John Richardson (4 October 1796 – 12 May 1852) was a Canadian officer in 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 ...

who became the first Canadian-born novelist to achieve international recognition.

Life

Richardson was born at Fort George or in

Queenston Queenston is a compact rural community and unincorporated place north of Niagara Falls in the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is bordered by Highway 405 to the south and the Niagara River to the east; its location at the eponym ...

on the

Niagara River The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York (state), New York in the United States (on the east) ...

in 1796. His mother

Madelaine Madelaine is a feminine given name. It is a variation of the name Madeleine. It is also a surname. Individuals with the given name * Madelaine Edlund, Swedish footballer * Madelaine Newton, British actress * Madelaine Petsch, American actress ...

was the daughter of the fur trader

John Askin John Askin (1739–1815) was an Irish fur trader, merchant, and colonial official. He was instrumental in the establishment of British rule in Upper Canada. Early years He was born in Aughnacloy, Ireland in 1739; his ancestors are believed to ...

and an

Odawa The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ), said to mean "traders", are an Indigenous American ethnic group who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, commonly known as the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. They ha ...

woman Monette. His father, Dr. Robert Richardson, was a surgeon with the

Queen's Rangers The Queen's Rangers, also known as the Queen's American Rangers, and later Simcoe's Rangers, were a Loyalist military unit of the American Revolutionary War. Formed in 1776, they were named for Queen Charlotte, consort of George III. The Queen' ...

. As a young boy, Richardson lived for a time with his grandparents in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

and later with his parents at

Fort Malden Fort Malden, formally known as Fort Amherstburg, is a defence fortification located in Amherstburg, Ontario. It was built in 1795 by Great Britain in order to ensure the security of British North America against any potential threat of American i ...

Amherstburg Amherstburg is a town near the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. In 1796, Fort Malden was established here, stimulating growth in the settlement. The fort has been designated as a National Historic Site. The town is ...

. His step-mother, Marie Archange Barthe, told him of stories about early Detroit and the

Siege of Fort Detroit The siege of Fort Detroit was an ultimately unsuccessful attempt by North American Indians to capture Fort Detroit during Pontiac's Rebellion. The siege was led primarily by Pontiac, an Ottawa chief and military leader. This rebellion would be ...

in 1763, which inspired his interest in writing. At age 16, Richardson enlisted in the British 41st Regiment of Foot. During his service with this regiment. he met Chief

Tecumseh Tecumseh ( ; October 5, 1813) was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the expansion of the United States onto Native American lands. A persuasive orator, Tecumseh traveled widely, forming a Native American confederacy and ...

and Major General

Isaac Brock Major-General Sir Isaac Brock KB (6 October 1769 – 13 October 1812) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Guernsey. Brock was assigned to Lower Canada in 1802. Despite facing desertions and near-mutinies, he c ...

, whom he later wrote about in his novel '' The Canadian Brothers''. While stationed at Fort Malden 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 ...

, Richardson witnessed the execution of an American prisoner by Tecumseh's forces at the

River Raisin The River Raisin is a river in southeastern Michigan, United States, that flows through Ice age, glacial sediments into Lake Erie. The area today is an agriculture, agricultural and Industrial sector, industrial center of Michigan. The river flo ...

, a traumatic experience which haunted him for the rest of his life. During the

, Richardson was imprisoned for a year in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

United States after his capture during the

battle of Moraviantown The Battle of the Thames , also known as the Battle of Moraviantown, was an American victory in the War of 1812 against Tecumseh's Confederacy and their United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British allies. It took place on October 5, 1813 ...

. Richardson was commissioned into the 8th Foot in 1813, exchanged into the 2nd Foot in 1816 and transferred to the

92nd Foot The 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a British Army infantry regiment, raised in 1794. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Gordon Highlanders in 1881. History Forma ...

in 1818. His later military service took him to England and, for two years, to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. While in the West Indies, Richardson was appalled by the treatment of slaves there. Richardson stated that his mixed racial background made him uneasy with his fellow officers in the West Indies. This is surprising given the stereotypical and racist treatment of

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

people in his novels. Although Richardson's most savage characters, Wacousta in the novel '' Wacousta'' (1832) and Desborough in ''The Canadian Brothers'' (1840), are in fact white men who have turned "savage," his depiction of other Indigenous characters typically affirms a European settler perspective that envisions Indigenous people as pre-modern, irrational, and innately warlike. Richardson began his fiction-writing career with novels about the British and French societies of his time. In his third and most successful novel, ''Wacousta'', he turned to the North American

frontier A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a boundary. A frontier can also be referred to as a "front". The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that fronts o ...

for his setting and history. He followed the same practice in the sequel, ''The Canadian Brothers''. From 1820 to 1827 he lived in Paris and traveled throughout Europe, as he spoke fluent French, according to David Beasley. He returned to London in the fall of 1827. David Beasley has identified him as the anonymous author of ''The Roué; or The Hazards of Women,'' ''The Oxonians: A Glance at Society'', and ''Écarté; or the Salons of Paris.'' In 1838, after fighting with the British during the Spanish

First Carlist War The First Carlist War was a civil war in Spain from 1833 to 1840, the first of three Carlist Wars. It was fought between two factions over the succession to the throne and the nature of the Monarchy of Spain, Spanish monarchy: the conservative a ...

, Richardson returned to Canada from England, promoted to the rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

. He tried to earn his livelihood by writing fiction and by setting up a series of weekly newspapers. He was appointed superintendent of the police on the

Welland Canal The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Ontario, Canada, connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. It forms a key section of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway. Traversing the Niagara Peninsula from Port Weller in St. Catharines t ...

in 1845, but was fired the next year. In 1849 Richardson moved to New York City, where he continued to write fiction. However, his attempts to build a literary career in the US failed. John Richardson died (supposedly of starvation) in New York City in 1852. He was buried in the paupers' cemetery in New York; his grave site is unknown.

References

External links

* * *
John Richardson's
entry in

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available fo ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, John 1796 births 1852 deaths British Army personnel of the War of 1812 Canadian male novelists King's Regiment (Liverpool) officers Queen's Royal Regiment officers Gordon Highlanders officers War of 1812 prisoners of war held by the United States 41st Regiment of Foot officers People from Niagara-on-the-Lake Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Canadian prisoners of war 19th-century Canadian novelists Deaths by starvation

Life

References

Further reading

External links