Ontario History
Scholarly Journal of The Ontario Historical Society since 1899
Extracts from an Original MS Memoir of Capt. Freer
K. G. Mackenzie
Published by The Women’s Canadian Historical Society
Terms and Conditions for use of this article or book
review: www.ontariohistoricalsociety.ca/terms
The Ontario Historical Society
Established in 1888, the OHS is a non-profit corporation and registered charity;
a non-government group bringing together people of all ages, all walks of life and
all cultural backgrounds interested in preserving some aspect of Ontario's history.
Learn more at www.ontariohistoricalsociety.ca
Extracts from an original MS. Memoir of Capt. Freer, A.D.C. to
H.R.H. The Duke of Kent, and Military Secretary during
the War of 1812 in the possession of Mrs. Gordon
Mackenzie.
Noah Freer was horn on May 11th, 1783. Writing of his
father he says: "My father was for many years in the service
of George III., I think upwards of forty, until his death in the
year 1805.
"In my seventeenth year Prince Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, desired to see me, and undertook to obtain for me a
clerkship in the General Post Office, which he did; but in the
meantime, before my father was notified of my appointment
in that office, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, returned to
England from Nova Scotia, and upon being appointed
Commander-in-Chief of the Army in British North America,
H.R.H. offered to provide for me, saying to my father, I'm
sure Ernest will forget his promise, and you had better let
your son go with me,' which was at once assented to. I was
therefore taken to see the Duke at his residence in
Knightsbridge in June, 1799, when H.R.H. appointed me
first clerk in the Adjutant-General's Depot of British North
America, with a salary of five shillings sterling per diem,
subaltern's allowance, and I was ordered to prepare to
embark with H.R.IL in the Arethusa frigate, allotted to
convey himself and suite to Halifax. We sailed from
Spithead on July 25th, 1799, and landed at Halifax on
September 6th following, when I assumed my duties and
was placed under the immediate orders of Lieut-Colonel
Wetherall (the late Sir Frederick Wetherall), the AdjutantGeneral. I continued in this office for a little more than one
year, when, on the Duke's returning to England at the end
of 1800, I was removed to the office of the Military
Secretary, with increased pay and allowances—the Duke
wishing me to remain in Halifax until he could obtain some
other appointment in Europe, when he would send for me.
H.R.H. expected to become, I believe, Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland. I therefore continued in the Military Secretary's
office under the command of the Hon. H. T. Bowyer and
Lieut-General William Garstone, from both of whom I
received great kindness. In 1802, during the command of
General Bowyer, I married Miss Stayner. In 1803, when the
Nova Scotia Fencible Regiment was raised by General
Wetherall, I was offered by him the paymastership of the
corps, with an ensigncy, which I refused to accept, as I knew
the regiment was to be sent to Newfoundland. I was also
offered an ensigncy in the Connaught Rangers, which I
refused. About this time the Duke, keeping me in view,
offered me the paymastership of the Second Battalion of the
Royals, of which corps he was the colonel, about to embark
for India. This also I was obliged to refuse, being married,
and Edward an infant; I was unwilling to remove from
Halifax to so distant a country with a family. In 1805, on the
death of General Gardiner, Major-General Hunter (late Sir
Martin Hunter), the Governor of New Brunswick, came to
Halifax and assumed the command of Nova Scotia and its
dependencies, who appointed me to act as his military secretary, and from whom I have to acknowledge to have received
great kindness and attention. In 1806, on the death of my
father, I received six months' leave of absence from General
Hunter to proceed to England to my late father's affairs, and
to see that my mother was provided for. When. I was in England, in 1806, I was employed for several weeks by the Duke
of Kent at Kensington Palace in writing for His Royal Highness and bringing up some arrears in his correspondence. At
this time the Duke was Governor of Gibraltar, where he had
been in command, and had returned to England. H.R.H. was
desirous that I should remain with him, and offered to
appoint me Assistant Secretary, with a commission in the
Royals, the 1st Regiment, and would give me apartments for
myself and family in Kensington Palace. This proposal I
respectfully
declined, being anxious to return to my family in Nova
Scotia in compliance with my engagement with General
Hunter; and the Duke having procured for me a passage in
the naval transport, the ship Brothers, I left Portsmouth in
this vessel on September 12th, 1806, under convoy of the
Rattler sloop-of-war, and experiencing very contrary winds
and bad weather, did not land at Halifax until December 4th
following. In 1807, when there were apprehensions of war
with the United States in consequence of the Orders-inCouncil and non-intercourse, and there being but a few
regular troops in Nova Scotia, three battalions of provincial
militia were embodied and brought into Halifax, and I was
appointed by Sir John Wentworth (the then Governor)
paymaster of the 2nd Battalion, with the pay of seven
shillings and six pence per day, in addition to my pay as
Assistant Military Secretary to General Hunter.
