1749

Halifax is established as a British military colony.

1763

Treaty of Paris, Canada is ceded to Britain.

Image:
Benjamin West
The Death of General Wolfe, 1770
oil on canvas
152.6 x 214.5 cm
Transfer from the Canadian War Memorials, 1921 (Gift of the 2nd Duke of Westminster, England, 1918)

1770

23 October 1770 General George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie was born at Dalhousie Castle, Midlothian, Scotland

Image:
John Elliott Woolford (1778?1866)
Dalhousie Castle, n.d.
watercolour and graphite on paper, mounted on card
29.4 × 42.4 cm
Toronto Public Library, Toronto Reference Library (Canadian Historical Picture Collection) (902.1.34)
Purchased 1902

1780

Influx of political refugees to Canada from the United States.

1788

July 1788 - Dalhousie joins the British Army, after his father's death by purchasing a cornetcy in the 3rd Dragoons, and is later appointed to the captaincy of an independent company he himself had raised.

1791

A constitutional government is established in the administrative areas of Upper and Lower Canada with one capital at Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) and another at Quebec.

January 1791 Dalhousie joins the 2nd battalion of the 1st Foot.

A Map of the Province of Upper Canada, describing all the new settlements, townships, etc. with the countries adjacent, from Quebec to Lake Huron, compiled at the request of His Excellency Major General John G. Simcoe... [1800] (Archives of Ontario, C 279-0-0-0-34)

1792

June 1792 Dalhousie purchases the rank of major in the 2nd Foot.

1794

August 1794 Dalhousie travels with the 2nd Foot regiment to Martinique, as its commander, and succeeds as lieutenant-colonel .

1800

Dalhousie receives the brevet rank of colonel and fights in the later stages of the Egyptian campaign under Ralph Abercromby.

Image:
John Elliott Woolford
Pyramids, c. 1801-1803
watercolour over graphite on wove paper
25.7 x 37.5 cm
Purchased 1985 with the assistance of a grant from the Government of Canada under the terms of the Cultural Property Export and Import Act.

1803

Dalhousie serves as a brigadier-general on the staff in Scotland.

1805

Dalhousie is appointed Major-General During the later stages of the Peninsular War he commands the 7th division under the Duke of Wellington, and is given thanks by Parliament for his services at Vittoria.

At age of 35, Dalhousie marries Christina Broun (1786-1839), of Coalstoun in East Lothian, Scotland, a lady of gentle extraction and distinguished gifts, with whom he had three sons, the two elder of whom died early. His youngest son, James, succeeded as 10th Earl and was later created Marquess of Dalhousie.

Image:
William Douglas (1780-1832)
Christian Broun of Colstoun with Her 3rd Son, the Hon. James Ramsay, 1816
Graphite white watercolour on ivory wove paper, mounted on ivory wove card
43.2 x 31.8 cm
Private collection

1813

Dalhousie is appointed lieutenant-general and colonel of the 13th Foot

Image:
Henry Edridge (1768-1821)
George, 9th Earl of Dalhousie 1812
Graphite white watercolour on ivory wove paper, mounted on ivory wove card
40.2 x 28.9 cm; mount: 43.2 x32.1 cm
Private collection

1815

Receives the title of Baron Dalhousie, of Dalhousie Castle in the County of Edinburgh, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, which allowed him to sit in the House of Lords by right (until that point he had sat as a Scottish representative peer).

Image:
Rundell, Bridge & Rundell (active 1804-1834)
Star of a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath c. 1815
Silver, gold, brass, copper, diamonds, emeralds, and enamel
1.5 x 7.1 c 6.8 cm
Private Collection

1816-1820

Dalhousie serves as Governor of Nova Scotia.

Image:
David Henderson (1793-1845)
Title Page 1819
Engraving on ivory wove paper
34.5 x 48.3 cm; plate: 24.8 x 35.2 cm
History Collection, Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax (85.119.2a)
Purchased 1985 with the assistance of a grant from the Government of Canada under the terms of the Cultural Property Export and Import Act

1819

• Dalhousie travels to Niagara accompanied by Woolford.
• August the Duke of Richmond dies.

Image:
John Elliott Woolford (1778?1866)
Horseshoe Falls of Niagara, from the Canadian Side between 1824 and 1860
Watercolour over pencil with scraping out on wove paper
27.3 × 41.1 cm
Toronto Public Library, Toronto Reference Library (Canadian Historical Picture Collection)(902.1.13)
Purchased 1902

1820

• 22 May, 1820 Dalhousie lays foundation stone for Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
• 18 June 1820 Dalhousie arrives in Quebec City.

Image:
John Elliott Woolford (1778?1866)
View of Dalhousie University Original Building c. 1818?23
Watercolour over graphite on ivory wove paper
30.7 x 42.6 cm
Special Collections, Dalhousie University, Archives and Special Collections, Halifax
Gift of Mrs. J.G. Baird, 1919-20

1820-1828

Dalhousie becomes Governor General of British North America

Image:
Hankes, Jarvis (1799-after 1852)
Sir George R. Dalhousie c. 1828
Credit: Library and Archives Canada/C-095138

1821

• 1821 - Dalhousie travels the route of the North West Company Voyageurs to the Great Lakes until Lake Superior, returning by the French, Mattawa and Ottawa Rivers. He is accompanied by Woolford.
• March 21, 1821 The North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company, two great fur Empires merge effectively ending the fur trade out of Montréal and creating a near monopoly of the fur trade in British North America.

Image:
John Elliott Woolford (1778?1866)
Rapid of La Dalle, French River, between 1824 and 1860
Watercolour and ink over graphite with scraping out on paper, mounted on card
37.7 × 51.7 cm
Toronto Public Library, Toronto Reference Library (Canadian Historical Picture Collection) (902.1.5).
Purchased 1902

1824

6 June 1824 Lord Dalhousie sets sail from Quebec City for a visit home. He landed in Portsmouth, England, 1 July 1824.

Image:
William Roebuck (c. 1796-1847) after John Elliott Woolford (1778-1866)
Panorama of Quebec from the Citadel Walls After 1821
Watercolour over pencil on 2 sheets of wove paper, mounted on card lined with laid paper
33 x 49.4 cm; mount: 32.7 x 49.5 cm
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (953.163.2)
Gift of the Sigmund Samuel Endowment Fund, between 1940 and 1944

1825

1 August 1825 Lord Dalhousie sets sail from Greenock, on board the Herald. He landed in Quebec City, 16 September 1825.

1827

November, 1827 Dalhousie lays foundation stone for Wolfe's Monument, Quebec City

Image:
Attributed to Thomas William Ogilvie McNiven
Wolfe and Montcalm Monument on Des Carrières Street, Quebec City c. 1828
Source: Library and Archives Canada/Peter Winkworth Collection of Canadiana/C-150279

1829

1829 Dalhousie is appointed Commander-in-Chief in India.

Image:
Sir John Watson Gordon (1788-1864)
George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie, c. 1829?30
Oil on single member hardwood panel (likely tropical)
71.6 x 46.7 cm
Private Collection

1832

1832 Dalhousie resigns as Commander-in-Chief in India, and returns to Britain.

1838

21 March 1838 Lord Dalhousie dies at Dalhousie Castle.

Image:
John Elliott Woolford (1778?1866)
Dalhousie Castle, n.d.
watercolour and graphite on paper, mounted on card
29.4 × 42.4 cm
Toronto Public Library, Toronto Reference Library (Canadian Historical Picture Collection) (902.1.34).
Purchased 1902