163-503: Edward Gibbon Wakefield (20 March 1796 – 16 May 1862) was a British criminal who became a politician in colonial Canada and New Zealand . He is considered a key figure in the establishment of the colonies of South Australia and New Zealand (where he later served as a member of parliament). He also had significant interests in British North America , being involved in the drafting of Lord Durham's Report and being
326-648: A Scottish immigrant and reformist mayor of York (Toronto), organized the Upper Canada Rebellion in December 1837 after the Patriotes rebellion had begun. Upper Canadians had similar grievances; they were annoyed at the undemocratic governance of the colony, and especially by the corrupt and inefficient Bank of Upper Canada and the Canada Company . On December 4, the rebels assembled near Montgomery's Tavern , where
489-577: A blueprint for development of British colonial policy. The defunct New Zealand Association reformed itself as the New Zealand Company in June 1838. By the end of the year they had purchased a ship, the Tory . Early in 1839 they discovered that although they now complied with the conditions the government had laid down for the old New Zealand Association, it was not prepared to honour its promises. Furthermore, it
652-450: A break from New Zealand affairs. It did not serve his purpose and he returned to London two months later in a semi-invalid state. During his convalescence he wrote his book A View of the Art of Colonization , in the form of letters between a "Statesman" and a "Colonist". By January 1846 Wakefield was back to his scheming. By now Gladstone was Colonial Secretary. Wakefield approached him early in
815-466: A complete break from British rule and the establishment of a republic. Louis-Joseph Papineau was elected speaker of the colonial assembly in 1815. His attempts at reform were ignored by the British, and in 1834, the assembly passed The Ninety-Two Resolutions , outlining its grievances against the legislative council. Papineau organized boycotts and civil disobedience. The colonial government illegally ordered
978-634: A detailed report on public lands, arguing that the better way to encourage settlement was to sell Crown lands at higher prices than had been the case up to then, which would attract immigrants with capital. This approach had been tried without much success in Upper Canada some years before. Wakefield's report on public lands became Appendix B to the Durham Report . No attempt was made to implement his policy proposals. Durham met extensively with local political leaders, but at one point, Wakefield met with one of
1141-504: A dim light from the inner courtyard. The gallows were constructed outside a door in Newgate Street for public viewing. Dense crowds of thousands of spectators could pack the streets to see these events, and in 1807 dozens died at a public execution when part of the crowd of 40,000 spectators collapsed into a crowd crush . In November 1835 James Pratt and John Smith were the last two men to be executed for sodomy . Michael Barrett
1304-636: A federation. This was especially pushed by the liberal Reform movement of Upper Canada and the French-Canadian rouges in Lower Canada who favoured a decentralized union in comparison to the Upper Canadian Conservative party and to some degree the French-Canadian bleus which favoured a centralized union. Even Queen Victoria was supportive, noting "...the impossibility of our being able to hold Canada, but we must struggle for it; and by far
1467-504: A founding father of the colony; to be feted and immediately asked to assume the leadership of colony. However, colonisation had inevitably changed the perspectives of the people of Canterbury. Many of them felt they had been let down and cheated by the Association, and the two arrivals were firmly linked in their minds with the broken promises and disappointments of the Association. History of Canada (1763%E2%80%931867) Starting with
1630-460: A half century later, in 1431, city administrators met to discuss other potential areas of reform. Proposed regulations included separating freemen and freewomen into the north and south chambers, respectively, and keeping the rest of the prisoners in underground holding cells. Good prisoners who had not been accused of serious crimes would be allowed to use the chapel and recreation rooms at no additional fees. Meanwhile, debtors whose burden did not meet
1793-795: A key act leading up to the Siege of Yorktown , Louis-Philippe de Vaudreuil , the French-born nephew of French Canada 's last French governor, the Marquis de Vaudreuil , assisted Bougainville and de Grasse in preventing the British Navy from resupplying or relieving Cornwallis' army in the Battle of the Chesapeake . In Nova Scotia there was some agitation against British rule, largely instigated by Jonathan Eddy and John Allan , migrants from Massachusetts who had settled in
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#17328481171341956-462: A lot of interest. The National Colonization Society (also spelt National Colonisation Society) was created in 1830 in order to advocate for the type of "systematic colonisation " set out in Letter from Sydney , based on three principles: careful selection of emigrants; the concentration of settlers; and the sale of land at a fixed, uniform, "sufficient price", to provide funding for new settlers. Wakefield
2119-581: A member of the Parliament of the Province of Canada for a short time. He was best known for his colonisation scheme, sometimes referred to as the Wakefield scheme or the Wakefield system , which aimed to populate the new colony of South Australia with a workable combination of labourers, tradespeople, artisans and capital. The scheme was to be financed by the sale of land to the capitalists who would thereby support
2282-556: A minimum price of five shillings per acre in the colony of New South Wales . After his Letter from Sydney in 1829, Wakefield's name became associated with other "scientific theories" of colonisation similar to his. People who accepted these ideas were usually on the side of the colonists, and were called "systematic colonizers," or (more commonly) "colonial reformers" and "radical imperialists," to highlight their Radical Whig political roots. After his release Wakefield briefly turned his attention to social questions at home, and produced
2445-458: A minimum threshold would not be required to wear shackles. Prison officials were barred from selling food, charcoal, and candles. The prison was supposed to have yearly inspections, but whether they actually occurred is unknown. Other reforms attempted to reduce the waiting time between jail deliveries to the Old Bailey , with the aim of reducing suffering, but these efforts had little effect. Over
2608-531: A more representational form of government which they called " responsible government ". By "responsible," the reformers meant that such a government would be ultimately responsible to the will of the subjects of the colonies, not to authorities in London. The critical move toward responsible government came between 1846 and 1850. In practice, it meant that the Executive Council of each colony formulated policy with
2771-467: A new largely French-speaking Quebec. Finally, but by no means least significant, were fears of possible U.S. expansion northward in the wake of the end of the United States Civil War . On a political level, there was a desire for the expansion of responsible government and elimination of the legislative deadlock between Upper and Lower Canada, and their replacement with provincial legislatures in
2934-839: A new project was under way, the New Zealand Association . In 1837 the Colonial Office gave the New Zealand Association a charter to promote settlement in New Zealand. However, they attached conditions that were unacceptable to the members of the Association. After considerable discussion, interest in the project waned. Wakefield was undoubtedly one of the most influential voices in the Association, but he discovered another interest, Canada. In 1837, there were rebellions in both Lower Canada and Upper Canada . The colonial governments in both provinces had been able to suppress
3097-630: A number of expeditions took place; firstly a naval expedition led by George Vancouver which explored the inlets around the Pacific North West, particularly around Vancouver Island . On land, expeditions took place hoping for a discovery of a practicable river route to the Pacific for the extension of the North American fur trade , namely the North West Company . Sir Alexander Mackenzie led
3260-627: A pamphlet, "A View of Sir Charles Metcalfe's Government of Canada", and an article "Sir Charles Metcalfe in Canada", which appeared in Fisher's Colonial Magazine in July 1844. That was the end of his involvement with Canadian affairs, apart from being paid about £20,000 by the Association for his work in Canada. Wakefield returned to England in early 1844 to find the New Zealand Company under serious attack from
