Canadian peers and baronets

Canadian peers and baronets (French: pairs et baronnets canadiens) exist in both the peerage of France recognized by the Monarch of Canada (the same as the Monarch of the United Kingdom) and the peerage of the United Kingdom.

Flag of New France from 1663 to 1763
Flag of Canada from 1868 to 1921

In 1627, French Cardinal Richelieu introduced the Seigneurial system of New France. Almost all of the early French Canadians who came as officers in the military or filled important official positions within the colony in New France came from the ranks of the French nobility. Under the Ancien Régime, several of these men were promoted to more senior ranks within the Peerage of France. From the early 1700s, it became customary for the Governors of New France to be given the title marquis. Except for the Marquis de Vaudreuil and the Marquis de Beauharnois, most were in Canada only for a few years before returning to France and are therefore not counted as Canadians.

The Baronetage of Nova Scotia (a British hereditary title, but not a peerage) had been devised by King James VI and I in 1624 as a means of settling Nova Scotia. Except for Sir Thomas Temple, almost none of them came to Nova Scotia, therefore they are counted as British, not Canadian.

Following the British Conquest of New France in 1763, the likes of The 1st Baron Amherst and The 1st Baron Dorchester were raised to the Peerage of Great Britain for their part in the taking of Canada and as Governors General of Canada, but they were not Canadians. As the colony grew under British rule both in terms of geography and economy, baronetcies began to be conferred upon various Canadian politicians, military commanders and businessmen.

In 1891, Lord Mount Stephen became the first Canadian to be elevated to the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The significant losses of the First World War included many direct heirs to titles and some replacements were found in Canada, resulting in the acquisition of titles by Canadians who, as British subjects, were eligible to inherit.

After the controversial elevation of Lords Atholstan and Beaverbrook to the Peerage of the United Kingdom, the Nickle Resolution was presented to the House of Commons of Canada in 1917 requesting the Sovereign not to grant knighthoods, baronetcies or peerages to Canadians. This triggered the Canadian titles debate and led to a separate system of orders, decorations, and medals for Canada. Canadians who were granted peerages after that date had to hold or acquire British citizenship, such as The 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet. However, the 1946 Canadian Citizenship Act provided that Canadians who acquired foreign citizenship by any means other than marriage had renounced their Canadian citizenship.

Canadian nobility in the aristocracy of France

Extant

Arms of the Barons de Longueuil, holders of the only current French colonial title recognized by Queen Elizabeth II

Extinct

The Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal was the first Canadian-born Governor General of New France. He was a first cousin of the father of the Marquis de Lotbinière
The Marquis de Lotbinière was the first native Canadian to be elevated to a Marquisate in the Peerage of France. He was the uncle of the Vicomte de Léry; a first cousin of the Marquis de Fresnoy; and his father was a first cousin of the Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal
The Vicomte de Léry was the Canadian Engineer-in-Chief of Napoleon's Armies. He married a daughter of the Duc de Valmy and was a nephew of the Marquis de Lotbinière

Canadian nobility in the aristocracy of the United Kingdom

Peerages awarded before The Nickle Resolution

Lord Strathcona, referred to as "Uncle Donald" by King Edward VII in reference to his philanthropy. He was a first cousin of Lord Mount Stephen.
Lord Mount Stephen, the financial genius behind the creation of the Canadian Pacific Railway and a first cousin of Lord Strathcona. In 1891, he became the first Canadian to be elevated to the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
Agnes Macdonald, 1st Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe, was the only Canadian lady to be granted a peerage, in lieu of her deceased husband, Sir John A. Macdonald, the 1st Prime Minister of Canada after Confederation in 1867.
Lord Atholstan was the only Canadian Peerage of the United Kingdom to have been born and lived his whole life in Canada, but his was also the most controversial of all the Canadian Peerages.

