John Lees (ca 1740 – March 4, 1807) was a businessman, judge and political figure in
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...
.
He was born in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
around 1740 and came to the
town of Quebec with his family around 1761. With Alexander Dawson, he formed a company in 1773 that was involved in importing goods and supplying the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
; they also speculated in land. In 1774, he signed a petition requesting a legislative assembly for the province. Lees served in the militia during the siege of the town by the
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
army during the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
. In 1787, his company acquired the lease for the
Saint-Maurice ironworks at
Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...
. In 1792, Lees was elected to the
Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada
The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The lower house consisted of ele ...
for Trois-Rivières; he was reelected in 1796, 1800 and 1804. He was also an honorary member of the Executive Committee from 1794 to 1804, becoming an active member in 1804 and serving until his death. He was named storekeeper general for the Department of Indian Affairs at
Lachine and a
justice of the peace
A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...
for the District of Quebec in 1795. In 1806, Lees was appointed a judge in the provincial Court of Appeals.
He died in Lachine in 1807.
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lees, John
1807 deaths
Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada
Pre-Confederation Canadian businesspeople
Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec
Year of birth uncertain
Lower Canada judges
Immigrants to New France
Canadian justices of the peace