Browse "Military"

Pierre Boucher, interpreter, soldier, seigneur (bap at Mortagne, France 1 Aug 1622; d at Boucherville 19 Apr 1717).

Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil de Cavagnial, Marquis de Vaudreuil, (sometimes Vaudreuil-Cavagnial), officer, last governor general of New France 1755-60 (b at Québec C 22 Nov 1698; d at Paris, France 4 Aug 1778), son of

Pierre de Troyes, soldier (d at Niagara 8 May 1688). He arrived at Québec in Aug 1685 with reinforcements for the beleaguered colony. Departing on 20 Mar 1686, de Troyes led a force of 30 colonial regular French troops and 60 militia from Montréal overland to James Bay.

Iberville's fierce courage and ruthlessness were forged in desperate colonial competition and savage border wars. In 1690, he took part in a brutal guerrilla attack on Corlaer, New England, in which some 60 settlers were massacred.

Richard Cartwright, businessman, officeholder, judge, militia officer, author (b at Albany, NY 2 Feb 1759; d at Montréal, 27 July 1815). A committed LOYALIST, Cartwright was expelled from New York in October 1777.

Richard George Amherst Luard, army officer (b in Eng 29 July 1827; d at Eastbourne, Eng 24 July 1891). A British military officer, he was general officer commanding the Canadian Militia 1880-84, following active service in India, the Crimea and China.

Richard Pierpoint (also Pawpine, Parepoint; Captain Pierpoint, Captain Dick; Black Dick), loyalist, soldier, community leader, storyteller (born c. 1744 in Bondu [now Senegal]; died c. 1838, near present-day Fergus, ON). Pierpoint was an early leader in Canada’s Black community. Taken from West Africa as a teenager and sold into slavery, Pierpoint regained his freedom during the American Revolution. He settled in Niagara, Upper Canada, and attempted to live communally with other Black Canadians. In the War of 1812, he petitioned for an all-Black unit to fight for the British and fought with the Coloured Corps.

Robert Gray, sea captain, fur trader (born 10 May 1755 in Tiverton, Rhode Island; died in 1806, probably at sea).

Robert Heriot Barclay, naval officer (b at Kettle [Kettlehill], Scotland, 18 Sep 1786; d at Edinburgh 8 May 1837). Robert Barclay was only 11 when he began his naval career in 1798, joining the crew of the 44-gun ship Anson as a midshipman.

Robert Monckton, British army officer (b in Yorkshire, Eng 24 June 1726; d at London, Eng 21 May 1782). Monckton arrived in Nova Scotia in 1752 and took part in the establishment of LUNENBURG in 1753.

Robert Nichol, businessman, politician, militia officer (b at Dumfries, Scot c 1774; d near Queenston, UC 3 May 1824). A successful merchant in Norfolk County, UC, he was elected to the House of Assembly in 1812, 1816 and 1820. During the WAR OF 1812 he served as quartermaster general of militia.

Robert Prescott, soldier, colonial administrator (b in Lancashire, Eng c 1726; d at Rose Green, W Sussex, Eng 21 Dec 1815). He joined the British army in 1745 and saw service during the SEVEN YEARS' WAR at Louisbourg in 1758. He

Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière, Marquis de La Galissonière, naval officer, commandant general of New France (b at Rochefort, France 10 Nov 1693; d at Montereau, France 26 Oct 1756). He was born into a powerful family and rose to lieutenant-general of the French naval forces.

Sir Samuel Benfield Steele, CB, KCMG, mounted policeman, soldier (born 5 January 1848 in Medonte, Canada West; died 30 January 1919 in London, England). As a member of the North-West Mounted Police, Steele was an important participant in the signing of Treaty 6 and Treaty 7, the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the North-West Rebellion and the Klondike gold rush. His military career began as a private in the Red River Expedition, included service in the South African War as an officer commanding Lord Strathcona’s Horse and as a major general during the First World War.

New Brunswicker Sarah Edmonds (aka Franklin Thompson), disguised herself as a man and served as a male nurse in the Union Army during the American Civil War. According to her autobiography, she also conducted spy missions behind Confederate lines.

In the first phase of his political career (1830-35), MacNab vigorously promoted economic development and moderate Tory policies. In the second (1836-49) he became an extreme Tory. Knighted for his zeal in suppressing the REBELLION OF 1837-38, he vainly stressed loyalty as an issue in public policy.

Sir Arthur William Currie (changed from Curry in 1897), soldier, educator (born 5 December 1875 in Adelaide (near Strathroy), ON; died 30 November 1933 in Montréal, QC).

Sir James Clark Ross, naval officer, polar discoverer (b at London, Eng 15 Apr 1800; d at Aylesbury, Eng 13 Apr 1862).

Thomas Baillie, soldier, administrator (b at Hanwell, Eng 4 Oct 1796; d at Boulogne, France 20 May 1863).

After 1825, Talbot's power began to decline for reasons that included a popular spirit of reform, increasing bureaucracy and Talbot's eccentricity. Socially intolerant and exclusive, he lived alone and isolated in his Pt Talbot "castle.