Wolfred Nelson
Encyclopedia
Wolfred Nelson, was from 1854 to 1856 the mayor of Montreal
, Quebec
.
the son of William Nelson, an immigrant to Colonial America
from Newsham, North Yorkshire
, England
. His mother, Jane Dies, was a teacher and daughter of an important land owner in the New York
area.
Along with his younger brother Robert Nelson, he was known as a member of the Patriotes
and his leading role in the Lower Canada Rebellion
.
Nelson studied at the school of his father in William Henry (today Sorel, Quebec). He became doctor in January 1811, and subsequently served in that capacity with the British troops in the War of 1812
.
He moved to Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu where he opened a distillery
. He entered politics when elected in William Henry in 1827. He supported the Parti Patriote.
In 1827, he was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly
, but gave up active politics in 1830, without disavowing his reformist allegiance. He became a Patriote leader in the region of the Richelieu River
valley, and supported the use of arms at the Assemblée des Six-Comtés in 1837.
In a prelude to the Lower Canada Rebellion
of 1837, Nelson led 5,000 Patriotes in the two-day Assembly of the Six Counties
in Saint-Charles
, Lower Canada
(present-day Quebec), on 23 October and 24 October 1837, to protest the government's Russell Resolutions, taking place despite the June 15 Proclamation forbidding public assemblies. The conference delegates approved the Thirteen Resolutions, based on the republican
document Rights of Man
written by British
and later American
Revolutionary
Thomas Paine
, which was also adopted by proponents of both the American Revolution
and the French Revolution
. A Column of Liberty was also erected in Saint-Charles
' Square.
On 16 November 1837, he and 25 others were charged with high treason. The following month, on 4 December 1837, Louis-Joseph Papineau
and Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan
joined Nelson at Saint-Denis
where they decided to resist arrest, procure arms and ammunition for the people and declare the independence of Lower Canada. It was around this time that Nelson exclaimed, "The time has come, to melt our spoons into bullets."
On 28 February 1838, after having crossed the border from Vermont
, Nelson, along with 300 to 400 Patriotes from a secret group called Frères Chasseurs
, distributed copies of a declaration of independence written by Nelson’s brother, Robert Nelson. Drawn from the American Declaration of Independence
, the document listed the crimes that Great Britain
had committed against Lower Canada
, as well as the right to overthrow the government.
Later, he led a group of armed citizens who resisted arrest by the British army at St-Denis. He was arrested soon after. (See Lower Canada Rebellion
.)
Exiled to Bermuda
in 1838, Nelson was granted amnesty by the British colonial government and came back to Montreal in 1842. In 1844, he was elected to the new Parliament of the Province of Canada
. In 1854, he became mayor of Montreal, and he died in June 1863. He is interred in the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery in Montreal and is commemorated by a park in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough.
Mayor of Montreal
The Mayor of Montreal is head of the executive branch of Montreal City Council.The Mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and provincial laws within Montreal....
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
.
Biography
Nelson was born in MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
the son of William Nelson, an immigrant to Colonial America
Colonial America
The colonial history of the United States covers the history from the start of European settlement and especially the history of the thirteen colonies of Britain until they declared independence in 1776. In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands launched major...
from Newsham, North Yorkshire
Newsham, North Yorkshire
Newsham is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England.A friendly working village with a good community spirit. A large well used village hall , pretty village green, on which the annual carnival takes place in May/June...
, England
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. His mother, Jane Dies, was a teacher and daughter of an important land owner in the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
area.
Along with his younger brother Robert Nelson, he was known as a member of the Patriotes
Patriote movement
The Patriote movement was a political movement that existed in Lower Canada from the turning of the 19th century to the Patriote Rebellion of 1837 and 1838 and the subsequent Act of Union of 1840. It was politically embodied by the Parti patriote at the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada...
and his leading role in the Lower Canada Rebellion
Lower Canada Rebellion
The Lower Canada Rebellion , commonly referred to as the Patriots' War by Quebeckers, is the name given to the armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada and the British colonial power of that province...
.
Nelson studied at the school of his father in William Henry (today Sorel, Quebec). He became doctor in January 1811, and subsequently served in that capacity with the British troops in the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
.
He moved to Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu where he opened a distillery
Distillation
Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of components in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....
. He entered politics when elected in William Henry in 1827. He supported the Parti Patriote.
In 1827, he was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada
The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791...
, but gave up active politics in 1830, without disavowing his reformist allegiance. He became a Patriote leader in the region of the Richelieu River
Richelieu River
The Richelieu River is a river in Quebec, Canada. It flows from the north end of Lake Champlain about north, ending at the confluence with the St. Lawrence River at Sorel-Tracy, Quebec downstream and northeast of Montreal...
valley, and supported the use of arms at the Assemblée des Six-Comtés in 1837.