3423-513: A price. These keepers in turn were permitted to exact payment directly from the inmates, making the position one of the most profitable in London. Inevitably, often the system offered incentives for the keepers to exhibit cruelty to the prisoners, charging them for everything from entering the gaol to having their chains both put on and taken off. They often began inflicting punishment on prisoners before their sentences even began. Guards, whose incomes partially depended on extorting their wards, charged
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#17328481171343586-466: A prison cell used to house St. Oliver Plunkett in 1681 is on display at St Peter's Church in Drogheda , Ireland (which also displays his head). The phrase "[as] black as Newgate's knocker" is a Cockney reference to the door knocker on the front of the prison. A record of executions conducted at the prison, together with commentary, was published as The Newgate Calendar . The prison appears in
3749-526: A result of service to the British and over 2,000 African slaves . In 1793 Upper Canada became the first British jurisdiction to enact legislation to suppress slavery, with the Act Against Slavery being passed allowing for its gradual abolition. After the war the British expanded their mercantile interests in the North Pacific. Spain and Britain had become rivals in the area which came to a head with
3912-613: A riding accident in September 1841 before any decision was made. Wakefield returned to Canada in January 1842 to lobby the new governor, Sir Charles Bagot , and stayed for almost a year. Although there was strong opposition in the Assembly to the canal proposal, a major loan guarantee from the British government ensured that funds could be obtained. In June 1842 the Executive Council approved
4075-576: A source within Governor Bagot's office: in one letter to the Colonial Gazette , he correctly predicted that Bagot would appoint LaFontaine to the Executive Council within a month, a significant political advance for French-Canadians, and a major shift in imperial policy. It reached the point that rumours circulated that Wakefield himself was behind Bagot's policy, a claim denied by Bagot, who stated that he had only met Wakefield two or three times. At
4238-579: A tract on the Punishment of Death (1831), with a graphic picture of the condemned sermon in Newgate, and another on the rural districts, with an equally powerful exhibition of the degraded condition of the agricultural labourer. He soon, however, became entirely engrossed with colonial affairs. In 1831, having impressed John Stuart Mill , Robert Torrens and other leading economists with the value of his ideas, Wakefield became involved in various schemes to promote
4401-457: A union of French and English Canada would allow the colony to progress in the interest of Great Britain. A political union would, he hoped, cause the French-speakers to be assimilated by English-speaking settlements, solving the problem of French Canadian nationalism once and for all. Lord Durham was succeeded by Lord Sydenham who was responsible for implementing Durham's recommendations in
4564-527: A wealthy merchant and former British Cabinet minister, who had substantial business interests in British North America. (Ellice's son, also named Edward Ellice , had been Durham's private secretary. While in Lower Canada, he and his wife, Katherine Ellice , had been taken prisoner by Patriotes at the seigneury during the Battle of Beauharnois in November 1838.) In addition to the proposed settlements,
4727-502: A work primarily intended to develop his own colonial theory, which is done in the appendix entitled "The Art of Colonization." The body of the work contains many new ideas, some of them reaching apparently extreme conclusions. It contains the distinct proposal that the transport of letters should be wholly free, and the prediction that, under given circumstances, the Americans would raise "cheaper corn than has ever yet been raised". Soon,
4890-626: The Act of Union 1840 passed on July 23, 1840, by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and proclaimed February 10, 1841. Upper and Lower Canada became, respectively, Canada West and Canada East , both with 42 seats in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada despite Lower Canada being more populated. The official language of the province became English and French was explicitly banned in
5053-705: The 1763 Treaty of Paris , New France , of which the colony of Canada was a part, formally became a part of the British Empire . The Royal Proclamation of 1763 enlarged the colony of Canada under the name of the Province of Quebec , which with the Constitutional Act 1791 became known as the Canadas . With the Act of Union 1840 , Upper and Lower Canada were joined to become the United Province of Canada . By
Edward Gibbon Wakefield - Misplaced Pages Continue
5216-607: The 49th parallel . By 1857, Americans and British were beginning to respond to rumours of gold in the Fraser River area. Almost overnight, some ten to twenty thousand men moved into the region around present-day Yale, British Columbia , sparking the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush . Governor James Douglas was suddenly faced with having to exert British authority over a largely alien population. In order to normalize its jurisdiction, and undercut any Hudsons's Bay Company claims to
5379-488: The Battle of Ridgeway , an 1866 invasion into Ontario by some 1500 Irish nationalists which was repulsed largely by local militia. Although Spain had taken the lead in the exploration of the northwest Pacific Coast, with the voyages of Juan José Pérez Hernández in 1774 and 1775, by the time the Spanish determined to build a fort on Vancouver Island, the British navigator James Cook had himself visited Nootka Sound and charted
5542-603: The Black Museum at New Scotland Yard on the prison's closure. Other famous prisoners at Newgate include: The Central Criminal Court – known as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands – now stands upon the Newgate Prison site. The original iron gate leading to the gallows was used for decades in an alleyway in Buffalo, New York . It is currently housed in that city at Canisius University . The original door from
5705-471: The Chignecto Isthmus area near Fort Cumberland (formerly Fort Beauséjour). The only major event of their resistance was the Battle of Fort Cumberland , when Eddy and a combined force of Massachusetts Patriots, Acadians, and aboriginals besieged the fort in November 1776. The siege was broken and Eddy's forces were scattered when British reinforcements arrived. Eddy and Allan continued to make trouble on
5868-517: The Church of England . This plan matured to become the Canterbury Settlement. The first ship sailed from England in December 1849 with Godley in command of the expedition. Jerningham Wakefield also sailed with them, his health and finances ruined by his dissipated lifestyle in London. The first immigrant ships bound for Canterbury sailed from Plymouth in September 1850, and others followed. In
6031-512: The City of London . A few decades later in 1236, in an effort to significantly enlarge the prison, the king converted one of the Newgate turrets, which still functioned as a main gate into the city, into an extension of the prison. The addition included new dungeons and adjacent buildings, which would remain unaltered for roughly two centuries. By the 15th century, however, Newgate was in need of repair. Following pressure from reformers who learned that
6194-640: The Hudson's Bay Company 's tenure of Rupert's Land and the Arctic territories, and launched a series of exploring expeditions to familiarize themselves and the settler population with the geography and climate of the region. In 1854, the Governor General of British North America, Lord Elgin, signed a significant trade agreement with the United States on behalf of the colonies. This agreement endured for ten years until
6357-593: The Maritimes who had intended to hold discussions regarding a federation of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. This conference was followed by a subsequent conference in Quebec City . The Seventy-Two Resolutions from the 1864 Quebec Conference laid out the framework for uniting British colonies in North America into a federation . They were adopted by the majority of the provinces of Canada and became
6520-552: The Nootka Crisis in 1789. Both sides mobilised for war, and Spain counted on France for support; when France refused, Spain had to back down and capitulated to British terms leading to the Nootka Convention . The outcome of the crisis was a humiliation for Spain and a triumph for Britain, for the former had practically renounced all sovereignty on the North Pacific coast. This opened the way to British expansion in that area, and
6683-401: The Province of South Australia was established. Although initially, Wakefield was a driving force, as it came closer to fruition, he was allowed less and less influence, with ally-turned-rival Robert Gouger eventually controlling execution of the scheme. However, he did not lose interest in colonisation as a tool for social engineering . In 1833 he published anonymously England and America ,
Edward Gibbon Wakefield - Misplaced Pages Continue
