Colonel Sir James Buchanan Macaulay,
CB (3 December 1793 – 26 November 1859) was a lawyer and judge in colonial Canada.
Early life
Macaulay, born at
Newark
Newark most commonly refers to:
* Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States
* Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area
Newark may also refer to:
Places Canada
* Niagara-on-the ...
,
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 ...
, 3 December 1793, was the second son of
James Macaulay and Elizabeth Tuck Hayter. His father was posted from
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 ...
to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
in 1792, attached to the
Queen's Rangers, and was afterwards the Chief Medical Officer of Upper Canada, under the patronage of his friend
John Graves Simcoe
John Graves Simcoe (25 February 1752 – 26 October 1806) was a British Army general and the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada from 1791 until 1796 in southern Ontario and the Drainage basin, watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. ...
, the first
Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada.
Military career
Macaulay served as an ensign in the 98th regiment. In 1812, he joined the
Glengarry Fencibles
The plan of raising a fencible corps in the Highlands was first proposed and carried into effect by William Pitt the Elder, (afterwards Earl of Chatham) in the year 1759. During the three preceding years both the fleets and armies of Great Britain ...
as a lieutenant, and fought during the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
with America at the Battles of
Ogdensburg,
Oswego,
Lundy's Lane
King's Highway 20, commonly referred to as Highway 20, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. Presently, it is a short stub between Highway 58 and Niagara Regional Road 70 in the City of Thorold, b ...
, and at the
Siege of Fort Erie. At the close of the war in 1815 his corps was disbanded, and after studying law he was admitted to the Canadian bar in 1822.
Publishing career
In 1826 Macaulay was a
churchwarden at
St James' church. He asked John Fenton to write a letter to the
Colonial Advocate
The ''Colonial Advocate'' was a weekly political journal published in Upper Canada during the 1820s and 1830s. First published by William Lyon Mackenzie on May 18, 1824, the journal frequently attacked the Upper Canada aristocracy known as the ...
denying a story that Fenton wanted to publish stories about the church. Mackenzie refused to print the letter, so Macaulay wrote to the ''Advocate'' under the pseudonym "A Churchwarden" explaining that Fenton had been fired and rehired in his position with the church. When Fenton's letter was published in the ''Observer'' Macaulay asked the editor of the ''Advocate''
William Lyon Mackenzie not to print his or Fenton's letters. Instead, the ''Advocate'' printed the letters with negative commentary.
Macaulay responded by printing a pamphlet of his correspondence with Mackenzie, including letters Mackenzie marked as private.
This pamphlet caused Mackenzie to publish personal information and gossip on the
Family Compact, including Macaulay.
On June 8, 1826, Macaulay witnessed the
Types Riot
The Types Riot was the destruction of William Lyon Mackenzie's printing press and movable type by members of the Family Compact on June 8, 1826, in York, Upper Canada (now known as Toronto). The Family Compact was the ruling elite of Upper ...
. He stopped briefly to talk to
Stephen Heward
Like many early officials in Canada little is known of Stephen Heward beyond his roles as a public official in Upper Canada after serving earlier in the British Army.
Before and during his posting as Auditor General of Land Patents Heward held a ...
and
William Allan but left quickly hoping not to be seen by others. Another person recognised him laughing and trying to cover his face while walking away from the riot.
Samuel Jarvis hired Macaulay as his attorney when Jarvis was sued for trespassing during the riots.
Macaulay advised his client to not plead innocence as he had witnessed the riots and would struggle to argue that defence. Macaulay suggested Jarvis claim that the property damage was for a morally appropriate reason to stop Mackenzie's negative reporting and that they seek an out-of-court settlement.
Macaulay rejected Mackenzie's offer of £2000 to settle the lawsuit and counterproposed £200. In his communications with Mackenzie's lawyer
James Edward Small
James Edward Small, (February 1798 – May 27, 1869) was a lawyer, judge and political figure in Upper Canada and Canada West.
He was born in York, Upper Canada in 1798, the son of John Small. He attended the Home District School with Ro ...
he maintained the strategy of claiming the riots were morally acceptable and the damage to the printing press and destroyed type was not worth £2000. His final offer was £300 to settle the lawsuit.
Judicial career
He rose rapidly in his profession and was an executive councillor during the administration of
Peregrine Maitland. He was first appointed a temporary judge of the Court of Queen's Bench, and a permanent judge in 1829.
On the first establishment of the Court of Common Pleas in December 1849 he was made the Chief Justice, and continued to preside there until his retirement on a pension in 1856, but afterwards became judge of the Court of Error and Appeal. As chairman of the commission appointed to revise and consolidate the statutes of Canada and Upper Canada, Macaulay helped to reduce the whole statutory law of the country from its conquest to his own time into three volumes, a work of great labour and corresponding value, which he just lived to see completed. He was gazetted C.B. 30 November 1858, and knighted by patent 13 January 1859.
Family
Macaulay died 26 November 1859, at the home he had built on his father's land in
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 ...
, Wickham Lodge, which he named after the English village of
Wickham, Hampshire
Wickham () is a large village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Hampshire, England, about three miles north of Fareham. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 4,816, falling to 4,299 at the 2011 Census.
Wickham has a wide an ...
where two of his maternal aunts lived with their respective husbands: Admiral
Thomas Revell Shivers
Thomas Revell Shivers (1751 – 1 June 1827) was a Royal Navy officer in the 18th/19th century who rose to be Vice Admiral.
Life and career
He was born in Wickham, Hampshire in 1751. His early career in the Royal Navy is not clear. He appears in ...
(1751–1827) and Lieutenant-Commander Thomas Dorsett-Birchall (d.1836). He left his home and $40,000 to his wife. His wife, who he'd married in 1821, was Rachel Crookshank Gamble, daughter of John Gamble (1755–1811), a Loyalist Surgeon with the
Queen's Rangers. They were the parents of three daughters. Lady Macaulay died in
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 ...
on 17 July 1883, at the home of her son-in-law, Edward Henry Bennett (1822–1897) J.P., of
Sparkford
Sparkford is a village and civil parish in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the village of Weston Bampfylde.
It is situated near the junction of the A303 from London to Exeter and the A359 from Frome to Yeo ...
Hall,
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
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, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
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. Another daughter, Catherine McGill Macaulay, marrie
Benjamin Homer Dixon(1819–1899) of Homewood, Toronto, Knight of the
Order of the Netherlands Lion.
He was a brother of
John Simcoe Macaulay and the uncle of
John Beverley Robinson. His brothers-in-law included
Christopher Alexander Hagerman,
John William Gamble
John William Gamble (July 5, 1799 – December 12, 1873) was a businessman and political figure in Upper Canada and Canada West.
He was born in York, Upper Canada (now Toronto) in 1799 and grew up in Kingston. He was the son of John Ga ...
and
John Solomon Cartwright
John Solomon Cartwright, (September 17, 1804 – January 15, 1845) was a Canadian businessman, lawyer, judge, farmer and political figure in Kingston, Upper Canada. He was a supporter of the Family Compact, an oligarchic group which had do ...
.
References
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'';Attribution
*
External links
Finding aid to the "James Buchanan Macaulay fonds" at the Archives of the Law Society of Upper Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macaulay, James Buchanan
1793 births
1859 deaths
Canadian Knights Bachelor
Canadian lawyers
Canadian Companions of the Order of the Bath
Upper Canada judges
Province of Canada judges