until 1834.
Text reads;
Lieutenant-General John Graves Simcoe 1752-1806
Born in Cotterstock, Northamptonshire, Simcoe entered the army in 1770, and during the American Revolution commanded the 1st American Regiment (Queen's Rangers). In 1791 he was appointed the first Lieutenant-Governor of the newly formed province of Upper Canada. During his energetic administration he improved communications, encouraged immigration, and founded York (Toronto). In 1796 he returned to Wolford, his estate in Devonshire, England, but during 1797 he served as governor and military commander in British-occupied St-Domingo (Haiti). He commanded the western military district (1801-06), When England was threatened with french invasion. Appointed Commander-in-Chief of India of 1806, Simcoe died before taking up that post.
FIRST - Classification Variable: Person or Group
Date of FIRST: 01/01/1791
More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]
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