6846-766: The Provinces of Nova-Scotia, New-Brunswick, and their Dependencies, including the Island of Newfoundland, Cape Breton, Prince Edward and Bermuda were under the Command of His Excellency Lieutenant-General Sir James Kempt GCB, GCH. The established Church of England in Bermuda (since 1978, titled the Anglican Church of Bermuda ) and Newfoundland was attached to the See of Nova Scotia from 1825 to 1839 and from 1787 to 1839, respectively. From 1839,
7009-651: The Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda ) in 1794, when Vice Admiral Sir George Murray , Commander-in-Chief of the new River St. Lawrence and Coast of America and North America and West Indies Station , set up the first Admiralty House, Bermuda at Rose Hill, St. George's. In 1813, the area of command became the North America Station again, with the West Indies falling under the Jamaica Station , and in 1816 it
7172-861: The Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Secretary of State for War, were separated in 1854, dividing the civil and military administration of the British Empire. The War Office, after 1854 and until the 1867 confederation of the Dominion of Canada , split the military administration of the British colonial and foreign stations into nine districts: North America and North Atlantic ; West Indies ; Mediterranean ; West Coast of Africa and South Atlantic ; South Africa ; Egypt and The Sudan ; Indian Ocean ; Australasia ; and China . North America and North Atlantic included
7335-421: The Seven Years' War had seen Great Britain conquer the entirety of the French colony of Canada . The war officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763. As part of the treaty, France formally renounced its claims to all its North American lands to Britain (of which the French colony of Canada was a part), except Louisiana (which had been instead ceded to Spain), and two islands off
7498-425: The Thirteen Colonies were generally supportive of it. The habitants were divided; in some areas (notably the region between Montreal and Saint-Jean ), there was significant support, and militia companies were raised in support of the Patriots by James Livingston . The Patriots laid siege to Fort Saint-Jean , capturing it and Montreal in November 1775. They then marched on Quebec City, where an attempt to take
7661-460: The Tyburn gallows. These took place on the public street in front of the prison, drawing crowds until 1868, when they were moved into the prison. For much of its history, a succession of criminal courtrooms were attached to the prison, commonly referred to as the "Old Bailey". The present Old Bailey (officially, Central Criminal Court) now occupies much of the site of the prison. In the 12th century, Henry II instituted legal reforms that gave
7824-463: The War Office (which became the War and Colonial Office ) and Secretary of State for War and Colonies (as the Secretary of State for War was renamed). From 1824, the British Empire was divided by the War and Colonial Office into four administrative departments, including North America , the West Indies , Mediterranean and Africa , and Eastern Colonies , of which North America included: North America The Colonial Office and War Office, and
7987-411: The "stone hall" whereas common felons were taken to the "stone hold". The dungeons were dirty and unlit, so depraved that physicians would not enter. The conditions did not improve with time. Prisoners who could afford to purchase alcohol from the prisoner-run drinking cellar by the main entrance to Newgate remained perpetually drunk. There were lice everywhere, and jailers left the prisoners chained to
8150-407: The 1860s, interest developed in forming a new federation between the Canadas and the other British colonies of British North America , that led to Confederation in 1867. A number of other British colonies that are today part of Canada, such as Newfoundland and British Columbia , and large territories such as Rupert's Land , initially remained outside the newly formed federation. In North America,
8313-458: The American War of 1812 (most notably the Burning of Washington in retribution for the "wanton destruction of private property along the north shores of Lake Erie" by American forces under Col. John Campbell in May 1814, the most notable being the Raid on Port Dover ) to draw United States forces away from the Canadian border. In 1828, His Excellency George, Earl of Dalhousie , (Baron Dalhousie, of Dalhousie Castle,) Knight Grand Cross of
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#17328481171348476-442: The American government abrogated it in 1865. Effective governance of the United Province of Canada after 1840 required a careful balancing of the interests of French and English- speaking populations; and between Catholics and Protestants. John A. Macdonald emerged in the 1850s as a personality who could manage that task. A political conservative, MacDonald forged political relationships and coalitions with George-Étienne Cartier ,
8639-399: The Beauharnois area for the Colonial Association. Metcalfe prorogued the Assembly after the passage of the motion. He found it difficult to assemble a new ministry, and did not recall the Assembly, instead dissolving it for a general election in 1844. Wakefield had returned to Britain after the 1843 session, and did not stand for re-election. In 1844, he wrote two pieces defending Metcalfe:
8802-465: The Beauharnois route, and construction began. As part of his lobbying, Wakefield positioned himself as a champion of French-Canadian interests, sending a series of letters to the Colonial Gazette in London, calling for greater French-Canadian involvement in the government of the province. He cultivated two significant Patriote leaders who had been imprisoned during the Rebellion, Denis-Benjamin Viger and Jean-Joseph Girouard . He also appeared to have
8965-465: The British Crown. The British Conquest of Acadia (which included Nova Scotia peninsula , but not present-day New Brunswick) happened in 1710, and the British had already established settlements, including Halifax . The establishment of Halifax sparked Father Le Loutre's War , which, in turn, led to the British expelling the Acadians from the region during the French and Indian War. As they later captured Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island ,
9128-412: The British at the Battle of Lake Champlain . In English Canada, it is seen as a victory against American invasions, with heroic legends surrounding many of the participants (such as Isaac Brock and Laura Secord ) and battles (especially those in the Niagara Peninsula ). For centuries one of the most important economic ventures in North America was the fur trade . This trade, which had been pioneered by
9291-468: The British for a long time before the French finally abandoned any claims to the area. An anglophone society had already taken shape prior to 1763, although two islands were reserved for French fishermen. In the Maritimes, the British had previously expelled many of the French colonists of Acadia in 1755 to Louisiana, but this would not be repeated in 1763. The remaining indigenous Mi'kmaq and Wabanaki Confederacy had laid down arms and pledged loyalty to
9454-441: The British troops stationed in the city met them on December 7. The rebels were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned and were defeated in less than an hour. Mackenzie escaped to the United States. Also in December, a group of Irish immigrants attempted to seize southwestern Ontario by force in the Patriot War . They were defeated by government troops at Windsor . Lord Durham was appointed Governor General of Canada in 1838. He
9617-409: The Canadas were once again a battleground, this time between the British and the relatively young United States. During the war, unsuccessful attempts were made by the Americans to invade Upper Canada, after overestimating the amount of support they would receive from Canadian colonists. Much of the settler population of Upper Canada (now southern Ontario) were Americans who had very recently arrived in
9780-412: The Church of England continued to place Bermuda under the Bishop of Newfoundland until 1919). Following the war, the Royal Navy spent a dozen years charting the barrier reef around Bermuda to discover the channel that enabled access to the northern lagoon, the Great Sound , and Hamilton Harbour . Once this had been located, a base was established (initially at St. George's before the construction of
9943-429: The Colonial Office. In the interval, the Times began publishing extracts from the report. It is not clear how the Times obtained the report, but it is generally accepted that Wakefield likely had a hand in it, to prevent the government from trying to bury the recommendation for responsible government. The report was formally laid before Parliament on 11 February 1839. Eventually this report, and its conclusions, became
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#173284811713410106-433: The Colonial Office. He threw himself into the campaign to save his project. In August 1844 he had a stroke , followed in later months by several other minor strokes, and he had to retire. There is also a possibility that his mental health was not too sound in the succeeding months. His son Jerningham returned from New Zealand about this time and cared for him. In August 1845 he went to France to recuperate and to give himself
