Regency Personalities Series-Colin Robertson

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Colin Robertson
July 27, 1783 – February 4, 1842

Colin Robertson

Colin Robertson was an early Canadian fur trader and political figure.

He was born in Perth, Scotland in 1783. He originally apprenticed in Scotland as a hand weaver but later travelled to New York City where he found work in a grocery store. By 1803, he had joined the North West Company, leaving it in 1809. Robertson then travelled to England, where he became a merchant at Liverpool. In 1814, he returned to Canada in the employ of the Hudson’s Bay Company, leading an expedition reestablish the company in the area around Lake Athabasca. Robertson stopped in Manitoba to rebuild Fort Douglas, which had been burnt down by the North West Company. In the meantime, John Clarke continued on to the Athabaska region with the remainder of the expedition but was eventually taken prisoner by the North West Company.

Unable to come to an agreement with Robert Semple, the new governor of Assiniboia, Robertson travelled to York Factory, Manitoba, intending to return to England. After stopping in Montreal to clear his name of charges brought forward by the North West Company, he led a new expedition west. He was taken prisoner by Samuel Black of the North West Company but escaped, fled to the United States and returned to England. In the meantime, Lord Selkirk, who had been guaranteeing Robertson’s business debts, had died and Robertson was forced to flee to France. He later returned to Lower Canada.

In 1821, the Hudson’s Bay Company and North West Company were united and Robertson became a chief factor in the new company. Now that the two companies were no longer competing, however, men of action were valued less by the company than persons with administrative skills. After falling out of favour with the company’s governor, George Simpson, he planned to retire but suffered a paralyzing stroke in 1832. He eventually retired in 1840 and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada for Deux-Montagnes in the following year.

Robertson died in Montreal in 1842 after an accident where he was thrown from his sleigh.

Some people believe that Mount Robson was named after Colin Robertson.

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Regency Personalities Series-John MacDonald of Garth

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

John MacDonald of Garth
1771 – 25 January 1866

John MacDonald

MacDonald was born in 1771 at Garth, his family’s estate east of Loch Lomond, near Callander, Perthshire. He was the son of Captain John MacDonald of Garth, of the 8th King’s Regiment, whose grandfather was a son of Alastair MacDonald, 10th Chief of Clan MacDonald of Keppoch. His mother, Magdalen Small, was the daughter of James Small, factor of the forfeited Struan estates in Perthshire. MacDonald’s mother was a niece of Major-General John Small and Alexander Small, two of the first cousins of General John Robertson Reid, 15th Baron Reid. MacDonald himself was a brother of The Hon. Archibald Macdonald. One of his sisters, Helen, married their first cousin General Sir Archibald Campbell, 1st Baronet. His other sister, Magdalen, married The Hon. William McGillivray, of Chateau St. Antoine, Montreal.

MacDonald was small in stature and handicapped since childhood by a withered right arm which led to him being known as Le Bras Croche among his Voyageurs, but prevented him from following family tradition of a military career. Nonetheless, he enjoyed combat. He fought many duels and in Canada always carried on his person a sword and a pair of pistols. On the advice of his mother’s uncle, Major-General Small, MacDonald sailed with Simon McTavish from Scotland to Canada in 1791 to take up employment as a clerk in the North West Company, under the tutelage of Angus Shaw.

Under Shaw, MacDonald was in charge of the building of Fort Edmonton in 1795 and of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, in 1799. In 1800, he was made a wintering partner of the North West Company and two years later he replaced Shaw at Fort des Prairies, the largest department in the north. In 1803-04, he visited relatives in London where he had his portrait done. In 1805, he established New Chesterfield House and continued to spend his winters in the north until 1808 when he fell ill. Returning to Montreal, he stayed with his sister, Magdalen, and her husband William McGillivray at Chateau St. Antoine, one of the early estates of the Golden Square Mile. That same year he was elected to the Beaver Club, where he ran up a huge entertainment bill.

Returning to the north in the spring of 1809, he shared the charge of the Red River Department and possibly helped to establish Fort Gibraltar. Two years later, he carried supplies to his friend and brother-in-law, the explorer David Thompson, in the Kootenay Ranges.

On the outbreak of the War of 1812, MacDonald went to England to seek permission for an assault by sea to be undertaken by the North West Company on John Jacob Astor’s fur trading station, Fort Astoria. At Portsmouth, he offered a lucrative contract to a young woman, Jane Barnes, to sail with him to the Columbia and become the first white woman on the North Pacific coast.

