Series 5 - Hugh Hovell Farmar letters

70pp

Kerby A. Miller created his transcripts of the Farmar letters from copies of the manuscripts held on microfilm in the Hugh Hovell Farmar fonds, Library and Archives Canada [reference number R3640-0-8-E, MG23-HII7]. The original manuscripts were held by Hugh Farmar, England.

Materials pertaining to 13 letters written by or to Hugh Hovell Farmar, a wealthy resident of Cork who wanted to acquire an extensive
Canadian land grant near York (Toronto) in the 1790s and to people a colony with Irish immigrants. Much of the correspondence is with Peter Russell, a fellow native of Cork who was a government official, politician, and judge in Upper Canada, having acquired his own land grant, and with William Willcocks, a failed merchant in Cork who emigrated to Upper Canada in 1792 and attempted to engage in land speculation and gain some civil service positions but was unable to do either successfully. Another correspondent is Robert Baldwin, another Cork emigrant who went to Upper Canada in 1799 and founded the Baldwin political dynasty there.
Also included is a Dictionary of Canadian Biography entry on William Warren Baldwin (son of the aforementioned Robert), a native of Cork who was a medical doctor, businessman, lawyer, judge, architect and reform politician in Upper Canada. He and his son, also named Robert Baldwin, are recognised for having introduced the concept of ‘responsible government’, the principle of cabinet rule on which Canadian democracy is based.

Biographical articles on Peter Russell and William Willcocks are found with the Joseph Willcocks materials in P155/72/4.