DCB/DBC Mobile beta
+

As part of the funding agreement between the Dictionary of Canadian Biography and the Canadian Museum of History, we invite readers to take part in a short survey.

I’ll take the survey now.

Remind me later.

Don’t show me this message again.

I have already taken the questionnaire

DCB/DBC News

New Biographies

Minor Corrections

Biography of the Day

ROBINSON, ELIZA ARDEN – Volume XIII (1901-1910)

d. in Victoria 19 March 1906

Confederation

Responsible Government

Sir John A. Macdonald

From the Red River Settlement to Manitoba (1812–70)

Sir Wilfrid Laurier

Sir George-Étienne Cartier

Sports

The Fenians

Women in the DCB/DBC

The Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences of 1864

Introductory Essays of the DCB/DBC

The Acadians

For Educators

The War of 1812 

Canada’s Wartime Prime Ministers

The First World War

WASHINGTON, JOHN, lieutenant and engineer, assigned to the British garrison at Annapolis Royal, N.S.; fl. 1719–24.

Washington’s behaviour was frequently a source of agitation in the British capital between 1719 and 1724. He neglected to keep his engineering accounts in order, ignored the orders of his superiors, and intrigued against the local authorities. In June 1721 a fellow officer noticed that Washington was spending a good deal of time in the “Necessary house” at the fort. While leaving the privy one day Washington dropped a piece of “foule Paper,” which was found to contain a draft of a letter to the Board of Ordnance accusing Governor Richard Phillips* and the provincial councillors of graft and peculation. A search of Washington’s quarters revealed that he had been sending such letters to England for months. The revelation of this “Villanous underhand dealing” prompted an investigation and the dispatch of voluminous denials by the councillors to the home authorities. Although Washington was obviously untrustworthy and possibly insane, the council was unwilling to take action against him since he was directly responsible to the politically powerful Board of Ordnance. Apparently he remained in Nova Scotia until the spring of 1724, when he was either recalled or persuaded to return to England.

Maxwell Sutherland

Mass. Hist. Soc., Gay papers, III, IV. PAC, Nova Scotia A, 11–16; see especially 13, pp.105–44, 164–85. Documents relating to currency in Nova Scotia, 1675–1758 (Shortt). PAC Report, 1894, 40–55. Brebner, New Englands outpost.

General Bibliography

Cite This Article

Maxwell Sutherland, “WASHINGTON, JOHN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed March 19, 2024, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/washington_john_2E.html.

The citation above shows the format for footnotes and endnotes according to the Chicago manual of style (16th edition). Information to be used in other citation formats:


Permalink:   http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/washington_john_2E.html
Author of Article:   Maxwell Sutherland
Title of Article:   WASHINGTON, JOHN
Publication Name:   Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2
Publisher:   University of Toronto/Université Laval
Year of publication:   1969
Year of revision:   1982
Access Date:   March 19, 2024