MacDonald and his men sailed up to the Pacific Ocean via Cape Horn and the Juan Fernández Islands. In 1813, MacDonald and his Nor’Westers successfully attacked Fort Astoria, capturing Astor’s associates from where they took them as prisoners across The Rockies to Fort William. In November, 1813, they purchased Fort Astoria for a nominal sum from the American Fur Company, and at the end of the month, despite having been badly burned in an explosion at sea, MacDonald took charge of the new post. He stayed until the spring of 1814, before leaving for Fort William with a brigade of about 80 Nor’Westers in ten canoes.

MacDonald and his men arrived at Red River while the Hudson’s Bay Company were attempting to prevent the Nor’Westers from living off country provisions, which became known as the Pemmican War. Forced to import supplies from Montreal, the Nor’Westers responded by preparing to destroy the Red River Colony established by Lord Selkirk. MacDonald negotiated a peace, but he was criticized by the NWC partners at the annual meeting and his agreement was disavowed.

In 1799, John MacDonald had married his half-Indian cousin, Nancy Small. She was a daughter of his mother’s cousin, Patrick Small, by his country wife. Her father became a member of the Beaver Club in 1790 before leaving Nancy and her sister for England the following year. Nancy’s sister, Charlotte Small, was married to David Thompson. However, MacDonald deserted Nancy and their home in 1823 to marry Amelia McGillis (d.1830), daughter of Duncan McGillis (1754-1838) and heiress of her uncle Hugh McGillis, another partner in the North West Company. They moved into her uncle’s home at Williamstown, which was the former home of Sir John Johnson, 2nd Baronet. John MacDonald had five children by his first wife and six by his second. His children by both wives included:

• Eliza MacDonald. In 1822, she married John Duncan Campbell
• Lt.-Col. The Hon. Rolland Macdonald, of Welland County, Ontario.
• Antoine Eustache de Bellefeuille MacDonald. He married Marie-Louise de Lotbiniere-Harwood

MacDonald retired in November 1814 and sold his two shares in the North West Company. In 1816, after having devoted over a year to socializing in Montreal, he purchased a small country estate at Gray’s Creek, near Cornwall. There he built a regency villa, which he named after his childhood home, ‘Garth’. When he deserted his first wife in 1823, he set up home with his new wife at Williamstown, Glengarry. He passed ‘Garth’ to his eldest daughter and her husband, John Campbell. The house came to be known as ‘Inverarden’ from the 1870s and remained in the Campbell family until 1965. At Glengarry, MacDonald was active in the local Presbyterian church and served as judge of the Surrogate Court of Glengarry County from 1832 until 1844.

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Regency Personalities Series-William McGillivray

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

William McGillivray
December 1764 – October 16, 1825

William McGillivray

In 1764, McGillivray was born at Dunlichity, near Daviot in the Scottish Highlands. He was the eldest son of Donald Roy McGillivray, tacksman of Achnalodan in Dunmaglass and later of Dalscoilt in Strathnairn. His mother, Anne, was the daughter of Lieutenant John McTavish, of Garthbeg.

The McGillivrays had traditionally held the Dunmaglass estate since the fourteenth century, and William’s grandfather was a first cousin of the Chief of Clan McGillivray, Captain William McGillivray of Dunmaglass. However, on his side of the family the land had dissipated so that William’s father was a small tenant on what had become part of the Lovat estate, and he was unable to provide secondary schooling for William and his brothers Duncan and Simon. When William’s uncle, Simon McTavish, visited from Montreal in 1776, he paid for the education of the McGillivray boys and in 1784 brought William out to Canada to work for him in the North West Company, with an annual salary of £100.

As a clerk, after a year between Montreal and Rainy River, he was accompanied by proprietor Patrick Small to Île-à-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan. He spent the winter of 1786–87 at Snake Lake, setting up a trading post to compete with Gregory, McLeod & Co. He and Roderick McKenzie served their respective companies on good terms with each other. McGillivray played an important part in the two companies merging in 1787. The following year he returned to Île-à-la-Crosse and started trading at Rat River. This enabled him to purchase the share left open by Peter Pond in the North West Company, for £800 in 1790. Promoted to the rank of proprietor, he was given responsibility at Churchill River, where about 80 men and 40 Métis lived. At about this time he took his ‘country wife’. In 1791, he was given charge of the westernmost department on the Athabasca River. All these postings were crucial to the experience he needed to one day step into his uncle’s shoes, who was becoming increasingly dominant within the NWC.

McGillivray returned to Montreal in 1793 and then took a trip to Scotland and England. He was now a partner in McTavish, Frobisher & Co., who controlled the NWC. With John Gregory, he was sent to manage the company’s huge depot at Grand Portage, stirring jealousy among some of the other partners. When Joseph Frobisher retired in 1798, McGillivray took his place. He set up an agency at New York to get around the East India Company’s monopoly enabling them to trade with China. He was closely involved too with the firm of McTavish, Fraser & Co., at London, managed by another relation of his uncle’s, John Fraser. In 1803, he helped organize the move of the NWC’s main depot from Grand Portage to Thunder Bay. All this time he was dealing with relations with the Hudson’s Bay Company and the splinter XY Company that had broken away from the NWC, led by John Richardson.