10269-434: The Crown more control over the administration of justice. As part of his Assize of Clarendon of 1166, he required the construction of prisons, where the accused would stay while royal judges debated their innocence or guilt and subsequent punishment. In 1188, Newgate was the first institution established to meet that purpose. Also around this time, the Sheriffs of London were given jurisdiction in Middlesex , as well as in
10432-409: The First Nations a political voice as, though they were viewed as an underclass, they were too important to simply be ignored. The American Revolution led to intense competition between the British and the U.S. By the 1830s changing fashions in Europe had begun a steep decline in fur prices and an overall collapse in the market. Apart from the economic losses to whites involved in the fur trade, many of
10595-525: The First Nations were devastated, both in terms of economic loss and in terms of loss of influence in local politics. As the fur trade declined in importance, the timber trade became Canada's most important commodity. The industry became concentrated in three main regions. The first to be exploited was the Saint John River system. Trees in the still almost deserted hinterland of New Brunswick were cut and transported to Saint John where they were shipped to England. This area soon could not keep up with demand, and
10758-405: The French, came to be dominated by the British as they gained increasing territory on the continent. The main British fur trading posts were located inside of what became the United States (the British were forced to relocate northward as borders were established with the new nation). First Nations were central to the trade as they were the primary fur trappers. The role gave the peoples of many of
10921-421: The Islands of Newfoundland, Cape Breton, Prince Edward and Bermuda were under the Command of Lieutenant-General Sir John Coape Sherbrooke . Below Sherbrooke, the Bermuda Garrison was under the immediate control of the Lieutenant-Governor of Bermuda , Major-General George Horsford ). The Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Marines, and Colonial Marines forces based in Bermuda carried out actions of this sort during
11084-404: The Master's side for those could afford to pay for their own food and accommodations, the Common side for those who were too poor, and a Press Yard for special prisoners. The king often used Newgate as a holding place for heretics, traitors, and rebellious subjects brought to London for trial. The prison housed both male and female felons and debtors. Prisoners were separated into wards by sex. By
11247-462: The Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath was Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over the Provinces of Lower-Canada, Upper-Canada, Nova-Scotia, and New-Brunswick, and their several dependencies, Vice-Admiral of the same, Lieutenant-General and Commander of all His Majesty’s Forces in the said Provinces, and their several dependencies, and in the Islands of Newfoundland, Prince Edward, and Bermuda, &c. &c c. &c. Beneath Dalhousie,
11410-458: The New Year with a fairly radical plan that both the Government and the New Zealand Company should withdraw from New Zealand affairs and the colony should become self-governing. While it might have been a good idea, Wakefield wanted it accepted immediately, and became at first heated and then distressed when some months later, it was still being considered. In August 1846, he had another, potentially fatal stroke. His friend, Charles Buller , took up
11573-408: The New Zealand Company, Wakefield had also maintained his interest in Canadian affairs. He returned briefly in 1841, a year after the British government had brought the Union Act, 1840 into force. The government had only implemented part of Durham's recommendations. The act merged Lower Canada and Upper Canada into the new Province of Canada , but had not implemented responsible government. There
11736-486: The Parliament and in the courts. The moderate reformers Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin fought two successive governors general Sir Charles Bagot and Sir Charles Metcalfe to secure what became known as responsible government. Metcalfe fought to preserve the prerogatives of the Crown and the governor's control over the administration and patronage . He nonetheless had to make some concessions to win support, and
11899-778: The United States in any war that should transpire. Prior to 1784, the Bermuda Garrison had been placed under the military Commander-in-Chief America in New York during the American War of Independence, but was to become part of the Nova Scotia Command until the 1860s (in 1815, Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost was Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over the Provinces of Upper-Canada, Lower-Canada, Nova-Scotia, and New-Brunswick, and their several Dependencies, Vice-Admiral of
12062-421: The United States settled (see Rush–Bagot Treaty , Treaty of 1818 , Webster–Ashburton Treaty , Oregon Treaty ), thus easing tensions which for most of the first half of the 19th century had Americans threatening war or retaliation. The Union Act of 1840 was ultimately unsuccessful, and led to calls for a greater political union in the 1850s and 1860s. Support for independence was strengthened by events such as
12225-482: The United States, with the rest of the 85% choosing to stay in the new nation. Of these, roughly 50,000 Loyalists settled in the British North American colonies, which then consisted of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Prince Edward Island (created 1769). The Loyalists who settled in western Nova Scotia wanted political freedom from Halifax , so Britain split off the colony of New Brunswick in 1784. Quebec
12388-677: The War of 1812, the first half of the 19th century saw the growth of political reform movements in both Upper and Lower Canada, largely influenced by American and French republicanism. The colonial legislatures set out by the Constitutional Act had become dominated by wealthy elites, the Family Compact in Upper Canada and the Château Clique in Lower Canada. The moderate reformers, such as Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine , argued for
12551-421: The appointment was forbidden by London. Durham appointed one of his other advisors, Charles Buller , as Commissioner, but kept Wakefield as an unofficial representative, advisor and negotiator, giving him effectively the same powers he would have had if he been appointed, but without being paid. Wakefield's main task was analysis of the issue of public lands and the relationship of land to settlement. He prepared
12714-557: The arrest of Papineau. The Patriotes resorted to armed resistance and planned the Lower Canada Rebellion in the fall of 1837. British troops in the colony quickly put down the rebellion and forced Papineau to flee to the United States. A second rebellion by the Frères chasseurs of Robert Nelson broke out one year later, but the British put it down as well, with much loss of life and destruction of property. William Lyon Mackenzie,
12877-413: The assistance of the legislative branch. The legislature voted approval or disapproval, and the appointed governor enacted those policies that it had approved. It was a transition from the older system when the governor took advice from an executive council, and use the legislature chiefly to raise money. The radical reformers, such as William Lyon Mackenzie and Louis-Joseph Papineau demanded equality or
13040-689: The basis for the London Conference of 1866, which led to the formation of the Dominion of Canada on July 1, 1867. Federation emerged from multiple impulses: the British wanted Canada to defend itself; the Maritimes needed railroad connections, which were promised in 1867; British-Canadian nationalism sought to unite the lands into one country, dominated by the English language and British culture; many French-Canadians saw an opportunity to exert political control within
13203-415: The best solution would be to let it go as an independent kingdom under an English prince." In the end Canada went as a Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom itself. It was a fresh start, but not one that was greeted with universal joy. While some envisaged Confederation for the British North American colonies as a way forward together, La Minerve , a newspaper in the new Province of Quebec endorsed
13366-465: The centuries, Newgate was used for a number of purposes including imprisoning people awaiting execution, although it was not always secure: burglar Jack Sheppard twice escaped from the prison before he went to the gallows at Tyburn in 1724. Prison chaplain Paul Lorrain achieved some fame in the early 18th century for his sometimes dubious publication of Confessions of the condemned. In 1783,
