Frederick Haldimand

Frederick Haldimand, around 1780

Sir Frederick Haldimand KB (born August 11, 1718 in Yverdon ; † June 5, 1791 there ; actually François-Louis-Frédéric Haldimand ) was a Swiss military officer and colonial administrator in British service. He fought in the French and Indian War and was also stationed in Florida . From 1778 to 1786 he was governor of the province of Québec , one of the colonies in British North America , now Canada .

biography

The family originally came from Eggiwil in the Emmental and settled in Thun in the 16th century . Grandfather Kaspar Haldemann, a cooper , moved in 1671 to the French-speaking Switzerland and received the citizenship of Yverdon . The family name was later changed to the French spelling Haldimand. Father François Louis Haldimand was a notary and judge. His son aspired to a military career, but this seemed rather unlikely in the Confederation , which is why he joined the Prussian army in 1740 . A year later he was involved in the Battle of Mollwitz , and in 1745 probably also in the Battle of Hohenfriedberg and the Battle of Kesselsdorf .

In 1748, Haldimand accepted the offer to serve as first lieutenant in the Swiss Guard in the Netherlands . Two years later, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel . After the outbreak of the French and Indian War , the British government decided to form a regiment from German and Swiss settlers in Pennsylvania . Haldimand was approached and hired as Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Americans in March 1756 . In June of the same year he arrived in New York and was busy training the regiment until the end of 1757. On June 8, 1758, he was slightly wounded in the Battle of Fort Carillon , which ended in a French victory.

In 1759, Haldimand's battalion rebuilt Fort Oswego, which had been destroyed three years earlier, and on July 5, while the work was being carried out, repulsed a surprise French attack. A little over a year later, on September 8, 1760, his battalion took part in the conquest of Montreal . Actually, his contract would have expired, but Jeffrey Amherst was able to convince Haldimand to continue serving the British. In February 1762 he was promoted to colonel , from May 1762 to September 1764 Haldimand was military governor of the city of Trois-Rivières .

In May 1765 Haldimand wanted to return to Europe, but when he arrived in New York, he received a new assignment. He was promoted to brigadier general and posted to Florida . Until the spring of 1773 he was stationed in Pensacola , in between briefly in St. Augustine . In October 1772 he was promoted to major general . When the War of Independence broke out in April 1775 , he was stationed in New York, but was not given any authority due to his foreign origins. Haldimand arrived in London in August 1775 and received the post of inspector general of the Caribbean troops as compensation. In 1776 he returned to his hometown of Yverdon and bought the Champ-Pittet farm in the neighboring municipality of Cheseaux-Noréaz , which he had converted into a representative country house.

Photo of the Château Haldimand (top left). Seat of the Governor of Québec

Haldimand learned in the fall of 1777 that the British government had appointed him third governor of the province of Québec , which at the time also included Ontario and large parts of the Midwest . In June 1778 he arrived in the city of Québec and replaced his predecessor Guy Carleton . With success he was able to convince the mostly French-speaking colony that the rights guaranteed in the Quebec Act of 1774 would be jeopardized if the rebellious Thirteen Colonies should take control. Haldimand organized the defense of the colony and raids on the territory of the Thirteen Colonies.

After the end of the Revolutionary War, Haldimand helped fleeing loyalists to settle in New Brunswick and Ontario. He was also able to ensure that the Mohawk led by Joseph Brant , who had fought against the rebels, were also resettled to Ontario. In November 1784, Haldimand returned to London and was knighted in 1785 in recognition of his services to the Order of Bath . In 1786 Guy Carleton replaced him as governor.

Haldimand spent the last years of his life on his country estate Champ-Pittet, which is now owned by Pro Natura . He died in 1791 at the age of 72. The district of Haldimand County in the province of Ontario is named after him .

Web links

Commons : Frederick Haldimand  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Frederick Haldimand . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).
• Sir Frederick Haldimand ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
• Lucienne Hubler: Haldimand, Frédéric. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Haldimand Collection

Individual evidence

1. ^ EH Bovay: Le Canada et les Suisses 1604–1974. P. 13.
2. ↑ Great Swiss . Atlantis Verlag, Zurich, p. 349.