John Coape Sherbrooke

Sir John Coape Sherbrooke

Sir John Coape Sherbrooke (baptised 29 April 1764 – 14 February 1830) was a British soldier and colonial administrator. After serving in the British army in Nova Scotia, the Netherlands, India, the Mediterranean (including Sicily), and Spain, he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia in 1811.

His active defence of the colony during the War of 1812 led to his appointment as Governor General of British North America in 1816. His talent as a mediator helped settle disputes between anglophones and francophones, and he won the confidence of Louis-Joseph Papineau.

The financing of Dalhousie college, now Dalhousie University in Halifax had largely come from custom duties collected by Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, then lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia during the occupation of Castine, Maine during the War of 1812, investing GBP£7000 as the initial endowment and GBP£3000 reserved for the actual construction of the college.

Ill health (probably a stroke) forced Sherbrooke to resign after only two years, and he retired to Nottinghamshire in England. However, his brief tenure was remembered as a period of calm before the coming storm (see Rebellions of 1837).

Honorific eponyms

Geographic locations

• Manitoba: Sherbrook Street, Winnipeg
• Nova Scotia: Sherbrooke
• Quebec: Sherbrooke
• Quebec: Sherbrooke Street, Montreal

Buildings

• Quebec: Sherbrooke Station, Montreal
• Sherbrooke Martello Tower (1814 - 1828; four guns), at McNabs Cove, opposite York Redoubt at Halifax harbour.

Vessels

• Sir John Sherbrooke
• Sir John Sherbrooke
• Barbados

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• National Assembly biography (in French)

References

Government offices
Preceded by Alexander Croke	Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia 1811–1816	Succeeded by George Stracey Smyth
Preceded by Sir George Prevost	Governor General of British North America 1816–1818	Succeeded by The Duke of Richmond