Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester

Guy Carleton was a colonel at the capture of Quebec City in 1759 during the Seven Years War. He was made lieutenant-governor of the Province of Quebec on 7 April 1766 and reached the province on 23 September 1766. In April 1768, he succeeded James Murray as governor. Carleton advised the passing of the Quebec Act in 1774 and administered it so as to support the Roman Catholic Church and to retain French civil law.

Carleton overestimated the importance of the seigneurs, however, and was disappointed by Canadian passivity during the American Revolution. Carleton repelled the American invasion of 1775–76, but he was criticized for his slow pursuit of the retreating invaders. He resigned after quarrels with his councillors, especially Chief Justice Peter Livius, leaving in July 1778.

In 1782–83 he was commander in chief at New York, which he refused to evacuate until the Loyalist refugees had been sent to safety. Moreover, he urged their reception in Quebec and Nova Scotia. Influenced by William Smith, he unsuccessfully proposed a single governor general for British North America while in England. He was commissioned again as governor at Quebec on 12 September 1791 but did not arrive in Lower Canada until 24 September 1793. Anxious to encourage commerce with the American West, he interpreted the imperial ban on American imports to apply only to seaports.

Carleton opposed the division of the Province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada and the elected assemblies provided for by the Constitutional Act, 1791, but advised the retention of Montreal in the lower province. Expecting war with the US just before the signing of Jay's Treaty in 1794, he made an inflammatory speech to local Indigenous people and ordered the reoccupation of Fort Miamis (Maumee, Ohio). Given a gentle reprimand, he asked leave to resign on 4 September 1794 and was granted it July 1795. He left the province on 9 July 1796.