Everything about John George Lambton Earl Of Durham totally explained
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), 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.
Political career
As
Lord Privy Seal in the administration of his father-in-law,
Earl Grey, he helped draft the
reform bill of 1832.
He was sent to
the Canadas in
1838 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. This was implemented and by
1847 Canada was a functioning democracy, as it has been ever since. 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 more numerous English.
In the end, though, his recommendations discouraged assimilation. Once responsible government was achieved (1848), French Canadians 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.
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.
He was maternal grandson of the
4th Earl of Jersey and his wife, who was a mistress to the Prince of Wales, later
George IV.
Lord Durham was married twice first on
1 January,
1812 to Lady Harriet Cholmondeley, daughter of the
1st Marquess of Cholmondeley by his sometime mistress
Grace Dalrymple Elliott. Lord Durham and Harriet had three daughters:
- Frances Charlotte Lambton (16 October, 1812 – 18 December, 1835) married John Ponsonby, 5th Earl of Bessborough
- Georgiana Sarah Elizabeth Lambton (2 March, 1814 – 3 January, 1833)
- Harriet Caroline Lambton (30 May, 1815 – 12 June, 1832)
His second marriage (
1816) was to Lady Louisa Elizabeth Grey, eldest daughter of the Whig politician the
2nd Earl Grey, by whom he'd 5 or 6 children. One of his daughters married another
Governor General of Canada,
James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, who was later
Viceroy of India; their son the
9th Earl of Elgin also became
Viceroy of India, the only father and son to hold that office and position.
Another descendant, the son of his great-granddaughter Lady Lilian Lambton, was
Alec Douglas-Home. As 14th Earl of Home, he was the last British Prime Minister from the
House of Lords before he renounced his peerages to become a member of the
House of Commons.
See also
Lambton, Toronto - as well as Lambton Mills and Lambton WoodsFurther Information
Get more info on 'John George Lambton Earl Of Durham'.
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