"In March, 1808, Lieut.-General Sir George Prevost unexpectedly arrived at Halifax with a large military force of
five thousand men, and by commission assumed the government of Nova Scotia and command of the troops. Sir George
brought with him a Military Secretary, Major Dashwood,
and I returned to my station as Assistant Military
Secretary.
"Sir George had come to Quebec as Governor in
succession to Sir James Craig, a change much welcomed by
the French- Canadians, for, although he may not have been
an able general, he possessed the gentle art of conciliation, a
gift of almost equal value at that critical time.
"Major-General Hunter returned to his government and
command in New Brunswick, and the three battalions of
militia were immediately disbanded and sent to their homes.
A few months after this Sir George Prevost proceeded with a
considerable military force to assist in the capture of
Martinique from the French, and having succeeded in this
service, returned to Halifax with the remainder of this force
in December, 1808.
"During Sir George's absence in the West Indies I was
appointed paymaster of the detachments of the 7th, 8th and
23rd Regiments, which were left there, about 300 men, the
least effective of those corps. On the return of Sir George to
Halifax in 1809 Major Dashwood was appointed to act as
Deputy Quartermaster-General, Major Bowyer having gone
to England on leave, and I succeeded to the office of
Military- Secretary, a situation I held until Sir George's
death in 1816. In 1811, when Sir George was appointed
Governor-General and Commander of the Forces in British
North America, in succession to Sir James Craig, I
accompanied His Excellency as his Military Secretary and
A.D.C. to Quebec, where we landed from the Melampus
frigate in September, 1811.
"On the 2nd August, 1810, I was appointed ensign in the
Nova Scotia Fencibles; on October 25th, 1812, a lieutenant
in the Canadian Eencibles, and on October 25th, 1813, a
captain in the New Brunswick Fencibles, but being on the
staff, never joined any of these corps for regimental duty. I
raised thirty- five men for my company, at an expense to me
of about two hundred guineas, paid for additional bounty
beyond the regulations and in reward for recruiting parties.
"During the war with the United States from 1812 to
1815 I was actively employed as Military Secretary and
A.D.C., both in the office and in the field, almost day and
night, and though a young man, my health was much
impaired by the fatigue and anxiety of this particularly
severe service. In the course of this time I was "present with
my general at several actions with the enemy: At the
reconnaissance at Fort George, Niagara, in 1813; at the
battle of Chateauguay, in October, 1813, for which I had the
honor to receive a medal; and at the battle of Plattsburg, in
Lake Champlain, September, 1814. Just at the conclusion of
the war in 1815, Sir George was recalled by order of the
Imperial Government, and in March of that year he
proceeded overland to St. John, New Brunswick, where a
sloop-of-war was sent to convey him to England. Lady
Prevost and family went by the St. Lawrence in the June
following. I remained in Quebec after Sir George's
departure, and was employed with four clerks in entering up
and obtaining copies of all the public correspondence during
the war, to take with me to England for reference in any
enquiry that might he made as to the conduct and
proceedings of Sir George Prevost.
"This duty being completed, I embarked in the Sovereign
transport at Quebec in July, 1815, landed at Plymouth in
the beginning of September, and a few days after joined Sir
George at his estate in Belmont in Hampshire, where I
found that a general court-martial had been ordered to
assemble at Winchester for the investigation of certain
charges which had been made by Sir James Teo, the naval
commander, in his reports to the Admiralty, against Sir
George Prevost.
"As several of the evidences required by Sir James Yeo
were still in Canada, and that it would occupy two or three
months to bring them to England, the assembling of the
court- martial was consequently delayed for this arrival. Sir
George therefore proposed to me that I might employ the
time in visiting the Continent, while the Allied Armies were
in Paris, and he allowed me six weeks leave of absence for
this purpose. I accordingly repaired to London to see my
friends and relations first, and embarked at Brighton for
France in the beginning of October, and after visiting Paris
and the Netherlands, returned to England about the
beginning of November.