When Simon McTavish died in 1804, McGillivray was well experienced and his choice to succeed him as the head of the NWC. He took over at a period of intense competition in the North American fur trade. His first action was to strike a deal ending the NWC’s rivalry with the XY Company, later serving as a coalition between them. He surrendered 25% of the NWC’s shares to the XY, but left his close friend, Alexander Mackenzie, out of the new co-partnership because of his reputation as a trouble-maker in the fur trade.

He reorganized the managing firm of McTavish, Frobisher and Co., which after John Gregory’s retirement he renamed McTavish, McGillivrays and Co. The partners were himself, his brother Duncan, their brother-in-law Angus Shaw, and the two Hallowell brothers, James and William. The London firm of McTavish, Fraser & Co., remained unchanged except for McGillivray bringing in another brother, Simon. Due to rising costs within the NWC, he reduced manpower and curtailed the various costly habits of the living and travelling arrangements of the proprietors.

The rising costs and fall in profits were largely attributed to the intensified competition with John Jacob Astor and the HBC and the disruptions in the European market caused by the French Revolution. At first the NWC had collaborated with Astor, to avoid the East India Company’s monopoly, and they shared some of the same trade routes to China. Over time, American pressure at their shared Pacific trading post on the mouth of the Columbia River was applied to the NWC in a subtle but systematic fashion, and to retain his freedom, McGillivray contemplated negotiating with the East India Company.

The rivalry between the NWC of Montreal and the English-controlled HBC gradually degenerated into a bitter and violent struggle, first under McTavish and then McGillivray. From 1810, the scarcity of beaver began to be a problem and only served to heighten tensions between the two companies. The NWC was stronger on the ground, but it was not as financially strong as the HBC. During the War of 1812, the Americans destroyed the NWC’s trading post at Sault Ste. Marie, giving them a net loss of over £8,000 for that year. Also in 1812, Lord Selkirk(a shareholder in the HBC) established the Red River Colony which directly served the interests of the HBC and affected the NWC’s free transport of goods between Fort William and the fur-bearing Lake Athabasca region. Attempting to gain control over the movement of Pemmican in the region, Miles Macdonell, governor of the new Red River Colony, declared war with the established NWC men.

McGillivray had no illusions about Lord Selkirk’s actions nor about the conduct of Miles Macdonell, remarking that Selkirk, “has thought proper lately to become the avowed rival of the North-West Company in the trade which they themselves have carried on for upwards of thirty years with credit to themselves. In a fair commercial competition, we have no objection to enter the lists with his Lordship, but we cannot remain passive spectators to the violence used to plunder or destroy our property”. The struggle was continued by Macdonell’s successors, Robertson and then Semple, culminating in the Battle of Seven Oaks, in which Semple and some 20 settlers were killed by the NWC men, led by Cuthbert Grant.

Lord Selkirk arrested McGillivray and a number of NWC proprietors, holding them responsible. He seized Fort William and confiscated their furs for his own benefit. McGillivray was released and cleared at Montreal. The strength held by the NWC had been in a steady decline since 1810 and Selkirk’s actions helped tip the balance in the power struggle towards the HBC, even with its debts. William’s brother Simon conceded that from 1810 the richest and most talented partners of the NWC (notably those connected to the XY Company) had withdrawn and been replaced by men with less capital and less work ethic, and given to extravagant spending. Nepotism was also a problem: 14 members of the McTavish and McGillivray families (not including relatives by marriage) had been given partnerships since 1800, undermining the drive and morale of those hoping for promotion.

Eventually, William McGillivray accepted the inevitability of a merger between the NWC and the HBC, and his brother Simon McGillivray set about bringing it to pass. An agreement was signed in 1821 and the once great Montreal company disappeared under the trading banner of the HBC. McGillivray was content that he had settled on equal terms with the HBC, but only a few months after his death both McTavish, McGillivrays & Co., of London and McGillivrays, Thain & Co., of Montreal were declared bankrupt.

