John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham (also known as Radical Jack, and commonly referred to in history texts simply as Lord Durham) GCB PC (12 April 1792 – 28 July 1840 Cowes, Isle of Wight), was a British Whig statesman, colonial administrator, Governor General and high commissioner of British North America. He was born in London to William Henry Lambton and Anne Barbara Frances Villiers.
Contents |
[edit] Political career
Lambton was first elected to Parliament in the general election of 1812. In 1816, he married Louisa Grey, daughter of Earl Grey. When Lord Grey became prime minister in 1830, he appointed Lambton as Lord Privy Seal, and in this capacity he helped draft the reform bill of 1832. Lambton resigned from Cabinet in 1833, but was then raised to the House of Lords as Earl of Durham later that year.
He was sent to the Canadas[1] in 1837 to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Lower Canada Rebellion of Louis-Joseph Papineau and the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837, and his detailed and famous Report on the Affairs of British North America (1839) recommended a modified form of responsible government and a legislative union of Upper Canada, Lower Canada and the Maritime Provinces.
He has been lauded in Canadian history for his recommendation to introduce responsible government.[citation needed] This was implemented and by 1847 Canada was a functioning democracy, as it has been ever since.[citation needed] He is less well considered for his idea of merging Upper and Lower Canada into one colony, since this was proposed with the express end of trying to encourage the extinction of the French language and culture through intermingling with the lesser English population.
In the end, though, his recommendations discouraged assimilation[citation needed]. Once responsible government was achieved (1848), French Canadiens in Canada East succeeded by voting as a bloc in ensuring that they were powerfully represented in any cabinet, especially as the politics of Canada West was highly factional. The resulting deadlock between Canada East and West led to a movement for federal rather than unitary government, which resulted in the creation of confederation, a federal state of Canada, incorporating New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, in 1867.
[edit] Family
The 1st Earl's family and personal fortune was derived largely from mining on lands surrounding Lambton Castle, the ancestral family home in County Durham. Other properties in Co. Durham included Dinsdale Park and Low Dinsdale Manor.
[edit] Notes
- ^ It was during Durham's trip to the Canadas aboard the Hastings that he experienced one of the first recorded cases of synesthesia. The observations were made by a friend of Durham's, Dr. William Henry Farrow, who was a young doctor travelling to the Canadas on Durham's invitation. Chester New's Lord Durham
[edit] References
[edit] In English
- Ouellet, Fernand. "Lambton, John George, 1st Earl of Durham", in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, University of Toronto, Université Laval, 2000
- Ajzenstat, Janet (1988). The Political Thought of Lord Durham, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University, 137 p. (ISBN 0773506373) (online excerpt)
- Martin, Ged (1972). The Durham Report and British Policy, Cambridge University Press, 120 p. (ISBN 0521085306) (preview)
- Wallace, W. Stewart. "John George Lambton, first Earl of Durham (1792-1840)", in The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. II, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 411 p., pp. 253-254. (online)
- New, Chester William (1929). Lord Durham. A Biography of John George Lambton, First Earl of Durham, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 612 p.
- Shelley, Frances, and Richard Edgcumbe (1912). The Diary of Frances Lady Shelley. New York: C. Scribner's, 406 p.
- Bradshaw, Frederick (1903). Self-Government in Canada, and How it was Achieved: The Story of Lord Durham's Report, London: P.S.King, 414 p. (online)
- Lambton, John George, Charles Buller, Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1839). The Report and Despatches of the Earl of Durham, Her Majesty's High Commissioner and Governor-General of British North America, London: Ridgways, Piccadilly (online)
- Mill, John Stuart. "Radical Party and Canada: Lord Durham and the Canadians", in London and Westminster Review, VI & XXVIII, 502-33, January 1838 (online)
- Lambton, John George (1835). Speeches of the Earl of Durham on Reform of Parliament, London: James Ridgway and Sons, Piccadilly, 204 p. (online)
- Reid, John (1835). Sketch of the Political Career of the Earl of Durham, Glasgow: John Reid & Co. 400 p. (online)
[edit] In French
- Ouellet, Fernand. "Lambton, John George, 1er comte de Durham", in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, University of Toronto, Université Laval, 2000
- Viau, Roger (1963). Lord Durham, Montréal: Éditions HMH limitée, 181 p.
- Desrosiers, Léo-Paul (1937). L'Accalmie : Lord Durham au Canada, Montréal: Le Devoir, 148 p.
[edit] See also
- Edward Ellice Jr. Durham's private secretary while in Canada
- Lambton, Toronto - as well as Lambton Mills and Lambton Woods
- Penshaw Monument
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, Bt. and Viscount Barnard |
Member of Parliament for County Durham 1813–1828 With: Viscount Barnard to 1815 Hon. William Powlett from 1815 |
Succeeded by Hon. William Powlett and William Russell |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by The Earl of Rosslyn |
Lord Privy Seal 1830–1833 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Ripon |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by The Earl of Gosford |
Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Canada 1838–1839 |
Succeeded by The Lord Sydenham |
| Preceded by Sir John Colborne as acting Governor General of British North America |
Governor General of the Province of Canada 1838–1839 |
Succeeded by The Lord Sydenham |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baron Durham 1828-1840 |
Succeeded by George Frederick d'Arcy Lambton |
| Earl of Durham 1833–1840 |
||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
