- Michel-Eustache-Gaspard-Alain Chartier de Lotbinière
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Michel-Eustache-Gaspard-Alain Chartier de Lotbinière
Colonel The Hon. Michel-Eustache-Gaspard-Alain Chartier de Lotbinière (August 31, 1748 – January 1, 1822), de jure 2nd Marquis de Lotbinière. He was seigneur of Vaudreuil, Lotbinière and Rigaud, Quebec, and the Speaker of the House of Commons in Lower Canada who saw to it that the French language was recognised as equal to English in the Quebec Parliament.
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Family
Born in the Quebec City in 1748, he was the son of Michel Chartier de Lotbinière, Marquis de Lotbinière and his wife Louise, daughter of Chevalier Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Lery (1682-1756), Engineer-in-Chief of New France. He was a first cousin of Antoine Juchereau Duchesnay (seigneur) of Beauport, Quebec. De Lotbinière inherited the title of Marquis de Lotbinière from his father in 1798, but he never used it, probably to keep political favor with the English.
Military Life
Aged eleven, he served as a cadet during the siege of Quebec in 1759. The following year he was gazetted second Ensign with the French army when they were stationed in Montreal before accompanying his father to France. In France he resumed his studies with the thought of joining the French Cavalry, but following the loss of his father's land in America c.1763 he returned to Quebec and was commissioned as a surveyor in 1768.
From 1770 his father had incurred many debts, so with the financial help of his friend Charles-Francois Tarieu de La Naudiere, he kept the seigneuries of Lotbiniere, Vaudreuil, Rigaud and Rigaud de Vaudreuil (which he sold in 1772 to his uncle) in the family by purchasing them from his father. Although only in his early twenties, through his immense properties, prestigious name and family connections he was now one of the most influential Canadian seigneurs.
Unlike his father, he immediately recognised the importance of working with the English and he therefore adapted himself to the circumstances in which he found himself. After the American invasion in 1775 he was one of the first Canadian seigneurs to offer his services to the Governor Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester. He helped to defend Fort St Johns (later Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu) against the Americans, but was captured and taken prisoner by the Americans where he was removed to Albany. It was during this time that he developed a strong friendship with William Bingham, whose only son later went on to marry one of his daughters. He was released in 1776 and on returning to Montreal in 1777, having won Carleton's trust, he was appointed a Justice of the Peace. He continued to serve in the Canadian militia and in 1794 became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Vaudreuil Battalion of Militia. In 1803 he was made a full Colonel, finally retiring from the militia in 1818 and died in Montreal in 1822.
Politics
In the new House of Assembly he was elected with his brother-in-law, Pierre-Amable de Bonne, for the riding of York which took in his seigneuries of Vaudreuil and Rigaud, Quebec. Politically he is best remembered for his role in sanctioning the use of French in the Parliamentary records. In a speech recorded in the Quebec Gazette on 31st January, 1793, he asked for French and English to be given equal recognition in the House,
Since the majority of our constituents are placed in a special situation, we are obliged to depart from the ordinary rules and forced to ask for the use of a language which is not that of the empire; but, being as fair to others as we hope they will be to us, we should not want our language eventually to banish that of His Majesty’s other subjects.
The moment is captured in a painting by Charles Huot which hangs above the speaker’s chair in the present-day National Assembly of Quebec.
Three Heiresses
Mrs Marie Charlotte Bingham wife of William Bingham
Mrs Julie Christine Joly de Lotbinière wife of Gaspard-Pierre-Gustave Joly de LotbinièreAfter his first wife (Josette, daughter of Louis-Joseph Godefroy de Tonnancour) died in 1799, he married Mary Charlotte Munro, daughter of John Munro in 1802. They were the parents of three beautiful daughters, the heiresses known as 'the three graces' or 'les trois cannelles' in Quebec Society of the day. The eldest, Louise-Josephte (1803-1869) chose the family home of Vaudreuil as her dowry and married Robert Unwin Harwood. They were the parents of ten children, from whom descend the de Lotbinière-Harwood family.
The second daughter, Marie-Charlotte (1805-1866), was given Rigaud, Quebec as her dowry. In 1821, she married the American millionaire, William Bingham (whose sister was married to Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton), the only son of Senator William Bingham of Philadelphia (an old friend of Charlotte's father), and his wife Ann Willing Bingham, daughter of Thomas Willing. They lived in Montreal before moving to Paris and later separated. He remained in Paris and she died at Oxford Terrace in London. They were the parents of two sons who died in early manhood and three daughters. All three daughters lived in France and married French Counts. The youngest, Georgina, married Count Raoul d'Eprémesnil, grandson of Jean-Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil. The Seigneury of Rigaud, Quebec was passed to Charlotte's eldest niece, Marie-Louise de Lotbinière-Harwood, who married Antoine Eustache de Bellefeuille MacDonald. The youngest of the three daughters, Julie-Christine (1810-1887) was given Lotbinière as her dowry, and she married Gaspard-Pierre-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, the first man to photograph the Acropolis. They were the parents of a daughter and two sons. Their second son, Edmond, was killed at the Siege of Lucknow. From the eldest son, Sir Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, grandfather of Seymour de Lotbiniere, descend the Joly de Lotbinière family.
His grandsons, Antoine Chartier de Lotbinière Harwood and Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, both later became members of the legislative assembly for Canada East and then Quebec. Joly de Lotbinière also served as Prime Minister of Quebec and Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. Two more grandsons, Robert Harwood and Henry Stanislas Harwood were Canadian MPs for Vaudreuil.
External links
Categories:- 1748 births
- 1822 deaths
- French Canadians in the American Revolution
- Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada
- Members of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada
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