Living History: Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester

Dorchester is a familiar name. In many Canadian cities there is a street or school named for Lord Dorchester, and at some point we've all had to learn a few facts of the man's life in a high school survey of Canadian history. If you're American you may be amused to learn Dorchester defeated Benedict Arnold in battle, before the latter defected from the American army. And if you have any claim to Irish descent you may wonder why your history teacher never told you that Guy Carleton, 1st Baron of Dorchester, was born in Ireland.

My ten year old asked me recently why learning history was so much fun. "History is supposed to be hard," she said - by which I think she also meant it should be boring. Indeed, I can attest that my requisite exploration of Canadian history was a tedious and two-dimensional one. But to breathe life into history is not a difficult task at all. After all, it is a matter of retelling the events of people who once lived and breathed, and walked the earth as we do today.

You may know that Lord Dorchester was one of the main authors of the Quebec Act of 1774, one of the so-called Intolerable Acts that ultimately led to the American Revolution. The Act guaranteed the rights of French Canadians, and allowed them to practise their Catholic faith. It received mixed reviews in Quebec, even among the French. History gets messier, the deeper you dig. But that's what makes it fun!

Biographies and Living Books
Living books are a staple of homeschooling, but they are just as appropriate for classroom use. A living book is generally understood to be any book that teaches through realistic narrative, and doesn't talk down to the student. Biographies very often are living books. Pick up a biography of Guy Carleton, and learn things textbooks don't tell you. Lord Dorchester was a Protestant man of modest means, whose Anglo-Irish family had been living in Ireland for some time. He was a military man, who was sent for by General Wolfe just before the Conquest of Quebec. He defies the stereotype of an Irish immigrant: he was loyal to the British crown, unlike many who came after him. And he certainly wasn't a peasant arriving during the Potato Famine, only to be subjected to horrific conditions in fever sheds at Grosse Île or Montreal.

Exploring History Through Art
Art is another way to bring history alive. Put together a slideshow of relevant artwork, plan a field trip to an art museum, or have students make a virtual visit to an online exhibition. The painting of the Battle of Quebec, by Charles William Jefferys, accompanying this article is just one place you might start if you wanted to illustrate an exploration of Lord Dorchester's life. It depicts the British soldiers driving back a column of Continental soldiers led by Benedict Arnold. Films set at the time of a historical event, and period music, also provide depth that may be missing in the prescribed textbook or curriculum.

Assigning Student Projects
Be creative when it comes to assigning term papers, oral reports or other projects. Ask students to suggest topics, instead of parroting back facts they've memorized. Students may want to discuss why the commander-in-chief of the British army would sympathize with French Quebecers. A parallel discussion of the Penal Laws in Ireland could lead to some thoughts on the reasoning behind Dorchester's approach. A student who traces his family tree might discover ancestors who were United Empire Loyalists. Another may find his roots are Anglo-Irish, as were Dorchester's.

History is not as cut and dried as we are often led to believe. Irish soldiers were found both in the French and British armies during the Conquest of Quebec, just as French speaking Canadiens were found in both the British and American camps during the Battle of Quebec. Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester was somewhat of an enigma. He has been called "grave Carleton" and "one of the most distant and reserved men in the world." It is also said he was "one of those quiet men whose sterling value is appreciated only by the few till some crisis makes it stand forth before the world at large."

Encourage your students to dig deeper, to discover the "sterling value" of Lord Dorchester for themselves. It is through this kind of active participation that history and all other subjects cease to become "hard," and their exploration becomes a joy.

Sources:
G.P. Browne, "Carleton, Guy, 1st Baron Dorchester." Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

"Quebec Act." USHistory.com

W.R. Wilson, "Simcoe & his nemesis Dorchester." Historical Narratives of Early Canada

William Charles Henry Wood, The father of British Canada: A chronicle of Carleton. Project Gutenberg