Elizabeth Simcoe

Elizabeth Simcoe
File:Elizabeth Simcoe.jpg Portrait by Mary Anne Burges
Born	Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim (1762-09-22)September 22, 1762 Aldwincle, Northamptonshire
Died	Honiton, Devon
Nationality	English
Spouse(s)	John Graves Simcoe (m. 1782; d. 1806)

Elizabeth Posthuma Simcoe (22 September 1762 – 17 January 1850) was a British artist and diarist in colonial Canada. She was the wife of John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada.

Biography

She was born Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim to Lt Col. Thomas Gwillim and Elizabeth Spinckes in the village of Aldwincle, Northamptonshire, England, Her father died before her birth and her mother shortly afterwards. After her baptism, on the same day as her mother's burial, she was taken into the care of her mother's younger sister, Margaret. In commemoration of her posthumous birth, Elizabeth was given the middle name Posthuma. Her adopted mother, Margaret, married Admiral Samuel Graves on 14 June 1769 and she grew up at Graves's estate, Hembury Fort near Honiton in Devon. Gwillim was one of a group of friends that included Mary Anne Burges in Honiton.

File:York Harbour, looking west from the mouth of the Don River, c. 1793.jpg

A 1793 watercolour painting by Simcoe of York Harbour before settlement. York would become the city of Toronto

On 30 December 1782, Elizabeth married John Graves Simcoe, Admiral Graves' godson. Between the years 1784 and 1804, they had eleven children, among them Francis Simcoe, for whom they named Castle Frank. Nine survived to adulthood; Katherine, their only child to be born in Upper Canada, and John Cornwall Simcoe died in infancy. Katherine is buried at Fort York Garrison.

Elizabeth was a wealthy heiress, who acquired a 5,000-acre (2025 ha) estate near Honiton, Devon, and built Wolford Lodge, which remained the Simcoe family seat until 1923. She is buried at Wolford Chapel.

Legacy

File:Portion of Elizabeth Simcoe's Diary, pages 6-7 (I0032531).jpg

Pages 6-7 of Elizabeth Simcoe’s diary created between 1795 and 1796 from the Simcoe Family Fonds at the Archives of Ontario

File:Cascade in Wolfe's Cove (I0006888).tif

A watercolour painting by Elizabeth Simcoe created in [April 1792?] depicting a cascade in Wolfe’s Cove from the Simcoe Family Fonds

Elizabeth Simcoe left a diary that provides a valuable impression of life in colonial Ontario. First published in 1911, there was a subsequent transcription published in 1965 and a paperback version issued at the turn of the 21st century, more than 200 years after she wrote it. Her legacy also includes a series of 595 watercolour paintings that depict the town of York, Upper Canada. She was responsible for the naming of Scarborough, an eastern Toronto district, after Scarborough, North Yorkshire. The townships of North, East and West Gwillimbury, just south of Lake Simcoe in central Ontario, are also named for the family. The Township of Whitchurch (today the town of Whitchurch–Stouffville, Ontario), was named in honour of her place of birth.

In December 2007, a statue of Elizabeth Gwillim Simcoe was raised in the town of Bradford West Gwillimbury, as it commemorated the 150th anniversary of its incorporation. The statue stands in a small park in front of the Bradford post office, at the corner of John Street West and Barrie Street.

File:Barracks at Queenston (I0006924).tif

[Ca. 1792] watercolour painting by Elizabeth Simcoe depicting the barracks at Queenston from the Simcoe Family Fonds

References

• Travels With Elizabeth Simcoe. Archives of Ontario.

External links

• Works by Elizabeth Simcoe at Faded Page (Canada)
• Travels with Elizabeth Simcoe: A Visual Journey Through Upper and Lower Canada, online exhibit on Archives of Ontario website
• Simcoe family fonds, Archives of Ontario