McGillivray enjoyed a leading role in Quebec society, particularly at Montreal. He had been elected a member of the Beaver Club in 1795 and in 1804 he was made a Justice of the Peace in the Indian Territories and for the Province of Quebec. In 1808, he replaced John Richardson in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada and in 1814 he was elected to the Legislative Council of Lower Canada. He also became a significant landowner, purchasing 12,000 acres at Inverness, Quebec in 1802, which he later sold to Joseph Frobisher. During the War of 1812, McGillivray obtained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Corps of Canadian Voyageurs, who succeeded in capturing Detroit. In gratitude for this service, the government of Upper Canada granted him the substantial lands at Plantagenet. In 1817, at a cost of £20,000, he purchased ‘Bhein Ghael’, a comparatively small but beautifully located Scottish estate on the Isle of Mull, overlooking Ghael Bay. In 1808, David Thompson had given what is now called the Kootenay River the name McGillivray’s River, in honour of William and his brother Duncan. After losing the NWC to the HBC, McGillivray had made ready to leave Montreal for a new life in England. He died during a trip to London in 1825, and was buried there at Norwood Cemetery.

McGillivray’s home, Chateau St. Antoine, stood within 200 acres of parkland on Cote St. Antoine, roughly at the end of Dorchester Street. Built in 1803, the house enjoyed “a magnificent view of the city and river”. The McGillivrays were well known for their hospitality and kept open house at St. Antoine, as they had done before in their townhouse on St. Gabriel Street. Even his old rival John Jacob Astor came to dine there once a year on his annual trips to Montreal. The ballroom was said to be “an enchanting sight”.

In the tradition of the fur traders, McGillivray had first taken a ‘country wife’ while in Manitoba, a Cree lady named Susan. They were the parents of three sons and a daughter, though one son did not survive to adulthood.

In 1800, at St. Mary’s, Marylebone in London, McGillivray married Magdalen, daughter of Captain John McDonald of Garth, Perthshire, by his wife Magdalen, daughter of James Small. The McGillivrays were the parents of five daughters and one son, but only two of their daughters reached adulthood.

The five surviving children of William McGillivray were:

• Elizabeth McGillivray, married Daniel Jourdain, of Ste-Elizabeth de Joliette, Quebec.
• Simon McGillivray. He married Therese Roy in Minnesota and they were the parents of nine children.
• Joseph McGillivray, was the twin of his brother, Simon. He married Francoise Boucher and they were the parents of two sons.

• Anna Maria McGillivray. Married Thomas Richardson Auldjo son of The Hon. Alexander Auldjo. They were the parents of two daughters.
• Magdalen Julia McGillivray, Mamrried Vice-Admiral William Congreve Cutliffe Brackenbury. They were the parents of three sons and three daughters.

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Regency Personalities Series-Edward Ellice

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Edward Ellice
27 September 1783 – 17 September 1863

Edward Ellice

Known in his time as the “Bear“, was a British merchant and politician. He was a Director of the Hudson’s Bay Company and a prime mover behind the Reform Bill of 1832.

Ellice was born on 27 September 1783 in London, England to Alexander Ellice and Ann Russell. In 1795, his father purchased the Seigneury of Villechauve from Michel Chartier de Lotbinière, Marquis de Lotbinière.

He was educated at Winchester and at Marischal College, Aberdeen. He became a partner in the firm of Phyn, Ellices and Inglis, which had become interested in the XY Company in Canada. He was sent to Canada in 1803, and in 1804 became a party to the union of the XY and North West Companies. He became a partner in the North West Company, and during the struggle with Lord Selkirk he played an important part.

He engaged in the Canada fur trade from 1803, and as a result was nicknamed “the Bear”. On 30 October 1809 he married Hannah Althea Bettesworth, née Grey, daughter of Charles Grey, 1st Earl Grey, and the widow of Captain George Edmund Byron Bettesworth. He had one son by her, Edward.

In 1820, he was, with the brothers William and Simon McGillivray, active in bringing about the union of the North West and the Hudson’s Bay Companies; and it was actually with him and the McGillivrays that the union was negotiated. He amalgamated the North West, XY, and Hudson’s Bay companies in 1821.

He was Member of Parliament for Coventry from 1818 to 1826, and again from 1830 to 1863. He served as a Secretary to the Treasury, and a whip in Lord Grey‘s government (DWW-the brother of his wife), 1830-1832. He was Secretary at War from 1832–1834, during which time he proposed that appointments in the army should be made directly from his office. He founded the Reform Club in 1836 and supported Palmerston as premier. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1833.

He was awarded a DCL by St Andrews University. He privately urged French government to send troops into Spain in 1836. He was deputy-governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

In 1843, he married, secondly, Anne Amelia Leicester, née Keppel, daughter of William Keppel, 4th Earl of Albemarle and widow of Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester. She died in the following year. His only son was Edward Ellice Jr., who also sat in Parliament. His brother General Robert Ellice married Eliza Courtney; one of their grandsons became his son’s heir in 1880.

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Regency Personalities Series-Simon McGillivray

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Simon McGillivray
December 1785 – 9 June 1840

Simon McGillivray

McGillivry played an intricate role in merging the family owned North West Company with the rival Hudson’s Bay Company. From 1835, he co-owned the Morning Chronicle and the London Advertiser. He was Provincial Grand Master of Upper Canada (1822-1840); Fellow of the Royal Society at London; a member of the Beaver Club at Montreal and a member of the Canada Club at London.

