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Thomas Talbot (Upper Canada)
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Malahide Castle
Malahide Castle, parts of which date to the 12th century, lies, with over of remaining estate parkland , close to the village of Malahide, nine miles north of Dublin in Ireland.-History:...
in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
near Dublin He was the fourth son of Richard Talbot and his wife Margaret Talbot, 1st Baroness Talbot of Malahide (see the Baron Talbot of Malahide
Baron Talbot of Malahide
Baron Talbot of Malahide, in the County of Dublin, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1831 for Margaret Talbot, widow of Richard Talbot, heir of the ancient Lords of Malahide. She was succeeded by their eldest son, the second Baron. In 1839 he was created Baron Furnival, of...
). He received a commission in the army as ensign before he was twelve years old, and was appointed at sixteen to aid his relative, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland He saw active service in Holland and at Gibraltar.
He emigrated to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1791, where he became personal secretary to John Graves Simcoe
John Graves Simcoe
John Graves Simcoe was a British army officer and the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada from 1791–1796. Then frontier, this was modern-day southern Ontario and the watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior...
, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
. After returning to England, Talbot convinced the government to allow him to implement a land settlement scheme along the shore of Lake Erie. He chose property in Elgin County in adjoining townships, Dunwich and Aldborough, when his petition for 5000 acres (20.2 km²) was granted in 1803. It was May 21, 1803 that he landed at a spot which has been called since Port Talbot
Port Talbot, Ontario
Port Talbot was the name of a community located west of Port Stanley in Ontario, Canada where Talbot Creek flows into Lake Erie. The village was the original commercial nucleus for the settlement which developed on 5,000 acres of land granted to Thomas Talbot in 1800 by the Crown along the...
, and built a log cabin. Nearby, he added a sawmill, a cooper shop, a blacksmith shop, and a poultry house along with a barn. When settlers began to arrive in 1809, Talbot added a gristmill as well.
Here he ruled as an absolute, if erratic, potentate, doling out strips of land to people of his choosing, a group that emphatically did not include Americans, liberalism or anyone insufficiently respectful. For every settler he placed on 50 acres (202,343 m²) of land, Talbot received an additional 200 acre (0.809372 km²) for himself. He wanted permanent and compact settlement. One of the conditions attached to the free grant of 50 acres (202,343 m²) which he offered to settlers, was the right to purchase an additional hundred and 50 acres (202,343 m²) at $3 each, and the promise of a road in front of each farm within three and a half years. The other condition was the building of a small house and the clearing and sowing of 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) of land.
The result of the road-making provision was that the settlement became noted for its good roads, especially for that named Talbot Road. By the late 1820s Colonel Thomas Talbot had organized the construction of a 300 miles (482.8 km)-long road linking the Detroit River and Lake Ontario as part of grand settlement enterprise in the south western peninsula. By 1820, all of the land originally allotted to Talbot had been taken up. From 1814 to 1837 he settled 50, 000 people on 650000 acres (2,630.5 km²) of land in the Thames River area. Many, if not most of the settlers, were American. He had placed about 20,000 immigrants on the Talbot settlement by 1826.
Because he had done his work so well, the government placed the southwestern part of the province under his charge. This afforded Talbot the opportunity of extending the Talbot road from the Long Point region to the Detroit River. In 1823, Talbot decided to name the port after his friend Baron Edward George Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, whose son, Frederick Arthur Stanley would become Canada’s governor general and donate to the hockey world the elusive trophy, which still bears his name. According to returns placed before the House of Assembly in 1836, title to some 5280000 acres (21,367.4 km²) located in twenty-nine townships had at one time gone through his hands.
Talbot's administration was regarded as despotic. He was infamous for registering settlers' names on the local settlement map in pencil and if displeased, was alleged to have erased their entry. However, his insistence on provision of good roads (notably the eponymous Talbot Trail), maintenance of the roads by the settlers, and the removal of Crown and clergy reserve
Clergy reserve
Clergy Reserves were tracts of land in Upper Canada reserved for the support of "Protestant clergy" by the Constitutional Act of 1791 which also established Upper and Lower Canada as distinct regions each with an elected assembly. One-seventh of all Crown lands were set aside...
s from main roads quickly resulted in the Talbot Settlement becoming the most prosperous part of the province. Eventually, however, he began to make political demands on the settlers, after which his power was reduced by the provincial government. Talbot's abuse of power was a contributing factor in the Upper Canada Rebellion
Upper Canada Rebellion
The Upper Canada Rebellion was, along with the Lower Canada Rebellion in Lower Canada, a rebellion against the British colonial government in 1837 and 1838. Collectively they are also known as the Rebellions of 1837.-Issues:...
of 1837.
Talbot's home in Port Talbot was called Malahide (which was demolished in 1997, generating much public outcry from heritage preservationists). Talbot died in the home of George Macbeth
George Macbeth (politician)
George Macbeth was a businessman and political figure in Canada West.He was born in the Red River Settlement in what is now Manitoba in 1825, the son of Scottish immigrants. In 1838, his family settled in western Upper Canada. Macbeth was employed by Colonel Thomas Talbot as an assistant and...
at London, Ontario in 1853 and is interred in the cemetery of St. Peters Anglican Church near Tyrconnell, Ontario in Elgin County
Elgin County, Ontario
Elgin County is a county and census division of the Canadian province of Ontario with a current population of approximately 46,000. The county seat is St. Thomas.It consists of:*Town of Aylmer*Municipality of Bayham*Municipality of Central Elgin...
. Talbot eventually moved to London where he lived until his death in 1853. When he dies in 1853, at age 82, he had been visited at his historic home on Lake Erie by General Isaac Brock, Francis Gore, Mrs. Anna Jameson, Sir Peregrine Maitland, Sir John Colborne, Chief Justice Sir John Beverley Robinson, his brother the Honourable Peter Robinson, Dr. William Dunlop, Bishops Stuart and Strachan, Sir George Arthur, the Duke of Richmond, Lord Aylmer and many others. He lies buried at Port Talbot overlooking his beloved Lake Erie.
Talbotville (a community in Southwold, Ontario
Southwold, Ontario
Southwold is a township in Elgin County, in Ontario, Canada, located on the north shore of Lake Erie. It is a rich agricultural zone producing predominantly corn and soybeans.-History:...
) and the city of St. Thomas, Ontario
St. Thomas, Ontario
St. Thomas is a city in southern , Ontario, Canada. It is the seat for Elgin County and gained its city charter on March 4, 1881.-History:...
were named after him, as well as Colonel Talbot Road and Talbot Street in both London and St. Thomas.