Francis Bond Head

William IV Victoria
Preceded by	Sir John Colborne
Succeeded by	Sir George Arthur
Personal details
Born	1 January 1793 Higham, Kent
Died	20 July 1875(1875-07-20) (aged 82) Croydon, Surrey, England
Spouse	Julia Valenza Somerville
Profession	Commissioned Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers
Signature

Sir Francis Bond Head, 1st Baronet

.

Biography

Head was an officer in the corps of Royal Engineers of the British Army from 1811 to 1825; as such he earned a Waterloo Medal. Afterwards, he attempted to set up a mining company in Argentina. Head rode between Buenos Aires and the Andes twice, from which he was given the nickname "Galloping Head".

Head was born to parents, James Roper Mendes Head and Frances Anne Burgess. He was descended from the

married Anna Gabriella Head and took on the Head name following the death of his wife's father, Sir Francis Head, 4th Bt. He married Julia Valenza Somerville in 1816, and they eventually had four children.

King William IV knighted him in 1831 after he demonstrated the military usefulness of the lasso. In 1834, Head was appointed as an assistant Poor Law Commissioner in Kent. While serving in this capacity, he drew up a document called Plan of a Rural Workhouse for 500 Persons, which established separate areas for males and females but mingled sick and well, young and old, sane and insane.^[1] He argued that provisions for the poor should not be superior to those earned by the independent labourer. The rooms, for example, were to hold eight residents in a 15' x 10' space,^[2] and the diet was to be strictly for subsistence, resulting in the kind of gruel portrayed in the workhouse scenes of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.^[3]

Head was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada in 1835 in an attempt by the

.

In December 1837, Mackenzie led a brief and bungled rebellion in Toronto. Sir Francis Bond Head later boasted that despite the evidence that poured in from every district in the province, he allowed Mackenzie to prepare a revolt. He further claimed that he encouraged the outbreak by sending all the troops from the province, laying a trap for Mackenzie, despite there being no troops, and the York Militia had been preparing for an attack.^[4] Head sent the colonial militia to put down the rebellion, which they did within four days. In response to the rebellion, Britain replaced Head as Lieutenant-Governor with Sir George Arthur and then Lord Durham. Head returned to England and settled down to write books and essays.

In later life Head lived at Duppas Hall, overlooking

in 1867.

Legacy

Several places in Ontario are named for Sir Francis Bond Head:

• Bond Head, an unincorporated area northwest of Toronto in the town of Bradford West Gwillimbury, Simcoe County^[5]
• Bond Head, a cape on Lake Ontario in the municipality of Clarington, Regional Municipality of Durham, to the east of Toronto,^[6] which gives its name to the adjacent settlement of Bond Head, and a local park west of the cape and east of the Port of Newcastle harbour.^[7]
• Three streets in the town of Oakville, Ontario named Francis, Bond, and Head. (Only Bond and Head remain.)
• Two streets in the city of St. Catharines, Ontario named 'Bond' and 'Head'. Though both streets are short, they intersect.
• The community of
  Frankford, on the Trent River
  , was named after Head after he crossed the river there while travelling.

Works

• Life of Bruce (London, 1830), a biography of Scottish traveler James Bruce
• Bruce, James, Travels (1830), an abridged version of the 1790 work, edited by F. Bond Head.
• Head, Francis Bond. (1826). Rough Notes Taken during some Rapid Journeys across the Pampas and among the Andes. Murray (reissued by
  ISBN 978-1-108-00161-8
  )
• "Bubbles from the Brunnens of Nassau, by an Old Man" (1834), travel in Germany
• Head, Francis Bond. (1846). The Emigrant. London: John Murray.
• Head, Francis B[ond]. (1852). A Fortnight in Ireland.
• The Defenceless State of Great Burray, 1869.

References

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Works by Francis Bond Head at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Francis Bond Head at Internet Archive
  • Life of Bruce, the African Traveller (1830 edition), full text at Archive.org
• Works by Francis Bond Head at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

Government offices
Preceded by Sir John Colborne	Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada 1836–1838	Succeeded by Sir George Arthur
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baronet (of Rochester, Kent) 1838–1875	Succeeded by Francis Somerville Head
Academic offices
Preceded by Sir John Colborne	Chancellor of King's College 1836–1838	Succeeded by Sir George Arthur