The United Province of Canada’s new Governor General, Sir Charles Metcalfe, took up his duties in Canada’s capital of Kingston on this date in 1843. He had been appointed to his all-important Vice-Regal post upon the death of his predecessor, Sir Charles Bagot, a few months before. Metcalfe would serve as Governor General until ill-health forced him to step down only 18 months later. He was plagued by cancer and other ailments during his tour of duty in Canada. It is worth noting that Metcalfe was the third GG who headed the colony in only three years, with two of his predecessors having by then passed into history.
You can read about this fascinating leader’s life and legacy at his entry at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography at this link: https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/metcalfe_charles_theophilus_7E.html
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.