Collection MSG 1089 - John Colborne Collection

John Colborne was born on January 16, 1778, in Lymington, England and died on April 17, 1863, in Torquay, England. He was the only son of Samuel Colborne Cordelia Anne Garstin. In 1813, Colborne married Elizabeth Yonge, they had three daughters and five sons. He was educated at Christ’s Hospital in London and at Winchester College. Colborne was commissioned as an ensign in the 20th Regiment of Foot in 1794, was promoted to lieutenant in 1795, and then to captain lieutenant in 1799, where he was wounded during the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland. In 1806, he was deployed with his regiment to Italy, where he fought at the Battle of Maida in July during the War of the Third Coalition. Colborne became military secretary to General Henry Fox that same year and then became military secretary to Sir John Moore with the rank of major in 1808. He served Moore at the Battle of Benavente, the Battle of Corunna, the Battle of Ocaña, and the Battle of Bussaco in Portugal. Colborne then went on to become commander-in-chief of all the armed forces in British North America, leading the offensive at the Battle of Saint-Eustache in Lower Canada and defeating the rebel force in 1837. In 1828, he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. One year later, Colborne founded Upper Canada College. In 1839, he left Canada and was elevated to the peerage as Baron Seaton, of Seaton in the County of Devon. Colborne became High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands in 1843 and then Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, in 1855. In 1866, a bronze statue sculpted by George Adams was erected at Mount Wise in Devonport, then moved to Seaton Barracks in Crownhill in the early 1960s, and then to Peninsula Barracks in Winchester in the 1990s. A second statue of Colborne was erected at Upper Canada College in Toronto. Colborne Street in London, Ontario is named after him, along with the city of Port Colborne in Ontario.