Canadian soldier and statesman, born at Newark (now Niagara), Canada, on the 19th of February 1798. At the outbreak of the War of 1812 he entered the Canadian army and was transferred to the navy, but afterward returned to the army and took part in the capture of Fort Niagara and in the battle of Plattsburg; resigned his commission at the end of the war, began the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1826; began practice in Hamilton; was elected to the Upper Canadian assembly in 1830; speaker (1837–41); in the Upper Canadian rebellion of 1837–38 was put at the head of a band of volunteers, with the rank of colonel, and routed the rebels on the Niagara frontier; became Parliamentary leader of the Conservative party after the union of Upper and Lower Canada; in 1856 retired from political life and was made baronet; visited England in 1857, and was made honorary colonel and aide-de-camp to the Queen; returned to Canada in 1860, and was re-elected to Parliament. He died in Toronto on the 8th of August 1862.
