Mary Beacock Fryer – författare

Samuel de Champlain has long been known as the founder of Quebec and as a tireless explorer. No one knows for sure where he was born or who he really was. Still, his career was packed with interesting details and his early life prepared him for greatness.

Without Champlains own detailed records, the years 1600 to 1640 in Canada would be almost a mystery. Possibly Canadas first multicultural advocate, he dreamed of creating a new people from French and Aboriginal roots. However, his efforts to establish a colony encountered setbacks in France. Among his detractors was the powerful Cardinal Richelieu. Champlain was not of the nobility and thus was considered unfit for patronage.

The explorers story is an exciting one, as he explored new territory, established alliances and understandings with Natives, waged war when necessary, and left behind a legend in the New World that lasts to this day.

These published rolls are intended to provide a fairly comprehensive list of the loyal colonials who joined the Provincial Corps of the British Army, 1775-1784, that were part of the Northern, or Canadian, command during the American Revolution. The name "Provincial corps of the British Army" applied to regiments established for loyal residents of Britain’s colonies. To conduct the war against the rebels in the Thirteen colonies, the British government organized military departments at key points which the army could control. The central department was the occupied zone around New York City; the Southern was Florida; the Eastern (or Northeastern) was Nova Scotia, which included New Brunswick; the Northern was the old Province of Canada, now Ontario and Quebec.

Born on the Isle of Mull to an impoverished lair of the clan Maclean, young Allan fought his first battle — for Bonnie Prince Charlie at Culloden — from a sense of deep conviction and family loyalty. He fled into exile when the Stuart cause was lost. In Holland he became a mercenary, and after amnesty was granted for Jacobites, he joined the British army serving in North America during the Seven Years’ War, and again during the American Revolution. He was at Quebec on New Year’s Eve 1775 when the city was attacked by Benedict Arnold, and shortly thereafter become the military governor of Montreal. Between the two wars, when the army was reduced and he was on half-pay, Maclean was preoccupied with finding ways to meet the expenses he incurred while on active service. He made himself useful to politicians and office-holders who had access to public funds or who could recommend him for promotions. One who helped him was Lauchlin Macleane, an ambitious politician who was probably the notorious Junius, who wrote vicious letters to newspapers attacking the government, but was never unmasked. This fast-paced and intriguing book gives a penetrating insight into the challenges facing a man who chose a military career during the tumultuous period of the eighteenth century.

Battlefields of Canada encompasses nearly 300 years of history and features sixteen of the most significant Canadian battles as well as some of the most comic or bizarre. Profusely illustrated with sketches, photographs, and detailed maps, each chapter sets the context of the battle in terms of the struggle of which it was part, and then describes the hour-by-hour events. A brief conclusion to each chapter assesses the consequences for the victors and losers, assigning its place in Canadian history. A chronology provides a comprehensive list of every Canadian battle since the early 1600s.

The diaries, letters, and sketches of Elizabeth Simcoe are drawn upon as sources in this portrayal of the energetic and remarkable woman who came to Upper Canada with her husband when he was appointed lieutenant governor.

More Battlefields of Canada is a sequel to Mary Beacock Fryers bestselling Battlefields of Canada. Like it’s predecessor, this volume covers nearly three hundred years of history and covers the most significant - as well as some of the most comic and bizarre - Canadian battles. Illustrated with sketches, photographs and detailed maps, the individual chapters begin by setting the context of the battle in terms of the larger struggle. The reader is then taken on to the battlefield with an hour by hour account. A brief conclusion to each chapter assesses the consequences for the victor and the loser, assigning each battle it’s place in Canadian history.

Not all the battles re-created in this volume were fought in Canada. Some took place in the United states, and there is also an account of the Canadian experience in Hong Kong in 1941.

A detailed chronology provides a comprehensive list of every Canadian battle since the 1600’s.

Francis Simcoe was the eldest son of John Graves Simcoe and Elizabeth Gwillim. his father is celebrated as the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada; his mother for her Canadian diary and watercolour sketches. Francis was one year old when his family arrived at Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) in 1792, and almost six when they returned to England.

Letters written by his mother, sisters, and himself reveal his childhood at Eton. At sixteen, he was an ensign in the 27th Inniskilling Regiment. From the beginning of his military career, he kept journals and wrote many letters preserved by the family. His service began in ireland and ended under Wellington - he died leading a storming party in the Trinidad breach at Badajoz, Spain, a thoroughly bloody, costly battle in the Peninsular war.

The army had lost a talented young officer. As a warrior, Francis possessed the qualities that had carried his father from ensign to lieutenant general. Letters and journals disclose a soldier who was also an intelligent, loving human being. Of special interest are Francis’ associates who spent time in Canada - the Duek of Richmond, Edward Littlehales, James Kempt, and Julia Somerville (more than a friend?) who became Mrs. Francis Bond Head four years after young Simcoe’s death.

These published rolls are intended to provide a fairly comprehensive list of the loyal colonials who joined the Provincial Corps of the British Army, 1775-1784, that were part of the Northern, or Canadian, command during the American Revolution. The name "Provincial corps of the British Army" applied to regiments established for loyal residents of Britain’s colonies. To conduct the war against the rebels in the Thirteen colonies, the British government organized military departments at key points which the army could control. The central department was the occupied zone around New York City; the Southern was Florida; the Eastern (or Northeastern) was Nova Scotia, which included New Brunswick; the Northern was the old Province of Canada, now Ontario and Quebec.

Plots, shots, flight, pursuit — all are part of this story from the exciting chapter in America’s history when thousands of Loyalists fled to Canada to evade the vengeance of the American Revolutionaries. Twelve-year-old Ned Seaman tells this lively tale of his family’s perilous journey. Escape may be fiction, but Martha and Caleb Seaman and their children actually existed.