By
Dick Illingworth
From
King Township Tapestry magazine, February 1999.
Hidden
away in the hills of King Township, is a little hamlet that has a lot of
Canadian history, and its role in helping to bring democracy and local government
to Ontario and Canada has never been fully recognized.
The
little hamlet is Lloydtown, and it played a major role in the Upper Canada
Rebellion of 1837.
At
that time, “Lloyd’s Town”, as it was known, was the most important center
between York (Toronto) and Collingwood.
Jesse Lloyd, a Quaker and a prominent citizen of the area, was a
reformer and friend of William Lyon Mackenzie.
Mackenzie
was a newspaper editor, politician, and rebel leader. As editor of the Colonial Advocate, he took up the cause of the
farmers and labourers. He was elected
to, and expelled from, the legislative assembly several times and he served as
the first Mayor of Toronto for ninth months between 1834 and 1835.
His
political views became extreme and it was only natural that he should join wit
Lloyd and his friends in the reform government. The Lloyd grist mill was a vital center and the gathering place
for citizens to vent their anger and frustrations against the anti-democratic
governing establishment, the Family Compact.
Among
other things, the Reformers wanted the appointed councils to be responsible to
the elected legislature assemblies. In
early December 1837, the mood was bitter and it was agreed that change could
only be brought about by rebellion, since all peaceful means had fallen on deaf
ears and failed.
About
50 farmers and tradesmen left Lloydtown for the historic march down Yonge
Street to Toronto, picking up other rebels en route. An Aurora tavern, McLeod’s Inn became the rallying point for
those who were loyal to the governor and the government, and James Mosley of
Aurora, is said to be the man who warned the government a rebel attack was
imminent.
Between
800 and 900 men eventually assembled.
They had little or no training, their battle plans were hazy, and they
were badly armed, some carrying only pitchforks and sharpened staves. They were no match for the 1,000 well armed
and well trained Loyalist militia who met the rebels at Montgomery’s tavern on
the west side of Yonge Street, two blocks north of Eglinton Ave.
The
militia troops under the command of Colonel Allan McNab quickly dispersed the
rebel troops. The location of the
battle today is the site of the Post Office Building at Montgomery Avenue and
Yonge Street.
Colonel
Robert Moodie, a Loyalist who tried to ride through the enemy lines, and rebel
Anthony Anderson, who descendents still live in Lloydtown, were killed in the
first few minutes of the fighting and the 20 minute rebellion was over.
The
rebels tried to escape back to their farms or to seek sanctuary in their farms
or to seek sanctuary in the United States.
They were hunted down and imprisoned, exiled or executed, despite
massive petitions for clemency.
Mackenzie,
Lloyd and the others fled across the Niagara River to the United States. Mackenzie returned to Canada under the 1849
Act of Amnesty, was elected to the Assembly in 1851, and retired from politics
in 1858.
Lloyd
fled with a price tag of 500 pounds on his head. He died of fever in the United States. His wife Phoebe continued to live on the family farm until her
death in 1882 at the age of 89. She is
buried in the Lloydtown Pioneer Cemetery.
If
caught, it is likely Lloyd would have been tried for treason and hanged along
with Peter Matthews and Samuel Lount on April 12, 1838.
Although
the battle was lost, the war was won.
The unpopular and stubborn Lieutenant Governor, Sir Francis Bond Head,
was recalled to London and a known reformer, the Earl of Dunham was sent to
Canada to investigate the colonial grievances.
Lord
Durham’s report “On the Affairs of North America” (1839) led to the granting of
responsible government and the establishment of democracy in what was to become
the Confederation of Canada in 1867.
In
order to gain recognition at the local, provincial and national levels of
government for the historic role that Lloydtown and the Rebellion of 1837
played in the development of democracy in Canada, the Lloydtown Rebellion
Association was founded in April 1990.
There
is a pioneer cemetery in Lloydtown on land donated by Jesse Lloyd in 1834.
… In the center of Lloydtown is a cairn
built with stones of the original Lloyd gristmill, to commemorate his
participation in the 1837 Rebellion.