Pierre-Amable De Bonne - William Berczy - 1808

Pierre-Amable de Bonne (November 25, 1758 – September 6, 1816) was a

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 ...

, lawyer, 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

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in 1758, the son of Louis de Bonne de Missègle (1717-1760),

Chevalier de Saint-Louis The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis (french: Ordre Royal et Militaire de Saint-Louis) is a dynastic order of chivalry founded 5 April 1693 by King Louis XIV, named after Saint Louis (King Louis IX of France). It was intended as a rewar ...

, and studied at a college operated by the

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, then the Collège Saint-Raphaël and the

Petit Séminaire de Québec Petite or petite may refer to: *Petit (crater), a small, bowl-shaped lunar crater on Mare Spumans * ''Petit'' (EP), a 1995 EP by Japanese singer-songwriter Ua * Petit (typography), another name for brevier-size type *Petit four * Petit Gâteau *P ...

. He served in the militia defending the town of Quebec during the siege by the

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in 1775–6. He participated in the campaign at

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, becoming lieutenant, and was taken prisoner in 1777 at the

Battle of Saratoga The Battles of Saratoga (September 19 and October 7, 1777) marked the climax of the Saratoga campaign, giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War. British General John Burgoyne led an invasion ...

. De Bonne continued to serve in the militia after this time, becoming colonel in 1809. He studied law at Montreal and qualified as a lawyer and

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is disti ...

in 1780. De Bonne inherited the seigneury of Sault-Sainte-Marie from his father; he acquired additional properties over the years. In 1781, he married Louise, daughter of Michel Chartier de Lotbinière; they separated by mutual consent in 1782. In 1788, he was named a justice of the peace. De Bonne was a director of the Théâtre de Société, formed in Montreal in 1789. He 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 York in 1792; he was elected again in Trois-Rivières in 1796 and then again in 1800. He was then elected in Quebec County in 1804, 1808 and 1809. In the assembly, de Bonne was among those supporting the use of French as well as English by the assembly. In 1794, he was named to the Executive Council, serving until his death. De Bonne helped found the newspaper '' Le Courier de Québec'', which opposed the

Parti canadien The Parti canadien () or Parti patriote () was a primarily francophone political party in what is now Quebec founded by members of the liberal elite of Lower Canada at the beginning of the 19th century. Its members were made up of liberal pro ...

. In 1794, he was appointed judge in the Court of Common Pleas and in the Court of King's Bench for Quebec district. As a judge, he supported the continued use of French civil law. The Parti canadien on a number of occasions attempted to introduced legislation prohibiting judges from sitting in the legislature; this was in part aimed at de Bonne. In 1809, Lieutenant-governor

James Henry Craig General Sir James Henry Craig KB (1748 – 12 January 1812) was a British military officer and colonial administrator. Early life and military service Craig came from a Scottish family whose father was a judge of the civil and military cour ...

dissolved parliament as a result. In 1810, the assembly voted to declare his seat vacant. Again, the governor dissolved parliament. De Bonne retired as a judge in 1812. In 1805, de Bonne had married again after his first wife died in 1802. He died at his estate in Beauport in 1816 and apparently left his estate to a relative. His second wife was unable to secure a pension from the government after de Bonne's death and committed suicide in a hospital for the insane in 1848.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonne, Pierre-Amable de 1758 births 1816 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada Lower Canada judges