13529-564: The city on December 31, 1775, failed. Following an ineffectual siege, the arrival of British troops in May 1776 sent the Patriots into retreat back toward Montreal. An attempt against British troops at Trois-Rivières failed, and the Patriots were driven from the province in June. Leaving with the rebel army were about 250 Québécois in two regiments: James Livingston's 1st Canadian Regiment , and Moses Hazen 's 2nd Canadian Regiment . Quebeckers living in
13692-622: The coast as far as Alaska, while British and American traders had begun settling on the coast so as to develop resources for trade with Europe and Asia. In 1793, Alexander Mackenzie a Scotsman working for the North West Company crossed the continent and with his aboriginal guides, French-Canadian voyageurs and another Scot, reached the mouth of the Bella Coola River, completing the first continental crossing of North America north of Mexico, missing George Vancouver 's charting expedition to
13855-509: The colonisation of South Australia . He believed that many of the social problems in Britain were caused by overpopulation , and he saw emigration to the colonies as a useful safety valve. He set out to design a colonisation scheme with a workable combination of labourers, artisans and capital. The scheme was to be financed by the sale of land to the capitalists who would thereby support the other classes of emigrants. It took several attempts before
14018-501: The colony, and some of them did support the invading force; however, the rest of the settler population was made up of the descendants of Loyalists or the original French colonists, who did not want to be part of the United States. The first American invasion came in October 1812, but they were defeated by General Isaac Brock at the Battle of Queenston Heights . The Americans invaded again in 1813, capturing Fort York (now Toronto). Later in
14181-711: The end of the parliamentary session in October 1842, John William Dunscomb , the member of the Legislative Assembly for the Beauharnois district , resigned his seat, since he had taken a new position in Montreal. Wakefield saw an opportunity and stood for election in Beauharnois. Campaigning as a supporter of LaFontaine, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly in November 1842. Having been elected, he then returned to Britain. Wakefield returned to Canada in September 1843 for
14344-428: The fact that she was a wealthy heiress probably played a part, with Edward receiving a marriage settlement of £70,000 (almost US$ 7m in 2018 dollars), with the prospect of more when Eliza turned 21. The married couple, accompanied by the bride's mother and various servants, moved to Genoa , Italy, where Wakefield was again employed in a diplomatic capacity. Here his first child, Susan Priscilla Wakefield, known as Nina,
14507-572: The federation because it provided " la seule voie qui nous soit offerte pour arriver à l'indépendance politique. " ("the only way offered to us to achieve political independence"). A change of heart toward Confederation was evident in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the Morning Chronicle newspaper announced on the front page of its July 1, 1867, edition the death of "the free and enlightened Province of Nova Scotia". Newgate prison Newgate Prison
14670-830: The first starting out in 1792 overland from Lake Athabasca via the Peace and Fraser Rivers , reaching the Pacific ocean near present-day Bella Coola on 20 July 1793. Mackenzie became the first European to reach the Pacific overland north of the Rio Grande which preceded the Lewis and Clark Expedition by twelve years. Shortly thereafter, Mackenzie's companion, John Finlay , founded the first permanent European settlement in British Columbia , Fort St. John . The North West Company sought further explorations firstly by David Thompson , starting in 1797, and later by Simon Fraser . These men pushed into
14833-400: The fitting out. Fearing a last-minute attempt by the government to prevent her sailing, Wakefield hastened down to Plymouth and advised their immediate departure. The Tory finally quit English shores on 12 May 1839 and reached New Zealand 96 days later. Wakefield did not sail with the colonists, and many years were to pass before he saw New Zealand. He may have recognised that he did not have
14996-597: The following stations (or garrisons): North America and North Atlantic The Atlantic archipelago of Bermuda (originally administered by the Virginia Company and, with The Bahamas , considered with North America prior to 1783), was grouped with the Maritime provinces from 1783 until formation of the Dominion of Canada in 1867, and thereafter generally with the colonies in the British West Indies (although
15159-554: The forts of the Great Lakes region also massively sided with the Patriots and were instrumental in the taking of the fort by the Patriots. Major Clément Gosselin , Pierre Ayotte, Antoine Paulin, Louis Gosselin, Germain Dionne, Pierre Douville, Edward Antill and Moses Hazen and 747 Quebec militiamen were all in Quebec when they joined the Patriots and defeated the British at Yorktown in 1781. In
15322-556: The frontier between what is now Maine and New Brunswick from a base in Machias for several years. The Maritime provinces were also affected by privateering , and raids on settlements by privateers in violation of their letters of marque . In notable instances, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and Lunenburg, Nova Scotia were subjected to these raids. In southwestern Quebec , the American forces had much better success there owing to
15485-584: The ideas of the society. Colonel Robert Torrens and Robert Wilmot-Horton were on the committee of the society. The society published The Outline of a Plan of a Colony , later expanded and elaborated upon by Wakefield. In 1831, Lord Howick , Under-Secretary of the Colonial Office was won over by the idea of selling land at a fixed, uniform price, and based his "Ripon Regulations" on this principle, issued in February 1831, which abolished free land grants, replacing them with and land sales at public auction , set at
15648-462: The island of Newfoundland and the coast of Labrador, as well as Bermuda, became parts of the Diocese of Newfoundland and Bermuda , with the shared Bishop ( Aubrey George Spencer being the first) alternating his residence between the two colonies. A separate Bermuda Synod was incorporated in 1879, but continued to share its Bishop with Newfoundland until 1919, when the separate position of Bishop of Bermuda
15811-473: The leader of powerful French Canadian bleus , and George Brown of the more stridently reformist English-Canadian and anti-French "Grits". MacDonald came to realize that Canada's likeliest hope of resisting absorption into the United States was to reform itself into a workable federation. A delegation from the Canadas made its way to a conference being held in Charlottetown in 1864 by representatives from
15974-450: The leaders of former Patriote movement to return to their homeland; Papineau returned and for a short time re-entered Canadian politics. A similar bill was passed for the former Upper Canadian rebels. Elgin also implemented the practice of responsible government in 1848, several months after it had already been granted to the colony of Nova Scotia . The parliament of United Canada in Montreal
16137-485: The leaders without trial, nor to threaten the exiles with death. Melbourne's government disallowed Durham's ordinance, which Durham took as a lack of confidence. He and Wakefield left Lower Canada shortly before the second outbreak of the Rebellion in November 1838. In Britain, Durham went into seclusion while he wrote his report on the causes of the rebellions and his recommendations for reforms to prevent further unrest in
16300-481: The leadership of Virginia militia leader George Rogers Clark . In 1778, 200 men under Clark, supplied and supported mainly by Virginia, came down the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky , marched across southern Illinois, and then captured Kaskaskia without loss of life. From there, part of his men took Vincennes , but was soon lost to British Lieutenant Colonel Henry Hamilton , the commander at Fort Detroit . It
16463-462: The list of things that prison guards were not allowed to do serve as a better indication of the conditions in Newgate than the list of things that they were allowed to do. Gaolers were not allowed to take alms intended for prisoners. They could not monopolize the sale of food, charge excessive fees for beds, or demand fees for bringing prisoners to the Old Bailey . In 1393, new regulation was added to prevent gaolers from charging for lamps or beds. Not
16626-565: The marriage, which had not been consummated , was dissolved by a special act of parliament . He turned his attention while in prison to colonial subjects, and considered the main causes of the slow progress of the Australian colonies in the enormous size of the landed estates , the reckless manner in which land was given away, the absence of all systematic effort at colonisation, and the consequent discouragement of immigration and dearth of labour . He proposed to remedy this state of things by
16789-417: The members of the Executive Council resigned, arguing that Metcalfe's actions were inconsistent with the principle of responsible government. There was a major debate in the Assembly over the issue, resulting in the passage of a motion condemning Governor Metcalfe for his actions. Wakefield defended Metcalfe, relying on a narrow interpretation of the principle of responsible government, and also insinuating that
