Peregrine Maitland

Military career

After joining the 1st Foot Guards at the age of 15 as an ensign he went on to serve in Flanders in 1794, by which time he had achieved his promotion to lieutenant. In 1798, he took part in the unsuccessful landing at Ostend. In the Peninsular War, he served at both the Battle of Vigo, and at Corunna, at which he won a medal. He took part in the Walcheren in 1809. During the later stages of the Peninsula War was second in command of his regiment at Cadiz, and later at the Battle of Seville.

He served with distinction at Quatre Bras and the Battle of Waterloo. Promoted in early June (3 June 1815) to major general, he was assigned to the First Corps, under overall command of the Prince of Orange. On 18 June, the day of Waterloo, he commanded two battalions of the 1st Foot Guards, each 1000-men strong and led the Guards in repelling the final assault of the French Imperial Guard. For his service at Waterloo, Maitland was dubbed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, (KCB) on 22 June 1815, the Dutch Order of Wilhelm and the Russian Order of St. Vladimir. For their part, the 1st Foot Guards were granted the honorary title of 'First or Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards'.

He was appointed lieutenant governor of Upper Canada in 1818 and supported the Family Compact that dominated the province. He attempted to suppress and reform pro-American tendencies in the colony and resisted demands of radicals in the government. In his role Maitland was the first to propose the civilizing techniques that would eventually lead to the establishment of the Canadian Indian residential school system. He believed that while a shift from hunting to agricultural pursuits would assist with civilizing Indigenous populations, it was gaining the influence of children that would lead to success. In a 1820 report to the Colonial Office he argued for the introduction of industrial schools to minimize the children's exposure to the savage influence of their families. His tenure in Upper Canada ended in 1828 when he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia serving there from 1828 until 1834.

Maitland went to India and became commander in chief of the Madras Army in 1836 serving for two years. In 1843 he was appointed Colonel of the 17th (Leicestershire) Regiment and in 1844 Governor of the Cape Colony, but was removed during the Xhosa War. He is still highly respected in the Kingdom of Lesotho for his judgment on the border issue between the Orange River Afrikaners and the Basotho of King Moshoeshoe I, which, had it been implemented, would have secured the economic future of the kingdom. He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 6 April 1852.

Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia

Maitland became the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia on 29 Nov. 1828, with the added responsibility of commander-in-chief of the forces in the Atlantic region. He was popular. Certainly, his strongly moral conduct influenced Halifax’s society. By insisting on walking to church, he effectively ended the garrison parades on Sunday, the city’s major social event, and he publicly denounced the open market that day.

Maitland was responsible for the settlement reached for Pictou Academy. In dealing with immigration and settlement, he had lands laid out in Cape Breton at crown expense so that the 4,000 immigrants expected that year could be legally placed and systematically settled.

In October 1832 Maitland went to England on leave, presumably because of his health, and the government was placed in charge of Thomas Nickleson Jeffery. Though he continued to conduct official correspondence from England, he never returned to North America and he was succeeded in Nova Scotia by Sir Colin Campbell in July 1834.

First-class cricket career

Maitland was an amateur first-class cricketer who made 27 known appearances in first-class cricket matches from 1798 to 1808.

He was mainly associated with Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and he also played for Surrey and Hampshire.

Family

Peregrine Maitland was the eldest of five sons of Thomas Maitland (d 1797) and Jane Mathew (1759-1830), daughter of General Mathew. He had three sisters, and his eldest sister Jane married in 1800 a Lt. Colonel Warren of the Third Foot Guards. Maitland's maternal aunt married James Austin, brother of Jane Austen. Maitland married twice: (1) on 8 June 1803, in St George's, Hanover Square, (Westminster), to Louisa (d. 1805), daughter of Sir Edward Crofton, 2nd Baronet, and (2) at the Duke of Wellington's HQ during the occupation of Paris, 9 October 1815, Lady Sarah Lennox (1792–1873), one of the daughters of the 4th Duke of Richmond. He reportedly eloped with his second wife on account of the opposition of her father. By his first wife, he had one son, Peregrine Maitland b. 1 May 1804. By his second wife he had at least seven children:

He was buried at St Pauls Church in Tongham in Surrey.

Maitland in popular fiction

In his novel Les Misérables Victor Hugo credits Maitland (or Colville) with asking for the surrender of the Imperial Guard and receiving General Cambronne's reply of "Merde". (Chapter XIV. The Last Square)

Legacy

Maitland, Hants County, Nova Scotia is named after him. Maitland Street, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia is named after him. The Church of St. John the Evangelist Anglican in Niagara Falls, Ontario was constructed in 1825 largely through the efforts of Lieutenant-Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland. The church remained in regular use until 1957. Maitland Ontario on the St. Lawrence River is named after him (see Wikipedia, Maitland Ontario article)

In South Africa Maitland, Cape Town, a light industrial and residential suburb, the Maitland River west of Port Elizabeth and numerous streets in the country are named after him.