In a prelude to the Lower Canada Rebellion
Lower Canada Rebellion
The Lower Canada Rebellion , commonly referred to as the Patriots' War by Quebeckers, is the name given to the armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada and the British colonial power of that province...
of 1837, Nelson led 5,000 Patriotes in the two-day Assembly of the Six Counties
Assembly of the Six Counties
The Assembly of the Six Counties was an assembly of Patriote leaders and approximately 6,000 followers held in Saint-Charles, Lower Canada on October 23 and October 24, 1837, despite the June 15 Proclamation of the government forbidding public assemblies.Presided by Wolfred Nelson, it is the most...
in Saint-Charles
Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu, Quebec
Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu is a municipality in southwestern Quebec, Canada, on the Richelieu River in the Regional County Municipality of La Vallée-du-Richelieu. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 1,742.-Population:Population trend...
, Lower Canada
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
(present-day Quebec), on 23 October and 24 October 1837, to protest the government's Russell Resolutions, taking place despite the June 15 Proclamation forbidding public assemblies. The conference delegates approved the Thirteen Resolutions, based on the republican
Republicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
document Rights of Man
Rights of Man
Rights of Man , a book by Thomas Paine, posits that popular political revolution is permissible when a government does not safeguard its people, their natural rights, and their national interests. Using these points as a base it defends the French Revolution against Edmund Burke's attack in...
written by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and later American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Revolutionary
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
, which was also adopted by proponents of both the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
and the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. A Column of Liberty was also erected in Saint-Charles
Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu, Quebec
Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu is a municipality in southwestern Quebec, Canada, on the Richelieu River in the Regional County Municipality of La Vallée-du-Richelieu. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 1,742.-Population:Population trend...
' Square.
On 16 November 1837, he and 25 others were charged with high treason. The following month, on 4 December 1837, Louis-Joseph Papineau
Louis-Joseph Papineau
Louis-Joseph Papineau , born in Montreal, Quebec, was a politician, lawyer, and the landlord of the seigneurie de la Petite-Nation. He was the leader of the reformist Patriote movement before the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837–1838. His father was Joseph Papineau, also a famous politician in Quebec...
and Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan
Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan
Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan, was a doctor and journalist.Born in Mallow, County Cork, Ireland, he studied medicine in Paris and immigrated to Lower Canada in 1823 where he became involved in the political reform movement of the Parti patriote...
joined Nelson at Saint-Denis
Saint-Denis
Saint-Denis is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Saint-Denis is a sous-préfecture of the Seine-Saint-Denis département, being the seat of the Arrondissement of Saint-Denis....
where they decided to resist arrest, procure arms and ammunition for the people and declare the independence of Lower Canada. It was around this time that Nelson exclaimed, "The time has come, to melt our spoons into bullets."
On 28 February 1838, after having crossed the border from Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
, Nelson, along with 300 to 400 Patriotes from a secret group called Frères Chasseurs
Frères chasseurs
The Frères chasseurs were a paramilitary organization that fought in the Patriote Rebellion on the Patriote side, seeking to make Lower Canada, now Quebec, an independent and democratic republic....
, distributed copies of a declaration of independence written by Nelson’s brother, Robert Nelson. Drawn from the American Declaration of Independence
Declaration of independence
A declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...
, the document listed the crimes that Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
had committed against Lower Canada
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
, as well as the right to overthrow the government.
Later, he led a group of armed citizens who resisted arrest by the British army at St-Denis. He was arrested soon after. (See Lower Canada Rebellion
Lower Canada Rebellion
The Lower Canada Rebellion , commonly referred to as the Patriots' War by Quebeckers, is the name given to the armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada and the British colonial power of that province...
.)
Exiled to Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
in 1838, Nelson was granted amnesty by the British colonial government and came back to Montreal in 1842. In 1844, he was elected to the new Parliament of the Province of Canada
Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada
The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the legislature for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known as Canada West and later the...
. In 1854, he became mayor of Montreal, and he died in June 1863. He is interred in the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery in Montreal and is commemorated by a park in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough.
Works
- Report of Dr. Wolfred Nelson, one of the inspectors of the provincial penitentiary, on the present state, discipline, management and expenditure of the district and other prisons in Canada East, 1852 (exist also in French)
- , 1853
- Practical views on cholera, and on the sanitaty, preventive and curative measures to be adopted in the event of a visitation of the epidemic, 1854 (exist also in French)