16952-486: The mid-15th century, Newgate could accommodate roughly 300 prisoners. Though the prisoners lived in separate quarters, they mixed freely with each other and visitors to the prison. The prison was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and was rebuilt in 1672 by Sir Christopher Wren . In 1752, a windmill was built on top of the prison by Stephen Hales in an effort to provide ventilation. In 1769, construction
17115-521: The most notable of these was persuading the Colonial Office to grant amnesty to the rebels of 1837–38, and to abandon forced anglicization of the French-speaking population. Lafontaine and Baldwin reintroduced French as an official language alongside English in the Assembly, the Courts and other governmental bodies. Under the progressive Governor General James Bruce (Lord Elgin), a bill was passed to allow
17278-823: The negotiations. In May 1847 the British Government agreed to take over the debts of the New Zealand Company and to buy out their interests in the Colony. The directors readily accepted the offer. Wakefield found he was powerless and unable to influence the decision, which did not please him. Without notice, his youngest brother Felix Wakefield , who had been in Tasmania since the early 1830s, reappeared in England accompanied by eight of his children, having abandoned his wife and youngest child in Australia. Felix had no money and no prospects and
17441-405: The new Governor General, Sir Charles Metcalfe . (Bagot had died earlier in the year.) In November, there was a major political crisis: LaFontaine and his colleague, Robert Baldwin , who had taken office on the principle of responsible government, got into a dispute with Metcalfe over appointments that Metcalfe made without consulting the Executive Council. LaFontaine, Baldwin, and all but one of
17604-428: The new government was to be saddled with the remaining debts of the defunct New Zealand Company. Wakefield now decided that he had achieved everything he could in England; it was time to see the colony he felt he had created. He sailed from Plymouth in September 1852, knowing he would never return. His sister Catherine and her son Charley came to see him off. Then, at the last minute, his father appeared. Edward Wakefield
17767-577: The other Patriote leaders were "profoundly ignorant of their own position and thoroughly devoid of judgment..." Durham abruptly resigned his post as Governor General in the fall of 1838. He had attempted to deal with those who had been caught in arms by pardoning the rank and file, exiling eight of the leaders to Bermuda, and threatening Patriotes in exile in the United States with death if they returned to Lower Canada. In London, Lord Brougham , former Lord Chancellor , vigorously criticised these actions, arguing that Durham had no legal authority to exile
17930-472: The other classes of emigrants. Despite being imprisoned for three years in 1827 for kidnapping a fifteen-year-old girl in Britain, he enjoyed a lengthy career in colonial governments and colonial policy. Wakefield was born in London in 1796, the eldest son of Edward Wakefield (1774–1854), a distinguished surveyor and land agent, and Susanna Crush (1767–1816). His grandmother, Priscilla Wakefield (1751–1832),
18093-519: The other settlers described him as "the worst man we have in Canterbury". During 1851 and 1852 Wakefield continued to work for the Canterbury Association and also worked towards making New Zealand a self-governing colony . The New Zealand Constitution Act was passed on 30 June 1852. There was general satisfaction among New Zealanders about this, although they were less happy to discover that
18256-633: The parliamentary session. He initially aligned himself with the French-Canadian Group under LaFontaine's leadership, but part-way through the session he left them. He had introduced a bill to make the North American Colonial Association of Ireland a mortgage and trust company, with an accompanying colonisation plan. When the French-Canadian Group refused to support his proposals, he left them and shifted his support to
18419-488: The patience, the skills or the talents needed on a frontier. His talents lay in visualising dramatic plans and grandiose schemes, ignoring the details, and then persuading other people to get involved. He was a salesman, a propagandist and a politician, secretly inspiring and guiding many parliamentary committees on colonial subjects, especially on the abolition of penal transportation . By the end of 1839, he had dispatched eight more ships to New Zealand, before he even knew of
18582-603: The policy of expulsion was extended there as well. The few Acadians who managed to return to the area have created the contemporary Acadian society. Once the Acadians were expelled, other settlements were formed by New England Planters . In 1775, American revolutionaries ( Patriots ) attempted to push their insurrection into northeastern Quebec . Support for the Patriot cause was mixed; the clergy and landowners were generally opposed to it, while English-speaking merchants and migrants from
18745-485: The prisoners for food, bedding, and to be released from their shackles. To earn additional money, guards blackmailed and tortured prisoners. Among the most notorious Keepers in the Middle Ages were the 14th-century gaolers Edmund Lorimer, who was infamous for charging inmates four times the legal limit for the removal of irons, and Hugh De Croydon, who was eventually convicted of blackmailing prisoners in his care. Indeed,
18908-489: The real reason LaFontaine and Baldwin had resigned was that they feared defeat on a taxation bill they had introduced. He voted against the motion and in support of Metcalfe, along with Viger and some other members who left the French-Canadian Group on the issue. Following the resignations, Wakefield appeared to be heavily involved in giving advice to Metcalfe, with some saying that he was the real governor. His motivation appears to have been still focused on his schemes to develop
19071-478: The rebellions, but the underlying political discontent had not been resolved. In January 1838, the government of Lord Melbourne appointed Lord Durham as Governor General of all of British North America , to inquire into the causes of the rebellions and to make recommendations to settle the disputes. Durham was authorised to appoint his own advisors, and chose Wakefield as one of them. Durham knew Wakefield through Wakefield's plans for colonisation of New Zealand. He
19234-473: The reformers from Lower Canada, Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine . He also travelled to Saratoga Springs , New York, in an unsuccessful attempt to meet with the main leader of the Patriote movement , Louis-Joseph Papineau , who had fled to the United States during the Rebellion. It is not clear if Wakefield was acting on his own initiative in these conversations, or on secret instructions from Durham. He later said he
19397-515: The region by only a few weeks. The competing imperial claims between Russia, Spain and Britain were compounded by treaties between the former two powers and the United States, which pressed for the annexation of most of what is now British Columbia, not recognizing the title of the many First Nations present. With the signing of the Oregon Treaty in 1846, the United States agreed to establish its northern border with western British North America along
19560-623: The resource wealth of the mainland, the Crown colony of British Columbia was established August 2, 1858. Douglas signed a few treaties with the First Nations on Vancouver Island, but did not otherwise recognize the First Nations of the colony. In 1866, it was united with the Colony of Vancouver Island into the united Colony of British Columbia . By the mid-1850s, politicians in the Province of Canada began to contemplate western expansion. They questioned
19723-436: The sale of land in small quantities at a sufficient price, and the employment of the proceeds as a fund for promoting immigration. These views were expressed in his Letter from Sydney (1829; published under a false name), published while he was still in prison, but often quoted as if written on the spot. He had published pamphlets in prison in 1828 under the title "Sketch of a Proposal for Colonising Australia", which had created
19886-684: The same year, Wakefield co-founded the Colonial Reform Society with Charles Adderley , a landowner and member of parliament for North Staffordshire . Felix was causing problems back in Britain and causing Wakefield a great deal of grief. Felix decided that settlement in New Zealand was the solution to all his problems. Wakefield reluctantly sponsored his passage to Canterbury, where Felix was allocated 100 acres (0.40 km) (40 hectares) of land near Sumner . He and six of his children arrived in Lyttelton in November 1851. A short time later one of
