His Excellency The
Right Honourable John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar Bt., GCB, GCMG, PC,
Governor General & Commander-in-Chief of Canada
The 2nd Governor
General of Canada since the Canadian Confederation was Lord Lisgar who assumed
the Vice-Regal office in 1869, after Viscount Monck stood down. He remained in office until 1872.
John Young was born in British
India as his father, Sir William Young Bt., worked for the British East India
Company. He remained there until
he “returned” to the United Kingdom to be educated, first at Eton and then at
Corpus Christi College Oxford where he graduated in 1829, and was subsequently
called to the bar in 1834.
After
completing his education he proceeded to enter politics, standing and winning
his seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in 1831 for the county
of Cavan. During his political career, which spanned 24 years, he held a range
of government positions including Lord of the Treasury for Sir Robert Peel,
(appointed 1841), Secretary of the Treasury
(appointed in 1844), Chief Secretary for Ireland (1852-1855) when he left
the House to assume the position of Lord High Commissioner of Ionian Islands
until his recall to London in 1855 in a level of disgrace, due to leaked papers
from his office.
On the passing of his father in
1848 John inherited his titles and became Sir John Young Bt., for completeness
back then it would have been “Bart”.
In 1860 John was appointed as
Governor of New South Wales, a position he held until 1867 which is interesting
as this was the year that Canada, as a country, came into being. During his
time in South Australia he had to manage one major crisis that occurred soon
after his appointment while the remaining of his term was uneventful.
He was appointed as the second
Governor General of Canada since confederation in 1868, several years after his
recall to London, however he did not officially take office until February 2nd
the following year. He only remained in office for a few years before returning
to his home in Ireland in 1872.
On October 26th, 1870
Sir John was raised to the peerage as Baron Lisgar and Bailieborough in the
county of Cavan. He sadly passed away 6 years later and is buried in the church
local to his home.
Lord Lisgar left a number of
legacies within Canada including Lisgar Collegiate Institute in Ottawa, Lisgar
Street in Toronto, and Lisgar Avenue in Saskatoon.
Lord Lisgar’s coat of arms is
blazoned:
Arms: Argent three piles Sable, each
charged with a trefoil slipped Or, on a chief Sable, three annulets Or, and in
canton the augmentation of a baronet being an inescutcheon, a sinister hand
erect couped at the wrist and appaumé Gules
Crest (shown above the coronet of a
Baron): On a wreath Argent and Sable, a demi-lion rampant Gules, charged on the
shoulder with a trefoil slipped Or, holding in the dexter paw a sprig of three
maple leaves all proper
One of the depictions of the crest is
placed above Lord Lisgar's motto, PRUDENTIA.
Unusually for a Peer, Lord Lisgar
did not use supporters that his rank as a Baron entitled him to. We assume this
was a personal choice.
No comments:
Post a Comment