In 1785, McGillivray was born at Dunlichity, near Daviot in the Scottish Highlands. He was the youngest son of Donald Roy McGillivray (1741-1803), tacksman of Achnalodan in Dunmaglass and later of Dalscoilt in Strathnairn. His mother, Anne (1740-1807), was the daughter of Lieutenant John McTavish (1701-1774), of Garthbeg. The McGillivrays had traditionally held the Dunmaglass estate since the fourteenth century, and Simon’s grandfather was a first cousin of the Chief of Clan McGillivray, Captain William McGillivray of Dunmaglass. However, on his side of the family, the land had dissipated so that Simon’s father was a small tenant on what had become part of the Lovat estate, and he was unable to provide secondary schooling for Simon and his brothers William and Duncan. Instead, their education was paid for by their wealthy uncle Simon McTavish, of Montreal, who also provided each of the boys with careers within his fur trading empire.

Simon McGillivray had a lame foot and was slightly blind in one eye, so instead of coming to the Canadas and being put through an apprenticeship with the North West Company as his brothers had, he was sent down to London to work for another branch of his uncle’s business, McTavish, Fraser & Co. This company was set up to maximise profits for the Montreal firm. The company supplied the Canadian firm with trade goods, obtained credit for it, looked after shipments and sold the pelts at the best price on the London market.

He became a partner of the firm in 1805 and in 1811 he was made a partner of the parent company in Montreal, McTavish, McGillivrays & Co. From London, Simon worked closely with his brother, William McGillivray, in his struggles to overcome Lord Selkirk and the Hudson’s Bay Company. He made various business trips to Montreal when needed but otherwise remained in London where his authority had steadily grown to supersede his cousin John Fraser, the financial expert in Simon McTavish’s time.

In 1820, when William McGillivray realized that the collapse of the North West Company (NWC) was imminent unless an agreement could be made with their rivals, the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), Simon took a leading role. Together with his friend Edward Ellice, they devised a plan to merge the two giant fur companies. During the discussions that followed, Colin Robertson remarked: “I like Simon much better than his friend the Member of Parliament (Ellice); there is a sort of highland pride and frankness about the little fellow that I don’t dislike”. The merger was completed by 1821, and having broken the news to the partners in Canada, Robertson again commented, “Simon McGillivray has carried everything without even the semblance of opposition. The first day he opened the business, the second the Deed and Release was signed, and the third all was peace and harmony”.

Simon and William were placed on the board of the new organization after investing £164,000 between them, but the peace did not last long and by 1825 their Montreal and London firms, McTavish, McGillivrays & Co., and (since 1822) McGillivrays, Thain & Co. went bankrupt. They were left in debt to the sum of £200,000.Blame for the failure is generally accredited to the dealings of the Ellice family, who since the American Revolution had made ambitions on gaining control of the riches in North West Canada.

McGillivray was forced to sell his valuable art collection, but his talents had not gone unnoticed in London and his career continued to prosper. In 1829, Simon was chosen by the United Mexican Mining Association of London to go to Mexico to help reorganize the administration of the company’s silver mines. In 1835, he was back in London, becoming a co-owner of the Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser. A Freemason in London, from 1822 he held the position of Provincial Grand Master of Upper Canada, a position he held until his death. In 1838, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Anne (Easthope) McGillivray

In 1837, at London, he married Anne Easthope (1808-1869), the eldest daughter of his business partner Sir John Easthope, 1st Bt., M.P., of Firgrove, Surrey, by his first wife, Ann, daughter of Jacob Stokes, of Leopard House, Worcestershire. The McGillivrays kept two houses. Their London home was at 13 Salisbury Street, The Strand, and they also kept a residence on Dartmouth Row, Blackheath, which was then in Kent. Simon was the godfather of John Auldjo.

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Regency Personalities Series-Edward Ellice

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Edward Ellice
27 September 1783 – 17 September 1863

Edward Ellice

Ellice, known in his time as the “Bear“, was a British merchant and politician. He was a Director of the Hudson’s Bay Company and a prime mover behind the Reform Bill of 1832.

Ellice was born in London, to Alexander Ellice and Ann Russell. In 1795, his father purchased the Seigneury of Villechauve from Michel Chartier de Lotbinière, Marquis de Lotbinière.

He was educated at Winchester and at Marischal College, Aberdeen. Ellice became a partner in the firm of Phyn, Ellices and Inglis, which had become interested in the XY Company in Canada. He was sent to Canada in 1803, and in 1804 became a party to the union of the XY and North West Companies. He became a partner in the North West Company, and during the struggle with Lord Selkirk he played an important part.

