Saunders, John Simcoe

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: W. S. MacNutt, “SAUNDERS, JOHN SIMCOE,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 10, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/saunders_john_simcoe_10E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Lawyer, legislator, and public servant; b. in 1795 at Fredericton, N.B., son of John Saunders, a judge of the Supreme Court and later chief justice of New Brunswick, and Arianna Margaretta Jekyll Chalmers; d. 27 July 1878 at Fredericton, N.B.
    • John Simcoe Saunders’ father had distinguished himself in the American Revolution as an officer of the Queen’s American Rangers under the command of Colonel John Graves Simcoe; he consequently enjoyed the benefit of high official connections in England. With this patrician background, young Saunders was a scion of the slender loyalist aristocracy of the new province of New Brunswick. In his youth he received many benefits from his family’s position; in his later years his career can be explained by the declining importance of the colonial aristocracy.
    • In 1830 he again returned to Fredericton and, favoured by family connection, enjoyed for many years a number of public offices. Because of his superior education, he was at once appointed master of the rolls, but the legislature would provide no salary for the post. In 1833, when the government was reorganized, he was made a member of both the Executive and the Legislative Council, and in 1834 became advocate general. None of these appointments gave much financial reward, but from 1840 to 1843, during the temporary disgrace of Thomas Baillie, Saunders held the lucrative post of surveyor general. After the death of the provincial secretary, William Franklin Odell, and during the controversy over Sir William Colebrooke’s appointment of his son-in-law, Alfred Reade, to the vacant post, Saunders fell heir in 1845 to the office of provincial secretary. He was the last man to hold this position before it became subject to political tenure with the advent of responsible government in 1848.
    • Saunders’ resignation in 1848 provides the key to his character. According to the testimony of the lieutenant governor, Sir Edmund Head*, Saunders was a scholarly man who could not bring himself to the disagreeable necessity of fighting a popular election. Since the fortunes of the new government would depend on its ability to keep the confidence of the House of Assembly, he could not be a source of strength. Until his death he continued to play a minor official and political role, serving as clerk of the circuits until 1867 and president of the Legislative Council until 1878.
  • Son of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=7280
  • Find A Grave : https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/118282709/john_simcoe-saunders