Jacob Æmilius Irving (1797 – 1856) was a soldier and political figure in the

Province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British North America, British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham ...

. He served as a member of the

Legislative Council of the Province of Canada The Legislative Council of the Province of Canada was the upper house for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known as ...

from 1843 to 1856. He was born at

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

. He was the eldest son of Jacob Aemilius Irving (1767–1816), of Ironshore, St. James, Jamaica, and his wife Hannah Margaret, daughter of Thomas Corbett of Charleston. Jacob's father was a nephew of Lt.-General Sir Paulus Aemilius Irving, 1st Baronet (1751–1828), Commander-in-Chief of the British West Indies. From 1814 to 1817, Irving served with the

13th Regiment of Dragoons The 13th Hussars (previously the 13th Light Dragoons) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army established in 1715. It saw service for three centuries including the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War and the First World War but then amalgamated wi ...

, reaching the rank of

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

. He fought at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

and received a

sabre A sabre ( French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...

cut to the head in one of the last charges. He emigrated with his family to

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 ...

in 1834. Irving helped suppress the

Upper Canada Rebellion The Upper Canada Rebellion was an insurrection against the oligarchic government of the British colony of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) in December 1837. While public grievances had existed for years, it was the rebellion in Lower Canada (p ...

, serving on the Niagara frontier. He settled in Newmarket and was elected on to the Legislative Council of Upper Canada from 1843 until his death. Irving also became the first warden for the Simcoe District in 1843. In 1821, he married Catherine Diana Homfray, daughter of Sir Jere (Jeremiah) Homfray, of Llandaff House, Glamorganshire, and granddaughter of

Francis Homfray Francis Homfray (7 September 1725 – 1798) was an English industrialist and one of the founders of the iron industry in South Wales. He was the third son of Francis Homfray (1674–1736), of Wales, a village in Rotherham located in the coun ...

.Homfray Family Tree
/ref> They were the parents of eleven children, but only five reached adulthood: * Sir Æmilius Irving K.C., served in the Canadian House of Commons. He married one of the two daughters of Colonel Bartholomew Gugy. * Diana Irving (1825–1900). In 1850, she married William Dummer Powell Jarvis (1822–1860), a young barrister who was a grandson of William Jarvis and Chief Justice William Dummer Powell. They were the parents of four children, including (famed sailor, World War I navy recruiter, & financier)

Aemilius Jarvis Edward Aemilius Jarvis (April 25, 1860 – December 19, 1940) was a Canadian financier, equestrian, and sailor. Life and career A member of a Toronto family of Loyalist descent, Jarvis apprenticed as a banker, and eventually became pr ...

. * Lt.-Colonel Henry Erskine Irving (1840–1919). He married Elizabeth (died 1875), daughter of John Innes Mackenzie, of

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

. They died without children. * Emma Irving (born 1843). In 1866, she married Archdeacon

Charles Gresford Edmondes Charles Gresford Edmondes (1838–1893) was an archdeacon and college principal. He was the son of Thomas Edmondes the vicar of Cowbridge; his uncle was Charles Williams (1806–1877), who later became principal of Jesus College, Oxford; his ...

, of Old Hall,

Cowbridge Cowbridge ( cy, Y Bont-faen) is a market town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately west of the centre of Cardiff. The Cowbridge with Llanblethian community and civil parish elect a town council. A Cowbridge electoral ward exists for e ...

, Glamorganshire. They were the parents of three children. * Edward Herbert Irving (1845–1888), married Emily (died 1879), daughter of William Roe of Newmarket, Ontario. They died without children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irving, Jacob Aemilius Members of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada 1797 births 1856 deaths 13th Hussars officers People of the Battle of Waterloo