Richard John Uniacke
Richard John Uniacke | |
---|---|
Born | Castletown, Kingdom of Ireland | November 22, 1753
Died | October 11, 1830 Mount Uniacke, Nova Scotia | (aged 76)
Richard John Uniacke (November 22, 1753 – October 11, 1830) was an
Ireland
Born in Castletown, Ballintotis,
The West Indies and New England
Uniacke first sought work in the West Indies, traveling to
Nova Scotia
Uniacke arrived with Delesdernier at Hopewell Cape, near present-day Moncton in 1775. Uniacke found the settlement conditions difficult but enjoyed the adventure of frontier travel across the Isthmus of Chignecto, visiting the scattered settlements of the region.[5]
American Independence
In 1776, Uniacke joined the American rebels in the
Shortly thereafter he was sent as a prisoner to Halifax. As a rebel, Uniacke faced being charged with treason. If found guilty, he would have been hanged. It is likely due to his family connections, the fact several military officers in Halifax had been stationed with several of his brothers, and the fact he provided evidence for the crown that led to his release.[6] Uniacke, since the time of the Eddy Rebellion, had developed an animosity for Americans, once stating they were " a race of the most lawless profligate and wicked monsters that exist on the face of the earth".[7]
General Assembly of Nova Scotia
Seven years later, after the American Revolution, Uniacke became a member of the House of Assembly for over twenty years, representing Sackville Township 1783–1785, Halifax County 1785–1793 and Queens County 1798–1805. In 1808 he was appointed to the Nova Scotia Council.[8]
Catholic emancipation
Uniacke took up the cause of religious reform in Protestant-dominated Nova Scotia. In 1783 he redrafted a bill passed by the Nova Scotia House of Assembly to repeal the law passed in 1758 that had
Abolition of Slavery
While many blacks who arrived in Nova Scotia during the American Revolution were free, others were not.
Immigration
In his role as Attorney General, to continue Nova Scotia's economic growth, Uniacke worked to increase the number of immigrants coming to the colony. In part immigration had been hindered by the cancellation of free land grants. In 1806 Uniacke pushed for a renewal of the granting of land to settlers. Furthermore, he moved to escheat large tracts of land, from holders whose only intent was to speculate on the lands they held, feeling this had further slowed the influx of new settlers. By 1820 he had escheated 100,000 acres (400 km2). These lands then became available to the government which allowed them to provide new land grants to the many immigrants that landed in the Province after the Napoleonic wars. From 75,000 people in 1815, Nova Scotia's population reached 200,000 in 1838.[12]
Education
Uniacke was also instrumental in the establishment in 1789 of King's College (see also King's Collegiate School) at Windsor, and he sat, despite being a non-Anglican, on its board.
Military service
Throughout the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, the threat of invasion was an every looming specter. To counter the threat Nova Scotia maintained a militia. In 1793 Uniacke was second-in-command of the Second Battalion of the militia and in 1794 was promoted to Lieutenant-colonel of the Eighth Battalion.
Personal Conflicts
Uniacke was perceived as a voice for the Pre-Loyalist settlers of Nova Scotia which brought him into conflict with the arrival of powerful
Confederation
Uniacke was the first public figure to advocate for the Confederation of Canada, 51 years before it became a reality. He wanted to save the colonies from republicanism and atheism of the United States. As a result, Uniacke advocated unions of the Maritime colonies and of the Canadas, beginning in 1806 when he presented a memoir on British North America at the Colonial Office.[16] In 1826 Uniacke brought his “Observations on the British colonies in North America with a proposal for the confederation of the whole under one government” to the Colonial Office. The “Observations” read in parts like the
Family
Soon after Uniacke arrived in Nova Scotia to work for Moses Delesdernier, Uniake married Delesderneir's daughter Martha Maria, then aged 12, on May 3, 1775. They would have eleven children before her death in 1803.[17] In 1808 he married Eliza Newton, who bore him a son in 1809.[18] He had twelve children, three sons became lawyers and one became a priest.
His son
His son Norman Fitzgerald Uniacke studied law in Nova Scotia and in 1798 furthered his law studies in London, entering the law at Lincoln's Inn; the second Nova Scotian to do so. In 1808 he was appointed the Attorney General of Lower Canada, was elevated to the Lower Canada Bench in 1825, and served in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, in later years he joined Nova Scotia's Legislative Council. Norman, as well as his father, were sympathetic to the French Canadians, and from his position on the Bench shielded the captive rebels of the Lower Canada Rebellion from the full brunt of the "bloodhounds of prosecution".[19]
His youngest son
St. Paul's Church, Halifax
The family of Richard John Uniacke dominates the plaques and monuments in
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Richard John Uniacke
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Martha Uniacke
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Mary (Uniacke) Mitchell (wife of Andrew Mitchell)
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Richard John Uniacke, Jr.
Legacy
His substantial estate (c. 1813) is preserved as the Uniacke Estate Museum Park at Mount Uniacke.[20]
See also
References
Endnotes
- ^ Cuthbertson 1980, p. 133
- ^ Gwyn, Julien (2003). "Female Litigants before the Civil Courts of Nova Scotia". Histoire sociale / Social History. 36 (72): 341.
- ^ Cuthbertson 1980, p. 2.
- ^ a b Cuthbertson 1980, p. 4
- ^ Source needed.
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(help) - ^ Bulmer, J. T., ed. (1879). "Trials for treason in 1776–7". Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society. 1: 110–18.
- ^ Cuthbertson 1980, p. 10
- ISBN 0-88871-050-X.
- ^ "Slavery in the Maritime Provinces". Journal of Negro History. 5: 375. 1920.
- ISBN 1551095513.
- ^ John Grant. Black Refugees. p. 31
- ^ Cuthbertson 1980, pp. 70–71
- ^ Blakeley, Phyllis R. (1988). "Blowers, Sampson Salter". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. VII (1836–1850) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
- ISBN 978-1-4290-2299-6.
- ^ Cuthbertson 1980, pp. 26, 36
- ^ a b Cuthbertson, B.C. (1987). "Uniacke, Richard John (1753-1830)". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. VI (1821–1835) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
- ^ Cuthbertson 1980, p. 44
- ^ Cuthbertson 1980, p. 50
- ^ Cuthbertson 1980, p. 110
- ^ Kernaghan, Lois (7 February 2006). "Richard John Uniacke". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
Further reading
- Cuthbertson, Brian (1980). The Old Attorney General: A Biography of Richard John Uniacke. Halifax: Nimbus. ISBN 0920852076.
- Power, L. G. (1895). "Richard John Uniacke". Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society. 9: 73–118.
- Liguori, Mary (1953). "Haliburton and the Uniackes: Protestant champions of Catholic liberty (a study in Catholic emancipation in Nova Scotia)". CCHA Report. 20.