Charles Fothergill (23 May 1782 – 22 May 1840) was a businessman, journalist and political figure in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

. He was born in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1782, a member of a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

family. He developed an interest in natural history at an early age and he published the ''Ornithologia Britannica'' at the age of 17. In 1813, he published ''Essay on the philosophy, study, and use of natural history''. In 1817, partly to escape his debts, he came to Upper Canada and settled near Smith's Creek ( Port Hope). He opened a general store and became the first postmaster at Port Hope in 1817. In 1818, he was appointed justice of the peace in the

Newcastle District The Newcastle District was a historic district in Upper Canada which existed until 1849. It was formed in 1802 from the Home District, consisting of the counties of Durham and Northumberland. History The legislature had enacted in 1798 that "as so ...

. He built a

distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...

at Port Hope and a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

and

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

. At this point, however, he encountered financial problems and his properties were seized. In 1822, he was appointed King's Printer and moved to York (

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

). He also published a newspaper, the ''Weekly Register'', and an almanac. The newspaper became involved in controversy when William Lyon Mackenzie claimed that a letter published in his own newspaper, which criticized Chief Justice William Dummer Powell, had been praised in Fothergill's paper; Fothergill denied that he had been referring to the same letter. In 1824, he ran against George Strange Boulton for the seat in Durham in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada; Boulton was elected after the returning officer cancelled 3 of Fothergill's votes. Fothergill appealed and won the seat in a by-election. In parliament, he was critical of the administration and he was dismissed as King's Printer in January 1826. He was reflected in Durham in 1828. After being unsuccessful in gaining reelection in 1830, he attempted to start a number of businesses. During the 1830s, he also published ''An essay descriptive of the quadrupeds of British North America'' and another paper on the situation of the

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

; these works were well received but did not provide any income. He took over the ownership of two Toronto newspapers in 1837; however, this financial venture also failed. He died penniless in Toronto in 1840. Fothergill wrote the first nature column to appear in an Upper Canada newspaper and is considered to be

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

's first resident

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fothergill, Charles 1782 births 1840 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada Canadian naturalists People from York