Browse "British Colonial Forces"

In the very early morning of October 13, 1812, Major General Isaac Brock was fast asleep in his bunk at Fort George, on the Niagara Frontier.

James Abercromby, army officer (b at Banffshire, Scot 1706; d at Glassaugh, Scot 23 Apr 1781). A career soldier, he came to North America in 1756 and was appointed commander in chief of British forces.

James Alexander Gordon, naval commander (b 1782; d 1869).

James Miranda Steuart Barry, FRS (probably born Margaret Anne Bulkley), military surgeon, physician (born c. 1789–99; died 25 July 1865 in London, England). Posted across the British Empire, Barry reformed medical standards in the British army. His final and highest-ranking position was as inspector-general of military hospitals in the Province of Canada in the 1850s. After his death, it was reported that Barry’s assigned sex at birth was female. This has sparked significant debate about his identity.

Note on pronouns: This article refers to James Barry with masculine pronouns, as this was how Barry referred to himself throughout his life.

James FitzGibbon, soldier, public servant (b 16 Nov 1780 at Glin, County Limerick, Ireland; d 12 Dec 1863 at Windsor Castle, England).

James Glenie, army officer, politician (b at Fife, Scot 1750; d at London, Eng 23 Nov 1817). After service in Québec during the AMERICAN REVOLUTION Glenie resigned his army commission and settled in New Brunswick (1787).

James MacBraire, soldier, merchant, shipowner, justice of the peace (b at Enniscorthy, Wexford, Ire 1760; d at Berwick on Tweed, Eng 24 Mar 1832). He is first recorded in Harbour Grace, Nfld, in the 1780s working as a clerk for a Bristol firm engaged in the cod fishery.

James Wolfe, British army officer, commander of the British expedition that took Québec in 1759 (born 2 January 1727/28 in Westerham, England; died 13 September 1759 at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham).

Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, British army officer (born 29 January 1717 near Sevenoaks, England; died 3 August 1797 near Sevenoaks). Jeffery Amherst was the commander-in-chief of British forces in North America during the Seven Years' War, which saw France surrender Canada to the British. Several streets and towns in North America — including Amherst, Nova Scotia, and Amherstburg, Ontario — were named in his honour. However, Amherst’s legacy is controversial, given his policy towards Indigenous peoples. This included his suggestion in 1763 to deliberately infect Indigenous peoples with smallpox during Pontiac’s War. In 2019, Montreal’s Amherst Street was renamed Atateken Street; Atateken means “brothers and sisters” in Kanien'kéha, the Mohawk language.

John Baskerville (sometimes spelled Baskervyle) Glegg, soldier, military figure in the WAR OF 1812 (b Cheshire, Eng, 1773; d 1861). John Glegg was the second son in a landed family of Thurstaston Hall.

John Burgoyne, army officer (b in Eng 1722; d at London, Eng 3 Aug 1792). A distinguished cavalry officer and public figure, Burgoyne arrived in Québec in 1776 with large reinforcements, and served during the successful campaign of that year.

John Graves Simcoe, army officer, lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada (born 25 February 1752 in Cotterstock, Britain; died 26 October 1806 in Exeter, Britain). Simcoe served as an officer with the British army in the American Revolutionary War, but is best known to Canadians as the first lieutenant-governor of the new British colony of Upper Canada, which later became Ontario.

John Keane, British army officer, military figure in the WAR OF 1812 (b at Belmont, Ireland, 6 Feb 1781; d at Burton Lodge, Hampshire, England, 26 Aug 1844). John Keane's military career began in 1794 when he was appointed to the rank of captain in a newly raised regiment that was soon broken up.

John Lambert, British army officer, military figure in the WAR OF 1812 (b 1772; d at Weston House, Thames Ditton, Surrey, England, 14 Sept 1847). The son of a naval officer, John Lambert was commissioned as an ensign in the 1st Foot Guards in 1791.

John Matthews, army officer, farmer, politician (b probably in Eng c 1763; d probably in Eng 20 Aug 1832).

John Meares, sea captain, entrepreneur, fur trader (b 1756?; d 1809). He entered the Royal Navy in 1771, and was promoted to lieutenant in 1778. After leaving the navy in 1783, Meares formed a company for trading furs on the

John Nickinson, soldier, actor-manager (b at London, Eng 2 Jan 1808; d at Cincinnati, Ohio 9 Feb 1864). He stimulated the development of theatre in Toronto and was father of an acting family.

John Parr, soldier, colonial administrator (b at Dublin, Ire 20 Dec 1725; d at Halifax 25 Nov 1791). After a lengthy career in the army, he became governor of Nova Scotia in 1782.

John Vincent, career British army officer (b in Ireland 1764; d at London, Eng 21 Jan 1848). John Vincent is best remembered for his efforts to combat the American invasion of the British colonies of Upper and Lower Canada during the WAR OF 1812.

Joseph Wanton Morrison, British army officer and field commander, military figure in the WAR OF 1812 (b at New York, NY, 4 May 1783; d at sea, 15 Feb 1826). Morrison was born under the British flag in New York City, where his father served as commissary-general of North America.