George Robert Ainslie
George Robert Ainslie | |
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Born | 1776 |
Died | 16 April 1839 (aged 62–63) Edinburgh |
Occupation | Army officer, numismatist |
Children | H. F. Ainslie |
Parent(s) |
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George Robert Ainslie (1776–1839) was a Scottish general of the
Biography
Military career
Ainslie was the eldest son of Sir Philip Ainslie, and was born near Edinburgh in 1776. He entered the army as ensign in the 19th Regiment in 1793, and having political influence through his mother, a daughter of Lord Grey, was in the same year promoted lieutenant, and in the next captain in the 85th Regiment. With his regiment he saw service in Flanders, and in 1799, when he was promoted major, was engaged in the short and disgraceful Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland. He seems to have shown no particular capacity as a soldier or much ardour for a military life, and so was in 1800 promoted to a lieutenant-colonelcy in a Fencible Regiment.
Colonial governor
In 1802 he married a Miss Nevile, but did not again try for employment in his profession. He was, however, made lieutenant-colonel of the
Ainslie's undistinguished military and colonial governorship forced him to accept a lower post in 1816, that being lieutenant-governor of Cape Breton Island. He arrived there in to find a colony in chaos because of lack of funds and uncollected taxes. Ainslie contributed to the situation by assuming a managerial stance similar to the one that had earned him this demotion. Basically the colony felt the taxes were illegal because of the lack of, and subsequent approval by, an assembly council. Ainslie's inability to deal with the crisis effectively destroyed the colony and it was re-absorbed into Nova Scotia on 16 October 1820. On that day Lieutenant-Governor Sir James Kempt of Nova Scotia officially proclaimed the end of Cape Breton as a separate colony.[5]
Coin collector
Major-General Ainslie, for he had been promoted previous to his recall, was now free from any active employment. Nature had designed him for a savant, not a soldier. His hobby was collecting coins. The taste for coin-collecting had much decreased in England since the days of Addison, and he found a clear field for his labours. He made a specialty of Anglo-Norman coins, and travelled all over England, and, what was then a more uncommon thing, all over the rural districts of Normandy and Brittany, in search of coins. He published in 1830 the result of his labours in a magnificent quarto entitled Anglo-French Coinage, adorned with many illustrations. By his industry he had got together almost a unique collection of rare coins, and, absorbed in the pursuit, died peacefully in 1839.
Legacy
- Lake Ainslie and Ainslie Point on Cape Breton Island is named for him.[6]
- George Robert Ainslie. Illustrations of the Anglo-French coinage: taken from the cabinet of a fellow of the antiquarian societies of London, and Scotland; of the royal societies of France, Normandy, and many others, British as well as foreign. 1830.
References
- OCLC 1123893886.
- ISBN 9781496821768.
- OCLC 871724421.
- OCLC 941743419.
- ^ Brown, Thomas J. (1922). Place-names of the Province of Nova Scotia. Robarts - University of Toronto. [Halifax, N.S. Royal Print. & Litho.]
- ^ "Place-names of the Province of Nova Scotia". Halifax, N.S. Royal Print. & Litho. 1922.
- Morgan, R. J. (1988). "Ainslie, George Robert". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. VII (1836–1850) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Ainslie, George Robert". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.