Paul Mascarene

Jean-Paul Mascarene (c. 1684 – 22 January 1760) was a Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia and commander of the 40th Regiment of Foot from 1740 to 1749. During this time, he led the colony through King George's War. He had an extensive military career throughout his life, during the events of British and French conflict that led to the Seven Years' War (the North American theater is known as the French and Indian War).

Paul Mascarene
Portrait by John Smibert, 1729
Governor of Nova Scotia
In office
1740–1749
MonarchGeorge II
Lieutenant Kingdom of Great Britain
Preceded byAlexander Cosby
Succeeded byEdward Cornwallis
Personal details
Born
Jean-Paul Mascarene

c. 1684
province of Languedoc, France
Died22 January 1760
Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay
Spouse(s)Elizabeth Perry
ProfessionMilitary officer Chief Engineer to the Board of Ordnance
Military service
Allegiance Kingdom of Great Britain
Years of service1706-1760
RankMajor General
Battles/warsQueen Anne's War

King George's War

Biography

uguenot]] family, driven from France at the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685. Subsequently, Mascarene was cared for by relatives in Geneva where he was raised and received his education.[1]

moved to England Vetch]] took an interest in Mascarene to use him in relations with French speaking inhabitants of his territory. In 1711, Mascarene was posted at Boston, Massachusetts, where he met and married Elizabeth Perry, by whom he would have four children. In August 1714, Vetch sent Mascarene and Captain Joseph Bennett, with a detachment of troops to Minas, located in the Grand-Pré region of Nova Scotia, Canada. Mascarene’s orders were to be courteous but to collect a tribute worth 6,000 livres from the Acadian inhabitants. Vetch appointed him with a committee, to hear and settle disputes between the Acadians. During the next five years, Mascarene divided his time between Boston and Placentia, Newfoundland, where he was in charge of an infantry company.[1]
Mascarene's grandchild William Handfield Snelling, d. 1838, Old Burying Ground (Halifax, Nova Scotia)[2] [3]

By August 1717, he was commissioned a captain in the newly formed 40th Regiment of Foot and put in charge of a grenadier company. When Port Royal, Nova Scotia was surrendered in October, he “had the honour to take possession of it in mounting the first guard.” Whether by formal education or breadth of interests, he was considered an engineer as well as a regular officer and artilleryman, and a visit to England during this period resulted in his appointment as engineer to the Board of Ordnance. By 1719, he was back in Boston preparing to embark for Annapolis with orders to report on the state of the fortifications there.

He was commissioned Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia in 1740, until he was replaced by Edward Cornwallis in 1749. In 1751, the new governor, Cornwallis, sent Mascarene to New England to renew the 1726 treaty with the eastern Indians (Norridgewocks, Penobscots, Malecites), and although he corresponded with his Annapolis friends for several years, he did not return to Nova Scotia.[1]

In the course of service, he rose to the rank of Major-General.[1] He died poor having only half the pay of his lieutenant-colonelcy to sustain his remaining days in Boston. Nonetheless, he was content with his family of whom he expressed “thanks to Almighty God [to be] in my own house amongst my Children and . . . grandchildren.”[4] (Two of his grandchildren, Hon Foster Hutchinson and William Handfield Snelling, both buried in the Old Burying Ground.)[5] aul Mascarene, born Jean-Paul, military officer, colonial administrator (b in Languedoc, France 1684/85; d at Boston, Mass 22 Jan 1760). A Huguenot émigré, Mascarene served throughout New England and Atlantic Canada 1710-40 as a military engineer and fluent negotiator with the Acadians and Indians.

Legacy

Notes

  1. Chichester 1893.
  2. Snelling was the Deputy Commissary General at Halifax
  3. p. 226
  4. Sutherland 1974.
  5. Gentleman's Magazine

References

  • Sutherland, Maxwell (1974). "Mascarene, Paul". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. 3. University of Toronto/Université Laval. p. 107.
  • Chichester, Henry Manners (1893). "Mascarene, Paul" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 36. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

Further reading

  • Barry Moody. A just and disinterested man : the Nova Scotia career of Paul Mascarene, 1710-1752. Unpublished PhD thesis. Queen's University. 1976.

he was Born: 1684, Languedoc

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