Charles Wickens was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

-born farmer, miller and political figure in Upper Canada

Upper Canada

The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...

. He represented Simcoe

Simcoe County, Ontario

Simcoe County is located in central portion of Southern Ontario. The County is situated just north of the Greater Toronto Area stretching from the shores of Lake Simcoe in the east to Georgian Bay in the west...

 in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada

Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada

The Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. It was the elected legislature for the province of Upper Canada and functioned as the province's lower house in the Parliament of Upper Canada...

 from 1836 to 1841 as a Conservative. His name also appears as James Wickens in some sources.

Wickens served as a lieutenant for the Royal Waggon Train, later retiring on half-pay

Half-pay

In the British Army and Royal Navy of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, half-pay referred to the pay or allowance an officer received when in retirement or not in actual service....

. He settled at Penatanguishene

Penetanguishene, Ontario

Penetanguishene , sometimes shortened to Penetang, is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeasterly tip of Georgian Bay...

, later settling in Vespra Township. He was a justice of the peace

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 for the Home District

Home District

The Home District was one of four districts of the Province of Quebec created in 1788 in the western reaches of the Montreal District and partitioned in 1791 to create the new colony of Upper Canada. Known as Nassau District until 1792, it was composed of the areas along western Lake Ontario and...

.