Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

John Clitherow (13 December 1782 – 14 October 1852) was a British army officer and colonial administrator. He was briefly Deputy

Governor-General of the Province of Canada The Governor General of the Province of Canada was the viceregal post of the pre-Confederation Province of Canada that existed from 1840 to Canadian Confederation in 1867. The post replaced the Governor General of New France and later Governor Gen ...

in 1841.

Early life and family

Clitherow was born at Essendon, Hertfordshire,

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 ...

in 1782, the son of Christopher Clitherow and Anne Jodrell. He was descended from Sir

Christopher Clitherow Sir Christopher Clitherow (10 January 1578 – 11 November 1641) was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1628 to 1629. He was Lord Mayor of London in 1635. Clitherow was the son of Henry Clitherow and his wife ...

, Member of Parliament (1628-1629) and Lord Mayor of London in 1635. The Clitherow family were wealthy London merchants throughout the 17th and 18th families, and owned

Boston Manor Boston Manor is an English Jacobean manor house built in 1622 with internal alterations, intensively restored in later centuries and Boston Manor Park is the adjoining publicly owned green space including a lake. It was the manor house of ...

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

(now part of London), from 1670 onwards. In 1809, Clitherow married Sarah Christie Burton, daughter of General Napier Christie Burton and granddaughter of General Gabriel Christie, who had served with the British Army in the Revolutionary War, afterwards settling 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 ...

, where he acquired extensive land-holdings. Clitherow and his wife had one son, John Christie Clitherow, who eventually served in the Coldstream Guards. However, the marriage ended when Clitherow divorced Sarah in 1819, by private Act of Parliament. In 1825, Clitherow married Millicent Pole of Gloucestershire.

Military career

Clitherow enlisted 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 ...

as an ensign in 1799. He served in the Egyptian campaign of 1801, an expedition to Germany in 1805, and an expedition to the Netherlands in 1809. He participated in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

from 1810 to 1815, being wounded twice. He was promoted to colonel in 1821, and to major-general in 1830. In 1838, Clitherow was posted to British North America, to serve as commanding officer of the military district of Montreal. He was accompanied by his son, who served as his ''aide-de-camp''. Clitherow arrived in Montreal in March, 1838, shortly after the Lower Canada Rebellion had broken out in late 1837. He served as an advisor to

Lord Durham Earl of Durham is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1833 for the Whig politician and colonial official John Lambton, 1st Baron Durham. Known as "Radical Jack", he played a leading role in the passing of the Gre ...

as a member of the Special Council that administered

following the rebellion. When the second rebellion broke out Clitherow commanded 3,000 regulars that marched on rebel headquarters. He also presided over

courts martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

that prosecuted the rebels. In 1841, he was transferred to Canada West to command British forces there.

Deputy Governor General

The Governor General of the Province of Canada,

Lord Sydenham Charles Poulett Thomson, 1st Baron Sydenham, (13 September 1799 – 19 September 1841) was a British businessman, politician, diplomat and the first Governor General of the united Province of Canada.

, appointed him as Deputy Governor General. In that capacity, on 18 September 1841, Clitherow prorogued the first session of the first Parliament of the Province of Canada."Clitherow, John", ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography''.
/ref> Sydenham was unable to carry out his functions, as he had been badly injured by a fall from a horse. He died the day after Parliament was prorogued. Clitherow remained the Deputy Governor General for six days, until the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in Canada, Sir

Richard Downes Jackson Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Downes Jackson KCB (1777 – 9 June 1845), born at Petersfield in the English county of Hampshire, was an officer in the British Army and subsequently colonial Administrator. Following service during the Napoleon ...

, was appointed as Administrator.J.O. Côté, ''Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 1841 to 1860''
(Quebec: St. Michel and Darveau, 1860), p. 9.

Retirement and death

In 1842, Clitherow inherited the family estate,

Brentford, England Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

. He retired to England that year. Clitherow died at Boston Manor in 1852.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clitherow, John 1782 births 1852 deaths British Army lieutenant generals Members of the Special Council of Lower Canada People from Essendon, Hertfordshire Scots Guards officers British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars British Army personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars