James Henry Craig

Sir James Henry Craig, around 1811

Sir James Henry Craig , KB (* 1748 in Gibraltar , † January 12, 1812 in London ) was a British general and colonial administrator.

When the Netherlands fell under Napoleon's revolutionary government in 1795 , heir William V of Orange-Diez went into exile in England . A fleet under General James Craig was successfully dispatched to Cape Town to occupy the Dutch Cape Colony before the French. After the capitulation in Saldanhabucht (1796), the colony was not returned to the Netherlands until 1802.

On January 14, 1797 he was made Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath , his investiture did not take place until May 19, 1803 due to the war.

In 1805 he was appointed leader of an expedition to Italy. However, the expedition was canceled after the Austrian defeat in the Battle of Ulm .

Craig was Governor General of the Province of Canada and Governor of Lower Canada from 1807 to 1811 . Craig endeavored to increase the influence of the English-speaking population in the largely French-populated Lower Canada. To do this, he replaced the legislative assembly with a government appointed by him and divided the country into counties. In addition, he supported immigration from Great Britain and the USA in the hope of turning the French population into a minority.

literature

James Henry Craig . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).

Individual evidence

^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 175.

personal data
SURNAME	Craig, James Henry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Craig, Sir James Henry (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British officer and colonial administrator
DATE OF BIRTH	1748
PLACE OF BIRTH	Gibraltar
DATE OF DEATH	January 12, 1812
Place of death	London

[1] William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 175.