Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst
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Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst KB (sometimes spelled Geoffrey, or Jeffrey, he himself spelled his name as Jeffery) (January 29, 1717 – August 3, 1797) served as an officer in the British Army.
Born in Sevenoaks, England, he became a soldier at approximately the age of 14. He gained fame during the Seven Years' War, particularly in the North American campaign known in the United States as the French and Indian War.
In 1758 Amherst led the British attack on Louisbourg, and as commander-in-chief of the British army in North America, helped the British seize most French territory in Canada. In 1759 he led an advance up Lake Champlain, assisting in Wolfe's capture of Quebec City. On September 8, 1760, he captured Montreal, ending French rule in North America. He infuriated the French commanders by refusing them the "honours of war" (the ceremonial right to retain their flags); the Duke of Lévis burned the colours rather than surrendering them. Amherst held the position of military governor of Canada from 1760 to 1763.
The hostility between the British and Native Americans after the French and Indian War led to one of the first documented attempts at biological warfare in North American history. In response to the 1763 uprising known as Pontiac's Rebellion, Amherst suggested using smallpox as a weapon for ending the rebellion. In a series of letters to his subordinate Colonel Henry Bouquet, the two men discussed the possibility of infecting the attacking Indians with smallpox through gifts of blankets that had been exposed to the disease. Apparently unbeknownst to both Amherst and Bouquet, the commander at Fort Pitt had already attempted this very tactic. Although Amherst's name is usually connected with this incident because he was the overall commander and because of his correspondence with Bouquet, evidence appears to indicate that the attempt was made without Amherst's prior knowledge. Whether or not the attempt was successful is unclear. (See Pontiac's Rebellion for more details.)
After the taking of Montreal in 1760, Amherst built Montreal House in his native Sevenoaks, Kent, for his seat. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the house and family hosted an annual summer picnic for the children educated at the junior school they established in the village of Riverhead; the school still bears Amherst's coat of arms. With the decline of the family's fortunes the house was knocked down in the late 20th century to make way for a housing development; only a single obelisk and the octangular gatehouse remain.
The towns of Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada, location of General Amherst High School, Amherst, Massachusetts, location of Amherst College; Amherst, New Hampshire; Amherst, Nova Scotia; Amherst, New York;Amherst County, Virginia; and Amherst Island Ontario were named for him.
See also: List of Canadian Governors General
[edit] External links
- Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- Historical Biographies: Jeffrey Amherst
- Amherst and Smallpox
- Amherst and Smallpox Blankets Excerpts from actual letters in which Lord Jeffery Amherst approves smallpox plan (dated July 16, 1763) and discusses other methods of genocide with Colonel Henry Bouquet.
[edit] Bibliography
- Long, J.C. Lord Jeffery Amherst: A Soldier of the King. New York: MacMillan, 1933.
- Amherst and the conquest of Canada : selected papers from the correspondence of Major-General Jeffrey Amherst while Commander-in-Chief in North America from September 1758 to December 1760 / edited by Richard Middleton. Stroud : Sutton Publishing for the Army Records Society, 2003. ISBN 0-7509-3142-6.
| Military Offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: James Abercrombie | Commander-in-Chief, North America 1758–1763 | Succeeded by: Thomas Gage |
| Preceded by: Henry Seymour Conway | Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance 1772–1782 | Succeeded by: Sir William Howe |
| Preceded by: Vacant | Commander-in-Chief of the Forces 1778–1782 | Succeeded by: Henry Seymour Conway |
| Preceded by: Henry Seymour Conway | Commander-in-Chief of the Forces 1783–1795 | Succeeded by: The Duke of York |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by: The Earl of Loudoun | Crown Governor of Virginia 1759–1768 | Succeeded by: John Blair |
| Preceded by: New Office or Commander-in-Chief, North America or Governor of New France, Pierre de Rigaud | Governor General of British North America 1760–1763 | Succeeded by: James Murray |
| Peerage of Great Britain | ||
| Preceded by: New Creation | Baron Amherst of Holmesdale 1776–1797 | Succeeded by: Extinct |
| Baron Amherst of Montreal 1788–1797 | Succeeded by: William Pitt Amherst | |
fr:Jeffery Amherst pl:Jeffrey Amherst sv:Jeffrey Amherst
Categories: 1717 births | 1797 deaths | British Field Marshals | Governors of British North America | Barons in the Peerage of Great Britain | English generals | French and Indian War people | Pontiac's Rebellion people | People from Sevenoaks | Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath | Lieutenant Governors of the colonial Province of Quebec | Biological warfare | Colonial governors of Virginia
