Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

John Nairne (1 March 1731 – 14 July 1802) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

soldier and

seigneur ''Seigneur'' is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. A seigneur refers to the person or collective who owned a ''seigneurie'' (or ...

. Nairne came to Canada in 1758 as a

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 ...

, and participated in the captures of

Louisbourg Louisbourg is an unincorporated community and former town in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. History The French military founded the Fortress of Louisbourg in 1713 and its fortified seaport on the southwest part of the harbour, ...

and

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

. Given Nairne's lack of prospects back in Scotland, he decided to remain in Canada, and in 1762 he received, along with his friend

Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser (; 21 May 1930 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983, holding office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Fraser was raised on hi ...

, the seigneury of La Malbaie, with Fraser taking Mount Murray and Nairne receiving Murray Bay and a section of Charlevoix, Quebec. Nairne retired on half-pay as soon as he received his land as was common practice amongst British officers and soldiers at the time. Devoting himself to his seigneury, Nairne had it surveyed, and brought some soldiers from the regiment with him to settle the land. Nairne, hoping to establish a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

settlement on his lands, found it impossible to procure a Protestant minister for the settlement, having none but a few Protestant adherents living on his seigneury. Although Nairne happened to be an excellent farmer, it was difficult to turn a profit off the land he had acquired and many of his requests for funding (such as asking for a road to be built) were left unanswered. In 1769, Nairne married a fellow Scot by the name of Christina Emery. With Christina, Nairne had four children, but by the time Nairne returned from a 1773 trip to Scotland, three of them had died. Eventually, he would have five more children with Christina Nairne, building a large manor house for his family and continuing his work in the settlement. In 1775, with an

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 ...

invasion imminent, Governor Guy Carleton charged Nairne with organizing a regiment from his seigneury and the surrounding communities. On August the 12th of 1775, Nairne offered himself for any available

Captaincy A captaincy ( es, capitanía , pt, capitania , hr, kapetanija) is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires. It was instituted as a method of organization, directly associated with the home-rule ...

. He was appointed as Captain in the

Royal Highland Emigrants The 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants) was a British regiment in the American Revolutionary War that was raised to defend present day Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada from the constant land and sea attacks by American Revolutiona ...

in the following month of September,1775. The group was largely composed of soldiers from Nairne's former regiment, the

78th Regiment of Foot The 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a Highland Infantry Regiment of the Line, raised in 1793. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with 72nd Regiment, Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders to form the Seaforth Highlanders in 1881. ...

. Nairne played a key role fighting for the Loyalist side during the Siege of Quebec. Nairne's role as Captain was to last just eight years. He served with distinction and eventually reached the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the British army. During his military career, Nairne fought at

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Quebec and

Île aux Noix Île aux Noix () is an island on the Richelieu River in Quebec, close to Lake Champlain. The island is the site of Fort Lennox National Historic Site of Canada. Politically, it is part of Saint-Paul-de-l'Île-aux-Noix. Background Île aux Noix ...

,a small island located on the Richelieu River, near to Lake Champlain. He would also supervise the building of Fort Haldimand on

Carleton Island Carleton Island is located in the St Lawrence River in upstate New York. It is part of the Town of Cape Vincent, in Jefferson County. History Originally held by the Iroquois, one of the first Europeans to take notice of the island was Pierre ...

which was occupied during the American Revolution. The ruins of this fort still exist today and can be visited. They are located in the town of Cape Vincent on Carleton Island. He also supervised the building of a jail in , Murray Bay. Finally, in 1783, after his promotion to Lieutenant-Colonel, he sold his rank in the Royal Highland Emigrants receiving £3000 pounds for it. In contemporary monetary value, his rank as Lieutenant-Colonel in the British army was worth approximately £573,749.79 (2022) or CDN$ 912,015.45 (2022). Given that this value is being affected by the current global pandemic (2022), consideration should be given to that amount paid while keeping in mind the pros and cons of an economy impacted by war. Following that sale, Nairne returned to Murray Bay where he settled permanently and lived well for the remainder of his life. At the time of Nairne's death in 1802, his seigneury had more than 500 inhabitants and was prospering economically. Nairne had little to regret, although he deeply wished that his attempts to implant Protestantism had been successful. Still, he was on good terms with the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

priest. Of all the things Nairne had seen in his lifetime, his deepest source of sadness was the sudden death of his son, John, in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Although Nairne had had many children, only one of his sons actually survived him. Thomas Nairne, borne of military tradition, would follow in his father's foot steps and join the British military. Then, in 1813, just 11 years after his own father's death, Tom was killed in battle. He would die, oddly enough, fighting at the fort his father had helped to build all those years earlier, at Carleton Island.

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nairne, John 1731 births 1802 deaths British colonial army officers 78th Highlanders officers Pre-Confederation Canadian businesspeople People from Capitale-Nationale Pre-Confederation Quebec people Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec