Robert Fleming Gourlay (March 24, 1778 – August 1, 1863) was a
Scottish-Canadian writer, political reform activist, and agriculturalist.
Early life and education
Gourlay was born in Craigrothie in the Parish of
Ceres, Fife, Scotland
on 22 March 1778.
He received a
Master of Arts degree from the
University of St. Andrews and studied agriculture at the
University of Edinburgh. He managed one of his father's farms from 1800 to 1809 and leased a farm from the
Duke of Somerset from 1809 to 1817. Gourlay's sympathies lay with the poor farmer, who he saw as being imprisoned by landlords and the system of government. In 1801, he was employed by the British imperial government to make inquiries into the condition of the British poor. His report prompted a bill to be introduced into the
British House of Commons and adopted, but it was rejected by the
House of Lords. In 1809, he published a pamphlet proposing a radical reshaping of the system of government in
Britain. He submitted a proposal to the House of Commons that land be acquired and redistributed to the poor. Gourlay adopted the middle name ''Fleming'' in honour of his mother who died in 1827.
Travels to Canada
In 1817, his wife inherited some land in the
Niagara District
The Niagara District was a historic district in Upper Canada. Created in 1798 from the Home District, it existed until 1849.
Historic evolution
The District was formed by an Act of the Parliament of Upper Canada in 1798, and was described as con ...
of
Upper Canada and he travelled there via
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, expecting to return by the fall. While there, he decided to gather some statistical information on Upper Canada. This list was based on the questions used by Sir
John Sinclair in Scotland, the last question being "What, in your opinion, regards the improvement of your township in particular, or the province in general; and what would most contribute to the same?". This last question came to be viewed with great suspicion by the provincial authorities. The list of questions was sent to all townships in the province.
Gourlay later questioned the decision of Lieutenant Governor
Francis Gore in banning the granting of land to people of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
. This ban made it more difficult for landowners in the region to sell their land. Reverend
John Strachan, seeing Gourlay as a trouble-maker, attempted to prevent the return of responses to Gourlay's questions from the townships. In May and June 1818, Gourlay began holding meetings across the province, proposing a direct appeal to the government in
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 ...
. In the eastern part of the province, he encountered much resistance from the ruling elite, members of the
Family Compact and was assaulted several times. Gourlay was accused of
seditious libel, but was later cleared of these charges. In July 1818, a convention was held at
York with representatives from 14 districts; it was decided to present a petition to the new Lieutenant Governor Sir
Peregrine Maitland. However, Maitland was able to convince the ''
Legislative Assembly'' to pass legislation banning seditious meetings and he refused to accept the petition.
In December,
Isaac Swayze
Isaac Swayze (1751 – February 11, 1828) was a soldier and political figure in Upper Canada.
He was born in Morris County, New Jersey in 1751 into a family of German immigrants. During the American Revolution, according to legend, he served ...
swore out a complaint against Gourlay under the Sedition Act of 1804, which Gourlay claimed did not apply to British subjects like himself. Gourlay was jailed when he refused to leave the province and wrote articles for the ''Niagara Spectator''. In August 1819 he was found guilty of this charge and banished from the province.
It would not be until 1841 that a committee of the Province of Canada chaired by
William Tiger Dunlop
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Eng ...
would hear Gourlay's grievances.
Return to England and political career
He returned to England and published ''A General Introduction to a Statistical Account of Upper Canada'' in 1822. In 1836, the sentence of banishment was annulled, and Gourlay's imprisonment was admitted to have been illegal. In 1842 he petitioned the house for compensation and was granted a pension of £50 a year, which he declined, as he claimed to be a creditor of the government. He was also the author of numerous pamphlets.
Although Gourlay had been crushed by the colonial authorities, he had helped bring to the surface some concerns about the administration of Upper Canada. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the
British Parliament. Although he can be said to have sowed the seeds of discontent that led to the
Upper Canada Rebellion, he was loyal to Britain and viewed
William Lyon Mackenzie as a traitor. In 1856, he returned to his property in Canada and ran unsuccessfully for a seat in
Oxford in
Canada West.
Death
He returned to
Edinburgh,
Scotland, and died there in 1863, remaining convinced of the rectitude of his cause to the end.
He is buried in
Warriston Cemetery in the north of the city. The grave is marked by an obelisk and stands on a diagonal path around 100m from the sealed eastern entrance.
References
Further reading
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
External links
Records of Robert Gourlay can be found in the "John Smith fonds" at the Archives of the Law Society of Upper Canada*
Note
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gourlay, Robert
1778 births
1863 deaths
Canadian activists
Canadian non-fiction writers
Canadian prisoners and detainees
Alumni of the University of St Andrews
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh