Everything about Guy Carleton 1st Baron Dorchester totally explained
Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester,
KB (
Strabane, Co. Tyrone, Ireland,
3 September 1724 –
10 November 1808 Stubbings,
Maidenhead, Berkshire), known between 1776 and 1786 as
Sir Guy Carleton, was an
Irish-
British soldier who twice served as
Governor of the
Province of Quebec, from 1768–1778 (concurrently serving as
Governor General of British North America), and from 1785–1795. He commanded British troops in the
American Revolutionary War.
In 1742, he was commissioned as an Ensign in the
25th Regiment of Foot and in which in 1745 he was made a lieutenant. In 1751 he joined the
1st Foot Guards as a Captain and in 1752 a Captain and in 1757 was made a lieutenant colonel. In 1758 he was made the lieutenant colonel of the newly formed
72nd Regiment of Foot.
He became a friend of
James Wolfe.
Seven Years War
Brigadier general
James Wolfe selected Carleton as his aid in the upcoming attack on Louisburg. King George II turned down the appointment, possibly because of negative comments had made about the Hessian mercenaries. In December, 1758
James Wolfe now a Major General was given command of the upcoming attack on Quebec and he selected Carleton as his quarter-master general. King George II turned down his appointment. Lord Ligonier talked to the king about the matter and the king changed his mind. When
Lieutenant-Colonel Carleton arrived in Halifax he assumed command of six hundred grenadiers. He was with the British forces when they arrived at Quebec in June, 1759. Carleton was responsible for the provisioning of the army and also acting as an engineer supervising the placement of cannon. Carleton received a head wound and he returned to England after the battle in October, 1759.
On March 29, 1761, as the lieutenant colonel of
72nd Regiment of Foot he took part in the attack on Belle-Ile-en-mer, an island of the coast of the northern part of the Bay of Biscay, ten miles off the coast of France. Carleton led an attack on the French, but was seriously wounded and prevented from taking any further part in the fighting. After four weeks of fighting the British captured the rest of the island.
He was made colonel in 1762 and took part in the
British expedition against Cuba. On July 22, he was wounded leading an attack on a Spanish outpost.
In 1764 he transferred to the
93rd Regiment of Foot.
Governor of Quebec
On 7 April 1766, he was named acting Lieutenant Governor and Administrator of Quebec with
James Murray officially in charge. He arrived in Quebec on
September 22 1766. Carleton had no experience in public affairs and his appointment is hard to explain. The
Duke of Richmond had in 1766 been made Secretary of State for the North American colonies and fourteen years earlier Carleton had been the Duke's tutor. The Duke was also the colonel of the
72nd Regiment of Foot while Carleton was its Lieutenant Colonel. He was also appointed commander-in-chief of all troops stationed in Quebec.
The government consisted of a Governor, a council, and an assembly. The governor could veto any action of the council, but also London had given Carleton instructions that all of this actions required the approval of the council.
The officials of the province at this time didn't receive a salary and received their income through fees they charged for their services. Carleton tried to replace this system with a system in which the officials instead received a salary, but this position was never supported in London. When Carleton renounced his own fees, James Murray was furious.
After James Murray resigned his position, Carleton was appointed Captain General and Governor in Chief on
April 12 1768. Carleton took the oath of office on
November 1 1768. On
August 9 1770 he sailed for England for what he thought was for a few months. During his absence
Hector Theophilus de Cramahé was the lieutenant governor of the province.
He married Maria Howard, daughter of the
second Earl of Effingham, who was twenty-nine years his junior, on
May 22 1772. He was promoted to
Major-General in
May 25 1772. The
Quebec Act of 1774 was based upon Carleton's recommendations. The French in Quebec approved of this act, while the English in Quebec were opposed. The
Continental Congress sent letters to Montreal denouncing the act for being undemocratic and for making Catholicism legal. John Brown, an agent for the Boston
Committee of Correspondence, arrived in Montreal to persuade the inhabitants to revolt.
Carleton arrived back in Quebec on
September 18 1774.
American Revolution
Carleton received notice of the start of the rebellion in May, 1775, soon followed by the news of the rebel capture of Crown Point and
Fort Ticonderoga. He had previously sent two of his regiments to Boston and he'd only about eight hundred regular soldiers left in Quebec. His attempts to raise a militia failed, as neither the French nor the English were willing to join. The Indians were willing to fight on the British side, and London wanted them to fight, but Carleton turned their offer down because he was worried about the Indians attacking non-combatants.
In 1775 he
repelled the American attack on
Quebec. Later, he drove the Americans past
Trois-Rivières. In June 1776, he was appointed a
Knight of the Bath. The next month he commanded British naval forces on the Richelieu River, culminating in the
Battle of Valcour Island in October of that year against an American fleet led by General
Benedict Arnold that featured
galleys. The British, with a vastly superior fleet, were victorious, eliminating most of the American fleet. His brother,
Thomas Carleton, and nephew,
Christopher Carleton, both served on his staff during the campaign.
On July 1, 1777, Carleton resigned his post as Governor, but London required him to remain in his post until June, 1778 when his replacement,
Frederick Haldimand, had arrived. Carleton then left for England, where he'd been appointed governor of Charlemont in Ireland. After the
Battle of Yorktown and the capitulation of
Lord Cornwallis in October 1781, Sir Guy Carleton was appointed
Commander-in-Chief, North America on February 22, 1782, and he arrived in New York City on May 6, 1782, succeeding
Sir Henry Clinton.
In August, Carleton was informed that Britain would grant the United States its independence. Carleton asked to be relieved from his command. With this news, there became an exodus of Loyalists wanting to leave the
Thirteen Colonies. Carleton did his best to have them resettled outside the United States. He also resettled former slaves against the objections of the Americans who wanted all former slaves returned. In all, he resettled about 30,000. On November 28, the evacuation ended, and Carleton returned to England.
In 1783,
John Campbell of Strachur succeeded him as Commander-in-Chief, North America.
Quote: 'Remain on duty until every man, woman and child who wanted to leave the
United States is safely moved to
British soil.'
After War Years
He recommended the creation of a position of Governor General of all the provinces in British North America. Instead he was appointed Governor-in-chief and positions as Governor of Quebec, Governor of New Brunswick, Governor of Nova Scotia, and Governor of Prince Edward Island. He arrived in Quebec on October 23, 1786. His position as Governor-in-chief was mostly ignored and he only was the governor of the other provinces while he was in them.
He was raised to the
Peerage in August, 1786 as Lord Dorchester, Baron of
Dorchester in the
County of Oxford.
The
Canada Act of 1791 split Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada, with Sir
Alured Clarke the lieutenant governor of
Lower Canada and
John Graves Simcoe the lieutenant governor of
Upper Canada. In August, 1791 Carleton left to England and on February 7, 1792 took his seat in the House of Lords. He left for Canada again on August 18, 1793.
His replacement,
Robert Prescott arrived in May, 1796 and on July 9, 1796 Carleton sailed from Canada to England never to return.
He lived mostly at
Greywell Hill, adjoining
Nately Scures, in
Hampshire and after about 1805 Stubbings House at
Burchett's Green, near Maidenhead, in Berkshire. On 10 November 1808, he died suddenly at Stubbings and was buried in
Nately Scures parish church.
Legacy
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