"On joining Sir George again at Belmont, I found that he
had been suffering much from suppressed gout and dropsy,
and had not been able to leave his home for several weeks.
His family being desirous that he should have the benefit of
the best medical advice, it was proposed that he should be
taken to London, and an application was addressed to the
Commander-in-Chief to allow the proposed court-martial to
assemble at Chelsea for Sir George's convenience, which was
finally assented to by the Duke of York, and January 6th,
1816, was fixed for the meeting of the court.
“Early in December Sir George was removed to London
in his own carriage by easy stages, and took up his residence

In an original letter dated the 27th of December, 1815, it is stated
that the trial is postponed till the 5th of February, "as Sir George is
much indisposed." On the 9th of January, 1816, another letter was
written to the effect that Sir George Prevost was dead, and that the
Court would not sit. In a letter dated the 22nd of January, Lady
Prevost gives the date of her husband's death as the 5th of January,
1816.—ARTHUR G. DOUGHTY, Dom. Archivist.
in a furnished house I had procured for him in Baker Street,
Portman Square.
"On his arrival in London Sir George was immediately
attended by Sir Gilbert Blain, and afterwards Dr. Bailey
was called in, but the disease under which he was suffering
increased so rapidly as to occasion great debility. He expired
on January 2nd, 1816.
"In consequence of Sir George's death the general courtmartial did not, of course, take place, and his family
returned to Belmont in the month of April. In May, 1816, I
left England in the Montagu packet from Ealmouth for
Halifax and New York, and arrived at Quebec on July 6th.
"Lieut.-General Sir J. 0. Sherbrooke was appointed to
succeed SiT George Prevost as Governor-General and Commander of the Forces, and I was the bearer of his
commission to Halifax.
"Sir John and suite arrived in Quebec a few days after
me in a frigate direct from Halifax.
"In assuming the command Sir John cancelled my
appointment as Military Secretary to the General in Upper
Canada, Major-General Sir Beverley Robinson, to which
office I had been named by Lieut.-General Sir Gordon
Drummond, and Sir John then offered me the situation of
Assistant Military Secretary, if I had no objection to serve
under Lieut.-Col. Addison, his Military Secretary, which I
accepted; but on the office being discontinued by order from
the Horse Guards, Sir John appointed me one of his aidesde-camp, on whose staff I continued until he embarked for
England in 1818, when he was succeeded by the Duke of
Richmond. Sir John requested His Grace to continue me on
the staff, but he declined doing so, having, he said, some
sons and several followers to provide for. At this time, being
off the staff and unemployed, I was induced by the Directors
to accept the office of cashier of the Quebec Bank, with a
salary of £500 per annum, which I assented to, and assumed

His widow, Lady Prevost, sent memorial after memorial to the War
Offiee demanding some mark of royal favour to vindicate the
character of her late husband; demanding a peerage (without
pecuniary assistance) and a new coat of arms as her "most moderate
claims." No peerage was bestowed, but in 1817 new supporters and
motto were granted for the family crest.
the duties as cashier on the commencement and opening of
the Bank for business in October, 1818, a situation I have
held for upwards of thirty-three years, and am about to
leave it, having, on account of my advanced age, tendered
the resignation of that office, which has been accepted by the
Directors, who have been pleased to grant me a pension
during the period of my natural life; and it is proposed that I
should surrender my charge and trust as cashier after the
general meeting of stockholders in June next over to Mr.
Gettings, who has been appointed to succeed me.
" Sgd. NOAH FREER."
Capt. Freer lost his first wife in 1820, and married
secondly in 1824, Margaret, daughter of John McNeil
Anderson, of Maryland, and granddaughter of Philip Van
Cortlandt, a member of the Loyalist branch of the Van
Cortlandts.
About the year 1854 Capt. Freer moved with his family
to Montreal, where he resided until his death in 1869, in his
87th year. So great was his vitality that in the early part of
the winter of 1864 he slipped on the sidewalk near his house
in St. Catharine Street and broke his leg; yet before the following spring was walking about as actively as ever, though
over 80 years of age at the time.
K. G. MACKENZIE.