Leeds County is a historic county in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. The county was first surveyed in 1792 as one of the nineteen counties created by Sir John Graves Simcoe in preparation for the United Empire Loyalists to settle here. The county took its name from

Francis Osborne, 5th Duke of Leeds Francis Godolphin Osborne, 5th Duke of Leeds, (29 January 1751 – 31 January 1799), styled Marquess of Carmarthen until 1789, was a British politician. He notably served as Foreign Secretary under William Pitt the Younger from 1783 to 1791. H ...

; the "Leeds" of the Dukedom referred to

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

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 ...

and not for

Leeds, Kent Leeds is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Maidstone (borough), Maidstone district of Kent, England. Location The village is located to the east of Maidstone, the county town of Kent. Etymology It appeared in the Dom ...

. In 1850, Leeds County merged with Grenville County to create the

United Counties of Leeds and Grenville The United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, commonly known as Leeds and Grenville, is a county in Ontario, Canada, in the Eastern Ontario subregion of Southern Ontario. It fronts on the Saint Lawrence River and the international boundary between ...

. This county was home to several townships as well as the city of Brockville.

History

The original county was constituted in 1792, and was united with

Frontenac County Frontenac County is a county and census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. It is located in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario. The city of Kingston is in the Frontenac census division, but is separated from the County of Fron ...

as an

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

for the new

Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada The Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada was the elected part of the legislature for the province of Upper Canada, functioning as the lower house in the Parliament of Upper Canada. Its legislative power was subject to veto by the appointed Lis ...

: In 1798, the

Parliament of Upper Canada The Parliament of Upper Canada was the legislature for Upper Canada. It was created when the old Province of Quebec was split into Upper Canada and Lower Canada by the Constitutional Act of 1791. As in other Westminster-style legislatures, i ...

withdrew parts of Leeds and Grenville to form

Carleton County Carleton County (2016 population 26,220) is located in west-central New Brunswick, Canada. The western border is Aroostook County, Maine, the northern border is Victoria County, and the southeastern border is York County from which it was fo ...

and the three counties together were constituted as Johnstown District, effective at the beginning of 1800. Leeds consisted of the following townships: In 1838, the parts of the townships of Burgess and Elmsley north of the

Rideau Canal The Rideau Canal, also known unofficially as the Rideau Waterway, connects Canada's capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, to Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River at Kingston. It is 202 kilometres long. The name ''Rideau'', French for "curtain", ...

were withdrawn from Leeds and transferred to

Lanark County Lanark County is a county located in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its county seat is Perth, which was first settled in 1816.Brown, Howard Morton, 1984. Lanark Legacy, Nineteenth Century Glimpses of on Ontario County. Corporation of the Cou ...

. When the Johnstown District was abolished in 1850, Leeds County was united with Grenville County to form the

Municipal restructuring

* 1998: ** The townships of Bastard, North Crosby, South Burgess, South Crosby and South Elmsley amalgamated to become Rideau Lakes Township. ** The townships of Lansdowne, Leeds, and most of Escott (the southern portion) amalgamated to become Leeds and the Thousand Islands Township. * 2001: ** The townships of Elizabethtown and Kitley amalgamated to become Elizabethtown-Kitley Township. ** The northern portions of Escott and Yonge Townships amalgamated to become Athens Township. ** The southern portion of Yonge Township became Front of Yonge Township.

References

External links

1951 map of Leeds County
Former counties in Ontario {{EasternOntario-geo-stub

History

Municipal restructuring

See also

References

External links