Henry Caldwell
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Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Caldwell ( c. 1735 – 1810) was a Canadian army and militia officer, a successful businessman and a member of the
Legislative Council of Lower Canada The Legislative Council of Lower Canada was the upper house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The upper house consisted of appointed councillors who voted on bills passed up by the Legislative Assembly ...
.


Early life

The youngest son of
Sir John Caldwell Sir John Caldwell ( bap. 25 February 1775 – 26 October 1842) was a businessman and politician in Lower Canada and the only son of Henry Caldwell, the receiver-general of Lower Canada from 1794. John grew up near Quebec City on the family esta ...
(d. 1744) 3rd Bt., of Castle Caldwell & Wellsborough,
High Sheriff of Fermanagh The High Sheriff of Fermanagh is the Sovereign's judicial representative in County Fermanagh. Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the High Sheriff became annually appointed from the Provisions of Oxford in 1258. Besides h ...
; by his wife Anne (d. 1769), daughter of the Very Rev. John Trench (d. 1725) of Moate, Co. Galway;
Dean of Raphoe The Dean of Raphoe is based at the Cathedral Church of St Eunan, Raphoe, County Donegal, Ulster in the Diocese of Derry and Raphoe within the Church of Ireland. The Deanery is currently vacant since January 2021. List of deans *1603 John Albr ...
.


Capture of Louisbourg

Henry Caldwell fought with distinction at the capture 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, ...
,
Cape Breton Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...
, afterward promoted to captain by
James Wolfe James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a Major-general (United Kingdom), major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the Kingdom of France, French ...
(who included him in his will) and assistant quartermaster to General
Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester (3 September 1724 – 10 November 1808), known between 1776 and 1786 as Sir Guy Carleton, was an Anglo-Irish soldier and administrator. He twice served as Governor of the Province of Quebec, from 1768 to 177 ...
during the Siege of Quebec.


Post-military career

Caldwell retired from the British army with the rank of major in 1774, remaining in
Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
. He leased land that had belonged to Governor
George Murray (British Army officer) Sir George Murray (6 February 1772 – 28 July 1846) was a British soldier and politician from Scotland. Background and education Murray was born in Perth, Scotland, the second son of Sir William Murray, of Ochtertyre, 5th Baronet (see Murra ...
and built Caldwell Manor. The following year he served as a
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. ...
with the militia during the defence of Sainte-Foy and was chosen to carry the dispatches reporting the victory to London. His military service earned him the King's praise, financial reward and a seat in the Canadian parliament. In 1787 he was promoted to colonel of the Quebec Battalion of British Militia, a rank he held until June 1794. Described as 'a handsome soldier', Caldwell was supposed to be the inspiration for the character Colonel Ed Rivers in the novel ''
The History of Emily Montague ''The History of Emily Montague'', written by Frances Brooke and first published in 1769, is often considered the first Canadian novel. It is a sentimental novel written in the epistolary form. It also features some elements of a travelogue, as t ...
'', by Frances Brooke. Caldwell was a founder of the Agriculture Society (1791), serving as its chairman, to improve the breeding of livestock and the production of hemp in Quebec. In 1801 he purchased all the property that had belonged to Governor Murray, establishing himself as an important landowner, and he bought further considerable tracts of land throughout Quebec. From the mills he built he supplied the troops stationed in North America and bought boats, wharves and warehouses to produce, store and export his goods. In 1810 alone he sold more than 1,775,000 pounds of flour to the government for just under £22,000. In 1804, as a result of the Napoleon's European blockade, Caldwell persuaded
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, PC, FRSE (28 April 1742 – 28 May 1811), styled as Lord Melville from 1802, was the trusted lieutenant of British Prime Minister William Pitt and the most powerful politician in Scotland in the late 18 ...
, the Lord of the
Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...
, to instead develop Canadian timber for the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
. His sawmills became the best known in Quebec and the Etchemin mills at the mouth of the
Etchemin River The Etchemin River is a river in the Chaudière-Appalaches region of eastern Quebec. It gave its name to Les Etchemins Regional County Municipality. The river itself was named for the Abenaki native people of the area who the French called "les ...
were among the largest. As a politician he was "a man of rather tempestuous nature and strong personality (and) he naturally found himself in conflict with the governors of the time." In 1784 he was appointed deputy
receiver general A receiver general (or receiver-general) is an officer responsible for accepting payments on behalf of a government, and for making payments to a government on behalf of other parties. See also * Treasurer * Receiver General for Canada * Recei ...
. Under Governor Carleton he focused on improving the
militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
, highways, communications and later education. Ten years later, in 1794, he was sworn in as Receiver-General of
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 ...
with an annual salary of £400. He retained this position until 1808 when his son, John Caldwell, took over. Long after his death, in 1823, it was discovered that he had embezzled nearly £40,000 during the exercise of his duties, including almost £8,000 from the Jesuit estates, which he had managed as treasurer of the commission set up to administer them.


Death

Henry Caldwell died May 28, 1810 at his home, Belmont, near
Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
. His wife, Ann, died six years earlier. She was a daughter of Alexander Hamilton (d.1808) M.P., K.C., of Hampton Hall,
Co. Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...
& Newtonhamilton, Co.
Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Pri ...
. Her father represented
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
in Parliament. Ann was the great aunt of Chief Justice Edward Bowen who came to Quebec with the Caldwells. Henry left all his personal goods and property to his only son, except for the
seigneury ''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 ...
of Lauson, which he bequeathed to his grandson Henry John Caldwell, and what was left of Sans Bruit, which went to his granddaughter Ann Caldwell; he also left various gifts to relatives and friends.


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Caldwell, Henry 1735 births 1774 deaths Members of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada 36th Regiment of Foot officers Anglophone Quebec people