Extant

Extinct

  • Baron Mount Stephen, of Mount Stephen in the Province of British Columbia and Dominion of Canada, and of Dufftown in the County of Banff. Created in 1891 for George Stephen, 1st Baron Mount Stephen. He was the president of the Bank of Montreal and the financial genius behind the creation of the Canadian Pacific Railway, once "the world's greatest transportation system". He was the first Canadian to be elevated to the Peerage of the United Kingdom and a first cousin of Lord Strathcona. Both he and his first cousin were particularly remembered for their philanthropy, between them donating many millions of dollars to charity. His home in the Golden Square Mile is today the Mount Stephen Club and from 1888 he moved permanently to England where he lived at Brocket Hall. His second wife, a niece of Lord Wolverton, was a lifelong friend and confidante of Queen Mary, whose mother she had served as a lady-in-waiting. The daughter he and his first wife adopted, Alice, married Henry Northcote, 1st Baron Northcote. Lord Mount Stephen left no male heirs and as such his title became extinct on his death at Brocket Hall in 1921.
  • Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe, in the Province of Ontario and Dominion of Canada. Created in 1891 for Agnes Macdonald, 1st Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe, the widow of Sir John A. Macdonald, the 1st prime minister of Canada after Confederation in 1867. Her peerage was heritable by her heirs male, but she herself was only survived by a daughter, and so the title became extinct on her death in England in 1920.[15] Her late husband, of whom she was the second wife, was also survived by one son from his first marriage, Sir Hugh John Macdonald, but he was not eligible to inherit the title from his stepmother.
  • Baron Haliburton, of Windsor, in the Province of Nova Scotia and Dominion of Canada. Created in 1898 for Arthur Haliburton, 1st Baron Haliburton. He was born at Windsor, his family's home since 1763. After his education he went to England where he was a civil servant, rising to under-secretary of state for war and deputy lieutenant of London. He was married, but died without children and the title died with him.
  • Baron Pirrie, of the City of Belfast. Created in 1906 for William Pirrie, who was raised to a viscountcy in 1921 (see below).
  • Baron Atholstan, of Huntingdon in the Province of Quebec in the Dominion of Canada and of the City of Edinburgh. Created in 1917, for Hugh Graham, 1st Baron Atholstan, a staunch imperialist, one of the Conservative Party's largest fund-raisers and arguably the most powerful media executive in Canada in his capacity as owner of the Montreal Star. He was born at Huntingdon, Quebec, and after his education lived for the remainder of his life in Montreal. He was the only Canadian peer of the United Kingdom to have lived his whole life in Canada. However, his elevation to the peerage, for which he owed much to the machinations of his friends Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Northcliffe, was controversial in Canada and against the wishes of both the Governor General (the Duke of Devonshire) and Prime Minister Robert Borden.[14] He was the father of one daughter but left no male heirs, and the title became extinct on his death at his home in the Golden Square Mile, 1938.[16]

Extant

Extinct

Life peerages

A life peerage is not an hereditary title. The title lasts as long as the recipient of the honour is alive. The recipient's children can style themselves with the prefix 'honourable' but they cannot inherit the baronial title.

Current

Former

Canadian baronetcies

Chief Justice Sir John Beverley Robinson, a native of Quebec, dominated the politics of Upper Canada and was the undisputed leader of the Family Compact.
General Sir William Fenwick Williams was a native of Nova Scotia who won his fame during the Crimean War and later served as Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.
Sir William Osler was a native Canadian dubbed "the father of modern medicine". He is arguably Canada's most famous physician
Sir Vincent Meredith, a member of a notable Canadian family, was the first Canadian-born president of the Bank of Montreal, then Canada's national bank.

Although a baronet is not a peer, it is a British hereditary title and an honour that was conferred upon several Canadians.

Extant

Dormant

Extinct

Canadians with hereditary titles

Canadian peers by marriage

Canadians married to royalty in the line of succession

  • Autumn Phillips (née Kelly) is married to (though separated from) Peter Phillips, the oldest grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II, and elder child of Princess Anne. Her estranged husband and their children are in the line of succession to the Monarch of Canada, under Elizabeth II's line of succession.
  • Prince Hermann Friedrich of Leiningen – 173rd[33] in line to the throne, his great-great-great grand-father, Prince Alfred of the United Kingdom, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, being Queen Victoria’s second born son.