20049-531: The same, Lieutenant-General and Commander of all His Majesty’s Forces in the said Provinces of Lower Canada and Upper-Canada, Nova-Scotia and New-Brunswick, and their several Dependencies, and in the islands of Newfoundland, Prince Edward, Cape Breton and the Bermudas, &c. &c. &c. Beneath Prevost, the staff of the British Army in the Provinces of Nova-Scotia, New-Brunswick, and their Dependencies, including
20212-489: The seigneury was also valuable because it was close to the location for a proposed canal, to avoid a stretch of rapids on the River St. Lawrence . The initial arrangement for purchase had been made in 1839, and in 1841 Wakefield made a brief trip to Canada to gain support for the canal proposal. He met with the Governor General, Lord Sydenham , who was interested in the proposal but wary of Wakefield's involvement. Sydenham died in
20375-512: The shores of Newfoundland ( Saint-Pierre and Miquelon ). With the addition of Canada to the British Empire, Britain gained control of a strip of territory along the St. Lawrence River with a population of at least 70,000 francophone Roman Catholics , which was expanded and renamed as the Province of Quebec under the Quebec Act of 1774 . Although many British people (including the American colonies to
20538-510: The site of London's gallows was moved from Tyburn to Newgate. Public executions outside the prison – by this time, London's main prison – continued to draw large crowds. It was also possible to visit the prison by obtaining a permit from the Lord Mayor of the City of London or a sheriff . The condemned were kept in narrow, sombre cells separated from Newgate Street by a thick wall and received only
20701-420: The sky and roofed with iron mesh (thus also known as Birdcage Walk). The bodies of the executed criminals were then buried beneath its flagstones. Until the 20th century, future British executioners were trained at Newgate. One of the last was John Ellis , who began training in 1901. In total – publicly or otherwise – 1,169 people were executed at the prison. Death masks of several of them were transferred to
20864-705: The south) hoped the French Canadians would be assimilated this was not the case as distinct rules of governance for Quebec were set out in the Quebec Act such as allowing the French Canadians to retain their Catholic religion and their French system of civil law. The Quebec Act became one of the Intolerable Acts that infuriated the thirteen British colonies in what would become the United States of America . The island colony of Newfoundland had been dominated by
21027-855: The success of the Tory expedition led by his brother William. He then recruited another brother, Arthur , to lead another expedition, this time to settle in the Nelson area at the top of the South Island . Charles Torlesse, the 16-year-old son of his elder sister Catherine, and Rev. Charles Martin Torlesse, rector of Stoke-by-Nayland in Suffolk , sailed with Arthur as a trainee surveyor. By now William's daughter, Emily, and his ward, Leocadia, were already in New Zealand. Two more of his brothers also went to New Zealand later, along with numerous nieces and nephews. Although active with
21190-524: The trade moved to the St. Lawrence River where logs were shipped to Quebec City before being sent on to Europe. This area also became insufficient, and the trade expanded westward, most notably to the Ottawa River system, which by 1845 provided three quarters of the timber shipped from Quebec City. The timber trade became a massive business. In one summer 1200 ships were loaded with timber at Quebec City alone. After
21353-463: The two colonies be united under a single government, but with the key recommendation that the government be drawn from the groups which had a majority in the Assembly: the basic principle of responsible government . Durham's report was one of the first documents to outline this principle in detail. Durham provided the proofs of the report to Cabinet on 31 January 1839, four days before he presented it to
21516-512: The two colonies: Report on the Affairs of British North America . Wakefield and Buller are not mentioned in the report, but it seems likely that the report was written cooperatively by the three men, although some historians have asserted the primary author was Wakefield, while others have said it was Buller. (Lord Brougham, still a critic of Durham, commented that "Wakefield thought it, Buller wrote it, Durham signed it.") The report recommended that
21679-446: The wall to languish and starve. From 1315 to 1316, 62 deaths in Newgate were under investigation by the coroner, and prisoners were always desperate to leave the prison. The cruel treatment from guards did nothing to help the unfortunate prisoners. According to medieval statute, the prison was to be managed by two annually elected sheriffs , who in turn would sublet the administration of the prison to private "gaolers", or "keepers", for
21842-829: The wilderness territories of the Rocky Mountains and Interior Plateau and all the way to the Strait of Georgia on the Pacific Coast expanding British North America Westward. From 1783 through 1801, the British Empire, including British North America (but not India , which was under the East India Company , and later the India Office ), was administered by the Home Office and by the Home Secretary , then from 1801 to 1854 by
22005-518: The women's quarters were too small and did not contain their own latrines – obliging women to walk through the men's quarters to reach one – officials added a separate tower and chamber for female prisoners in 1406. Some Londoners bequeathed their estates to repair the prison. The building was collapsing and decaying, and many prisoners were dying from the close quarters, overcrowding, rampant disease, and bad sanitary conditions. Indeed, one year, 22 prisoners died from " gaol fever ". The situation in Newgate
22168-411: The year, the Americans took control of the Great Lakes after the Battle of Lake Erie and the Battle of the Thames , but they had much less success in Lower Canada, where they were defeated at the Battle of Châteauguay and the Battle of Crysler's Farm . The Americans were driven out of Upper Canada in 1814 after the Battle of Lundy's Lane , although they still controlled the Great Lakes and defeated
22331-426: Was set on fire by a mob of Tories in 1849 after the passing of an indemnity bill for the people who suffered losses during the rebellions of Lower Canada. One noted achievement of the Union was the Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty of 1855 which sanctioned free trade in resources. However, the achievement must be seen in the wider politics of British North America which had seen the major boundary disputes with
22494-407: Was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey, just inside the City of London , England, originally at the site of Newgate , a gate in the Roman London Wall . Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, the prison was extended and rebuilt many times, and remained in use for over 700 years, from 1188 to 1902. In the late 18th century, executions by hanging were moved here from
22657-532: Was a bicameral parliament with an elected Legislative Assembly and an appointed Legislative Council , but the Governor General still retained considerable control over the government. Wakefield was involved with the North American Colonial Association of Ireland . At his instigation, the Association had purchased a large estate just outside Montreal , the seigneury of Villechauve, where they wanted to establish another colonial settlement. The seigneury, also known as Beauharnois , had been owned by Edward Ellice ,
22820-427: Was a founder member, and Robert Gouger was elected (or appointed) inaugural secretary of the society, although he was later to fall out with Wakefield when they disagreed on the price that should be charged for land. Members over time included Robert Rintoul (editor of The Spectator ), Charles Buller , John Stuart Mill , Sir William Molesworth , W. W. Whitmore , and Sir William Hutt . Jeremy Bentham supported
22983-551: Was a member of the New Zealand Association, set up by Wakefield ten years earlier to encourage emigration to New Zealand. Durham was only prepared to accept the task if Wakefield accompanied him as Commissioner of Crown Lands. However, they both knew that Wakefield would be completely unacceptable to the British government, so Durham planned to announce the appointment only after he had reached Canada. Wakefield and his son, Edward Jerningham Wakefield, sailed secretly for Canada in April 1838, but before they arrived word had leaked out, and
23146-495: Was a popular author for the young, and one of the introducers of savings banks. He was the brother of: Catherine Gurney Wakefield (1793–1873) (who was the mother of Charles Torlesse (1825–1866)); Daniel Bell Wakefield (1798–1858); Arthur Wakefield (1799–1843); William Hayward Wakefield (1801–1848); John Howard Wakefield (1803–1862); Felix Wakefield (1807–1875); Priscilla Susannah Wakefield (1809–1887); Percy Wakefield (1810–1832); and an unnamed child born in 1813. Wakefield