He engaged in the Canada fur trade from 1803, and as a result was nicknamed “the Bear”. In 1809 he married Hannah Althea Bettesworth, née Grey, daughter of Charles Grey, 1st Earl Grey, and the widow of Captain George Edmund Byron Bettesworth. He had one son by her, Edward.

In 1820, he was, with the brothers William and Simon McGillivray, active in bringing about the union of the North West and the Hudson’s Bay Companies; and it was actually with him and the McGillivrays that the union was negotiated. He amalgamated the North West, XY, and Hudson’s Bay companies in 1821.

He was Member of Parliament for Coventry from 1818 to 1826, and again from 1830 to 1863. He served as a Secretary to the Treasury, and a whip in Lord Grey’s government, 1830-1832. He was Secretary at War from 1832–1834, during which time he proposed that appointments in the army should be made directly from his office. He founded the Reform Club in 1836 and supported Palmerston as premier. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1833.

He was awarded a DCL by St Andrews University. He privately urged French government to send troops into Spain in 1836. He was deputy-governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

In 1843, he married, secondly, Anne Amelia Leicester, née Keppel, daughter of William Keppel, 4th Earl of Albemarle and widow of Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester. She died in the following year.

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Regency Personalities Series-Thomas Douglas 5th Earl of Selkirk

Regency Personalities Series

In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Thomas Douglas 5th Earl of Selkirk
June 20 1771-April 8 1820

Thomas was the seventh son of the 4th Earl, and Helen Hamilton the grand-daughter of the 6th Earl of Haddington. He was educated at Palgrave Academy, and (as the seventh son) not expected to inherit, went to the University of Edinburgh to learn to become a lawyer. He noticed Scottish crofters who had been displaced while at University and looked for ways to aid them. He hoped to do so by finding land for them in the British Colonies. In 1799 he became the Earl on his father’s death. (Two brothers died in infancy, two from tuberculosis and two from yellow fever.) He established the Red River Colony in 1811 and brought dozens of the highlander families over to start a farming colony.

First he established colonies on Prince Edward Island in 1803 and in Upper Canada in 1804. He travelled extensively in North America and his work gained him some fame. In 1807 he was named Lord-Lieutenant of Kirkcudbright and elected to the Royal Society.

In order to keep working on his settlement projects he asked the British government for a land grant, but that land was already in the hands of the Hudson Bay Company. With Alexander Mackenzie, he then brought enough shares in the HBC that they gave him the land. Now as an owner of the HBC he wanted to stop the North West Company from being a competitor. The placement of the Red River Colony across the NWC trade routes was no coincidence. The Metis people who lived their though had long ties to the NWC and so ignored Selkirk’s control of the area.

128 men in 1812 led by governor Miles Macdonell was the first settlers. They arrived late and needed the help of the Metis to survive the winter. In order to preserve their supplies Macdonell prohibited the export of food, with the Pemmican Proclamation. But the Metis sold food to survive so the arrested Macdonell and burnt the settlement.

Robert Semple was now made governor. By 1816 violence between the Metis and the newcomers resulted in the Battle of Seven Oaks, where 25 of the settlers died, including Semple. NWC was accused of aiding the Metis. (DWW-this has all the makings of a great Cowboy and Indian Movie)

Selkirk and his men seized Fort William which belonged to the NWC. After his Selkirk was told to appear in court in Montreal and charged with 4 offenses. For the remainder of his life Selkirk fought the charges in court. He died in 1820 in France. Selkirk is memorialized in many places either by the name Selkirk or Douglas. The Metis even link Selkirk and his interference in the Red River colony to what united them as a people.

Their is a humorous anecdote that in 1778, John Paul Jones, sailing for the American Colonies, thought to kidnap a British Noble to use in a prisoner exchange. He had been born near the Selkirk lands, and so sailed there. Only Thomas was home and his mother. Thomas was seven.

Jones sent his lieutenants to do the deed, and Lady Selkirk invited them in and gave them drink. When they asked for the boy to take as hostage, she refused. They settled on her silver. The butler then went to fill a sack with the silver, but first filled it half way with coal. The lieutenants did not check and gave the sack to Captain Jones who was not very happy. He later wrote his apologies to Lady Selkirk and promised to return the silver to her. It took seven years to do so, causing protracted legal negotiations.