Russian peers

See also

References

  1. Rachel Grant biography at: "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-02-12. Retrieved 2012-12-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. Cokayne, George Edward (1982). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant. VIII. Gloucester: A. Sutton. pp. 126–7. originally published by the St Catherine Press Ltd, London, England from 1910–1959 in 13 volumes; reprinted in microprint, 13 volumes into 6
  3. Cormier, Clément (1979) [1966]. "Mius d'Entremont, Philippe". In Brown, George Williams (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. I (1000–1700) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  4. Famille de Juchereau de Sany-Denys, Juchereau du Chesnay/Duchesnay
  5. Drolet, Antonio (1979) [1969]. "Juchereau de Saint-Denys, Charlotte-Françoise, Comtesse de Saint-Laurent". In Hayne, David (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. II (1701–1740) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  6. Les familles pionnières de la Nouvelle-France dans les archives du Minutier central des notaires de Paris, par Marcel Fournier; Quebec; 2016, p. 188.
  7. Wikisource: "Chapais - Jean Talon, Intendant of New France (1665-1672), 1904.djvu / 506"
  8. Eccles, W. J. (1979). "Rigaud de Vaudreuil de Cavagnial, Pierre de, Marquis de Vaudreuil". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. IV (1771–1800) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  9. Famille de Vaudreuil
  10. Les Seigneuries de Vaudreuil et de Soulanges Archived 2012-02-13 at the Wayback Machine
  11. Hamelin, Marcel (1987). "Chartier de Lotbinière. Michel-Eustache-Gaspard-Alain". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. VI (1821–1835) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  12. Notables of Annet-sur-Marne Archived 2012-07-11 at the Wayback Machine
  13. Napoleon's Generals
  14. The Order of Canada: Its Origins, History, And Development By Christopher McCreery
  15. "No. 26192". The London Gazette. 14 August 1891. p. 4378.
  16. "No. 30120". The London Gazette. 8 June 1917. p. 5639.
  17. "No. 35225". The London Gazette. 22 July 1941. p. 4213.
  18. "No. 56379". The London Gazette. 5 November 2001. p. 12995.
  19. Conrad Black released from prison – Daily Telegraph, May 4, 2012
  20. House of Lords
  21. Robertson, Dylan C. (May 21, 2012). "Conrad Black mulls over applying for citizenship". Toronto Star. Retrieved May 22, 2012.
  22. Frum, David (July 24, 2012). "David Frum: Lord Conrad Black ... of Canada". National Post. Archived from the original on 2012-07-08. Retrieved May 22, 2012.
  23. "Cacrofts Peerage". Archived from the original on 2013-11-04. Retrieved 2012-12-18.
  24. The Gentleman's Magazine. 167. p. 206.
  25. Sir George-Étienne Cartier, 1st Baronet
  26. Tuteur, Amy (2008-11-19). "Listen to your patient". The Skeptical OB. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
  27. Starling, P H (March 2003). "The case of Edward Revere Osler" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps. 149 (1): 27–29. doi:10.1136/jramc-149-01-05. PMID 12743923. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-22.
  28. Canadian Encyclopedia entry for Sir Gilbert Parker
  29. Points of Interest Along Lost Streams: Toronto Pork Packing Plant. Lostrivers.ca. The Toronto Green Community and the Toronto Field Naturalists. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  30. From Sussex schoolboy to Scottish lord
  31. "Michael Stonhouse". St. John's Minster Anglican Church. St. John's Minster Anglican Church. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  32. Bartlett, Steve (8 January 2011), "From Placentia to the Palace", The Telegram, archived from the original on 11 January 2011, retrieved 9 January 2011
  33. William Addams Reitwiesner, "Persons eligible to succeed to the British Throne as of 1 Jan 2011"
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