23309-465: Was a rise in street robberies. As such, the punishment for drawing out a dagger was 15 days in Newgate; injuring someone meant 40 days in the prison. Upon their arrival in Newgate, prisoners were chained and led to the appropriate dungeon for their crime. Those who had been sentenced to death stayed in a cellar beneath the keeper's house, essentially an open sewer lined with chains and shackles to encourage submission. Otherwise, common debtors were sent to
23472-425: Was acting on his own, but LaFontaine had the clear impression he was acting for Durham. During his conversation with LaFontaine, Wakefield had tried to persuade him to publicly approve Durham's policy concerning the exiles to Bermuda, and the death penalty for Patriotes still in the United States. LaFontaine refused, seeing in it his " suicide politique ". Wakefield was not impressed by LaFontaine, writing that he and
23635-442: Was actively considering making New Zealand a British Colony in which case land sales would become a government monopoly . At a meeting in March 1839, Wakefield was invited to become the director of the New Zealand Company. His philosophy was the same as when he planned his elopements: "Possess yourself of the Soil and you are Secure." It was decided that the Tory would sail for New Zealand as soon as possible. His brother William
23798-411: Was also divided into Lower Canada and Upper Canada under the Constitutional Act of 1791 , permitting the 8,000 Loyalists who settled in southwestern Quebec (which became Upper Canada) to have a province in which British laws and institutions could be established. A number of Loyalists that came north after the American Revolution were of African descent including former slaves who had been freed as
23961-450: Was appointed the leader of the expedition with his son Jerningham as his nominal secretary. They had some difficulty finding a suitable captain for the Tory , but then found Edward Main Chaffers who had been sailing master on HMS Beagle during Fitzroy's circumnavigation . Dr. Ernst Dieffenbach was appointed as scientific officer, and Charles Heaphy as a draughtsman. The Tory left London on 5 May and called at Plymouth to complete
24124-403: Was assigned to investigate the causes of the Rebellions, and concluded that the problem was essentially animosity between the British and French inhabitants of Canada. His Report on the Affairs of British North America contains the famous description of "two nations warring in the bosom of a single state." For Durham, the French Canadians were culturally backwards, and he was convinced that only
24287-469: Was begun by the King's Master Mason, John Deval , to enlarge the prison and add a new 'Old Bailey' sessions house. Parliament granted £50,000 (~£9.3 million in 2020 terms) towards the cost, and the City of London provided land measuring 1,600 feet (500 m) by 50 feet (15 m). The work followed the designs of George Dance the Younger . The new prison was constructed to an architecture terrible design intended to discourage law-breaking. The building
24450-669: Was born in 1817. The household returned to London in 1820 and a second child, Edward Jerningham Wakefield , was born. Four days later Eliza died, and Edward resigned his post. The two children were brought up by their aunt, Wakefield's older sister, Catherine. Nina was suffering from tuberculosis , and Wakefield took his daughter to Lisbon in Portugal in the hope of recovery. He employed a young peasant girl, Leocadia de Oliveira, whom he later fostered, to help care for Nina, and after Nina's death in 1835, sent Leocadia on to Wellington , New Zealand, where she met John Taine and had 13 children. Although wealthy by contemporary standards, Wakefield
24613-398: Was created (in 1949, on Newfoundland becoming a province of Canada, the Diocese of Newfoundland became part of the Anglican Church of Canada ; the Church of England in Bermuda, which was re-titled the Anglican Church of Bermuda in 1978, is today one of six extra-provincial Anglican churches within the Church of England overseen by the Archbishop of Canterbury ). In the War of 1812,
24776-430: Was demolished in 1903. All manner of criminals stayed at Newgate. Some committed acts of petty crime and theft, breaking and entering homes or committing highway robberies, while others performed serious crimes such as rapes and murders. The number of prisoners in Newgate for specific types of crime often grew and fell, reflecting public anxieties of the time. For example, towards the tail end of Edward I 's reign, there
24939-401: Was educated at Westminster School in London, and Edinburgh . He served as a King's Messenger , carrying diplomatic mail all about Europe during the later stages of the Napoleonic Wars , both before and after the decisive Battle of Waterloo in 1815. In 1816, he eloped with a Miss Eliza Pattle and they were subsequently married in Edinburgh. It appears to have been a love match, but
25102-434: Was estimated at £30,000 (~£5.6 million in 2020 terms). Dance's new prison was finally completed in 1782. During the early 19th century, the prison attracted the attention of the social reformer Elizabeth Fry . She was particularly concerned at the conditions in which female prisoners (and their children) were held. After she presented evidence to the House of Commons improvements were made. The prison closed in 1902, and
25265-407: Was laid out around a central courtyard, and was divided into two sections: a "Common" area for poor prisoners and a "State area" for those able to afford more comfortable accommodation. Construction of the second Newgate Prison was almost finished when it was stormed by a mob during the Gordon riots in June 1780. The building was gutted by fire, and the walls were badly damaged; the cost of repairs
25428-457: Was later retaken by Clark in the Siege of Fort Vincennes in February 1779. Roughly half of Clark's militia in the theatre were Canadien volunteers sympathetic to the American cause. In the end, the British Empire was defeated in the Revolutionary War and formally ceded parts of southwestern Canada to the new United States as part of the Treaty of Paris . During and after the Revolution, approximately 70,000 or 15% United Empire Loyalists fled
25591-461: Was not satisfied. He wished to acquire an estate and enter Parliament , for which he lacked sufficient capital. Through deception he wed another wealthy heiress in 1826 when he abducted 15-year-old Ellen Turner, after luring her from school with a false message about her mother's health. Wakefield was brought to trial for the case known as the Shrigley abduction in 1826 and, along with his brother William, sentenced to three years in Newgate prison ;
25754-404: Was now 78 years old; he and Wakefield had not spoken since the Ellen Turner abduction 26 years before. They were reconciled, and the elder Edward died two years later. The ship arrived at Port Lyttelton on 2 February 1853. Wakefield had travelled with Henry Sewell who had been deputy chairman and full-time manager of the Canterbury Association. It seems likely that he expected to be welcomed as
25917-407: Was re-established at Bermuda in 1794 (a small regular infantry garrison had existed from 1701 to 1768, alongside the militia, and part of the Royal Garrison Battalion had been stationed there in 1778 but the battalion was disbanded there in 1784) and was expanded greatly during the 19th Century, both to defend the colony as a naval base and to launch amphibious operations against the Atlantic coast of
26080-543: Was renamed the North America and Lakes of Canada Station . The headquarters was initially in Bermuda during the winter and Halifax during the summer, but Bermuda, became the year-round headquarters of the Station in 1821, when the area of command became the North America and West Indies Station . The Royal Naval Dockyard, Halifax was finally transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in 1907. Bermuda and Halifax, Nova Scotia, along with Gibraltar and Malta would be designated Imperial fortresses . A British Army garrison
26243-417: Was so dire that in 1419, city officials temporarily shut down the prison. The executors of the will of Lord Mayor Dick Whittington were granted a licence to renovate the prison in 1422. The gate and gaol were pulled down and rebuilt. There was a new central hall for meals, a new chapel, and the creation of additional chambers and basement cells with no light or ventilation. There were three main wards:
26406-427: Was the last man to be hanged in public outside Newgate Prison (and the last person to be publicly executed in Great Britain) on 26 May 1868. From 1868, public executions were discontinued and executions were carried out on gallows inside Newgate, initially using the same mobile gallows in the Chapel Yard, but later in a shed built near the same spot. Dead Man's Walk was a long stone-flagged passageway, partly open to
26569-458: Was unable to provide for his family. Wakefield found him somewhere to live and farmed out the children among relatives, but it was another year before his health was strong enough to take over the role of surrogate father, Felix being apparently unable to do anything for his family. Meanwhile, Wakefield was getting involved in a new scheme. He was working with John Robert Godley to promote a new settlement in New Zealand, this one to be sponsored by
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