Previous Notables (Click to see the Blog):

George III	George IV	Georgiana Cavendish
William IV	Lady Hester Stanhope	Lady Caroline Lamb
Princess Charlotte	Queen Charlotte	Charles James Fox
Queen Adelaide	Dorothea Jordan	Jane Austen
Maria Fitzherbert	Lord Byron	John Keats
Princess Caroline	Percy Bysshe Shelley	Cassandra Austen
Edmund Kean	Thomas Clarkson	Sir John Moore
John Burgoyne	William Wilberforce	Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Sarah Siddons	Josiah Wedgwood	Emma Hamilton
Hannah More	John Phillip Kemble	John Jervis, Earl St. Vincent
Ann Hatton	Stephen Kemble	Mary Robinson
Harriet Mellon	Zachary Macaulay	George Elphinstone
Thomas Babington	George Romney	Mary Moser
Ozias Humphry	William Hayley	Daniel Mendoza
Edward Pellew	Angelica Kauffman	Sir William Hamilton
David Garrick	Pownoll Bastard Pellew	Charles Arbuthnot
William Upcott	William Huskisson	Dominic Serres
Sir George Barlow	Scrope Davies	Charles Francis Greville
George Stubbs	Fanny Kemble	Thomas Warton
William Mason	Thomas Troubridge	Charles Stanhope
Robert Fulke Greville	Gentleman John Jackson	Ann Radcliffe
Edward ‘Golden Ball’ Hughes	John Opie	Adam Walker
John Ireland	Henry Pierrepoint	Robert Stephenson
Mary Shelley	Sir Joshua Reynolds	Francis Place
Richard Harding Evans	Lord Thomas Foley	Francis Burdett
John Gale Jones	George Parker Bidder	Sir George Warren
Edward Eliot	William Beechey	Eva Marie Veigel
Hugh Percy-Northumberland	Charles Philip Yorke	Lord Palmerston
Samuel Romilly	John Petty 2nd Marquess Lansdowne	Henry Herbert Southey
Stapleton Cotton	Colin Macaulay	Amelia Opie
Sir James Hall	Henry Thomas Colebrooke	Maria Foote
Sir David Baird	Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville	Dr. Robert Gooch
William Baillie	James Northcote	Horatio Nelson
Henry Fuseli	Home Riggs Popham	John Playfair
Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice 3rd Marquess Lansdowne

There will be many other notables coming, a full and changing list can be found here on the blog as I keep adding to it. The list so far is:

