Loyalists Monument, Hamilton, ON - Philatelic Photographs on Waymarking.com

Political differences are as old as the hills. In the middle of the eighteenth century in colonial North America, not everyone was in favor of independence from Great Britain. These people came from all walks of life and their reasons for remaining loyal to the British Crown were just as varied. Some had close financial ties to England and felt that independence would ruin them. Others disagreed with republican government and democracy fearing eventual “mob rule.” While others simply didn’t believe the colonies could win independence from such a great power. It is estimated that as many as a full quarter of a million colonists opposed independence at that time. When open war broke out, many of these “loyalists” took up arms and formed regiments fighting alongside the British regulars against their fellow colonists.

Many loyalists fled the colonies before the outbreak of the war. (Among those who fled was Isaac Royall, whose house still stands and was featured on a US postal card issued in 1990.) After the war and the Treaty of Paris in 1783, some 70,000 loyalists elected to emigrate from the newly formed United States fearing persecution or retribution or simply because they wanted to remain part of the British Empire. The vast majority of these (close to 50,000) moved to what was to become Canada. The British government assisted with the move by providing transportation and land grants to each family especially those who had served in loyalist regiments. However, this land was predominately remote wilderness and the conditions were harsh and unforgiving. The two main areas of settlement were that part of Nova Scotia which eventually became New Brunswick and western Quebec around Lake Ontario which was eventually to become the Province of Ontario. This was the largest immigration of any one group into Canada and had a lasting impact to the demographics of the region. In 1789, the Governor General of British North America, Lord Dorchester, issued an honorific allowing these loyalists and their progeny to attach the initials U. E. to their names “alluding to their great principle The Unity of the Empire."

The monument consists of a statue by Sydney March showing a loyalist family atop a pedestal made from limestone quarried from the battlefield of Queenston Heights where many loyalists fought during the War of 1812. The man is holding the lot number he drew for his land grant from the government surveyor. The statue was a gift to the city of Hamilton by a Mr. Stanley Mills, himself a descendant of loyalist immigrants. The stamp was issued in conjunction with the sesquicentennial of the arrival of the first loyalists to the shores of Lake Ontario in July of 1784 near present day Adolphustown and shows the United Empire Loyalists statue as its vignette.

The old court house was razed in 1956 to make room for a new court house and the statue was temporarily moved. When it was replaced in front of the new building, it was mounted atop a new pedestal made of the same limestone quarried from the Queenston Heights battlefield. The new pedestal was shorter than the original because the new building was smaller.

Stamp Issuing Country: Canada Date of Issue: 1-July-1934 Denomination: 10 cents Color: olive green Stamp Type: Single Stamp Relevant Web Site: Not listed

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