• Alexander Mackenzie
• Adam Ferguson of Raith
• Nevil Maskelyne
• Dugald Stewart
• James Playfair
• William Playfair
• William Henry Playfair
• William Ludlam
• James Hutton
• Astley Cooper
• John Boydell
• Benjamin Tucker
• Sir Robert Calder
• Viscount Robert Castlereagh
• George Rose
• George Canning
• Henry Blackwood
• John Pasco
• Eliab Harvey
• Alexander Ball
• Captain Thomas Foley
• William Beatty
• Sir Sidney Smith
• Geroge Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer
• John Thomas Duckworth
• Admiral Adam Duncan
• Edward Berry
• Robert Linzee
• David Dundas
• Sir Hyde Parker
• Sir Thomas Hardy
• Charles Stuart (British Army Officer)
• Skeffington Lutwidge
• Mark Robinson
• William Locker
• Sir Peter Parker
• William Parker
• Major General John Dalling
• William Cornwallis
• William Hotham
• Captain William Baillie (Engraver)
• William Baillie (artist)
• Benjamin Travers
• Sir Ralph Abercromby
• Sir Hector Munro
• James Kenney
• Elizabeth Inchbald
• George Colman the Younger
• Thomas Morton
• John Liston
• Tyrone Power
• Colonel William Berkeley
• Barry Proctor
• William Henry West Betty
• Sir George Colebrooke
• Joseph John Gurney
• James Hutton
• Robert Emmet
• William Taylor of Norwich
• Sir William Knighton
• John Romilly
• Sir John Herschel
• John Horne Tooke
• James Mill
• Edward Hall Alderson
• Henry Perronet Briggs
• Robert Owen
• Jeremy Bentham
• Joseph Hume
• Sir Walter Scott
• Charles Lamb
• John Stuart Mill
• Thomas Cochrane
• James Paull
• Claire Clairmont
• William Lovett
• Sir John Vaughan
• Fanny Imlay
• William Godwin
• Mary Wollstonecraft
• General Sir Robert Arbuthnot
• Harriet Fane Arbuthnot
• Joseph Antonio Emidy
• James Edwards (Bookseller)
• William Gifford
• John Wolcot (Peter Pindar)
• Sir Joseph Banks
• Richard Porson
• Edward Gibbon
• James Smithson
• William Cowper
• Richard Cumberland
• Richard Cosway
• Jacob Phillipp Hackert
• John Thomas Serres
• Wellington (the Military man)
• William Vincent
• Cuthbert Collingwood
• Admiral Sir Graham Moore
• Admiral Sir William Sydney Smith
• Admiral Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke
• Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville
• William Howe
• Richard Howe
• Viscount Samuel Hood
• Thomas Hope
• Baroness de Calabrella
• Thomas Babington Macaulay
• Harriet Martineau
• Napoleon Bonaparte
• Sir Edward Michael Pakenham
• Admiral Israel Pellew
• General Banastre Tarleton
• Henry Paget
• Francis Leggatt Chantrey
• Sir Charles Grey
• Thomas Picton
• John Constable
• Thomas Lawrence
• George Cruikshank
• Thomas Gainsborough
• James Gillray
• George Stubbs
• Joseph Priestley
• Horace Walpole
• John Thomas ‘Antiquity’ Smith
• Thomas Coutts
• Angela Burdett-Coutts
• Sir Anthony Carlisle
• Thomas Rowlandson
• William Blake
• Isambard Kingdom Brunel
• Sir Marc Brunel
• Marquis of Stafford Granville Leveson-Gower
• Marquis of Stafford George Leveson-Gower
• George Stephenson
• Nicholas Wood
• Edward Pease
• Thomas Telford
• Joseph Locke
• Paul III Anton, Prince Esterházy
• Thomas Egerton, 2nd Earl of Wilton
• John Nash
• Matthew Gregory Lewis
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• Robert Southey
• Thomas Hope
• Henry Holland
• Sir Walter Scott
• Lord Elgin
• Henry Moyes
• Jeffery Wyatville
• Hester Thrale
• William Windham
• Madame de Stael
• Joseph Black
• John Walker
• James Boswell
• Edward John Eliot
• Edward James Eliot
• Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough
• George Combe
• William Harrison Ainsworth
• Sir Harry Smith
• Thomas Cochrane
• Warren Hastings
• Edmund Burke
• William Petty
• Juana Maria de Los Dolores de Leon (Lady Smith)
• Lord Barrymore, Richard Barry (1769-1794)
• Lord Bedford, Francis Russell (1765-1802)
• Mr. G. Dawson Damer (1788-1856)
• Colonel George Hanger (c.1751-1824)
• Lord Hertford, Francis Seymour-Ingram (1743-1822)
• Lord Yarmouth, Francis Charles Seymour-Ingram (1777-1842)
• Earl of Jersey, George Bussey Villiers (1735-1805)
• Sir John , John Lade (1759-1838)
• Louis Philippe Joseph, Duc de Chartres, acceded 1785 as Duc d’ Orleans (1747-1793)
• Louis Philippe, Duc de Chartres, acceded 1793 as Duc d’ Orleans (1773-1850)
• Captain John (Jack) Willett Payne (1752-1803)
• Lord Sefton, William Philip Molyneux (1772-1838)
• Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour (1759-1801)
• Sir Lumley St. George Skeffington Baronet (1771 – 1850)
• Lord Worcester, Henry Somerset (1766-1835)
• Lord Worcester, Henry Somerset (1792-1853)
• Hon. Frederick Gerald aka “Poodle” Byng

The Dukes

•         Duke of Richmond, Charles Lennox 3rd Duke
•         Duke of Richmond, Charles Lennox 4th Duke (1764-1819)
•         Duke of Richmond, Charles Gordon Lennox 5th Duke (1791-1860)
•         Duke of Devonshire, William Cavendish (1748-1811)
•         Duke of Norfolk, Charles Howard (1746-1815)
•         Duke of Norfolk, Bernard Edward Howard (1765-1842)
•         Duke of Norfolk, Henry Charles Howard (1791-1856)
•         Duke of Somerset, Edward St. Maur (1775-1855)
•         Duke of Somerset, Edward Adolphus Seymour (1804-1885)
•         Duke of Argyll, George William Campbell (1766-1839)
•         Duke of Queensberry, William Douglas (1724-1810)
•         Duke of Rutland, John Henry Manners(1778-1857)
•         Duke of York , Frederick Augustus Hanover (1763-1827)
•         Duke of St. Albans,William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk 9th Duke
•         Duke of Grafton, Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke 1735-1811
•         Duke of Grafton, George FitzRoy, 4th Duke 1760-1844
•         Duke of Grafton, Henry FitzRoy, 5th Duke 1790-1863

The Dandy Club

•         Beau Brummell
•         William Arden, 2nd Baron Alvanley
•         Henry Mildmay

Patronesses of Almacks

•         Emily Lamb, Lady Cowper
•         Amelia Stewart, Viscountess Castlereagh
•         Sarah Villiers, Countess of Jersey
•         Maria Molyneux, Countess of Sefton
•         Mrs. Drummond Burrell
•         Dorothea Lieven, Countess de Lieven, wife of the Russian Ambassador
•         Countess Esterhazy, wife of the Austrian Ambassador

If there are any requests for personalities to be added to the list, just let us know in the comments section

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