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Viscount Monck was the first
Governor General after
Confederation, and might
properly be called a father of
Confederation. He had been
Governor of the old Canada since
1861 and worked closely with the
Fathers of Confederation in
guiding the process of
consolidation and unification
through he British Colonies and
the Imperial Government.
Canadian Historian W.L. Morton
called him a grave, persistent
architect of Confederation.
Sir Charles Stanley, fourth
Viscount Monck, was born October
10th, 1819 at Templemore,
Tipperary, Ireland, and educated
in law at Trinity College
Dublin.
Barred, as Irish peers were,
from a seat in the House of
Lords, he won a House of commons
seat in Portsmouth in 1852, and
later became Lord of the
Treasury.
In 1861, Queen Victoria
appointed Monck as 'Our
Captain-General and Governor in
Chief in and over .... all our
provinces in North America and
the Island of Prince Edward'>
He did everything possible to
further the aspirations of the
Confederationists. His term
normally would have expired in
1866, but he wanted to see the
new Dominion established and the
Queen extended his tenure.
Thus Monck was sworn in on
parliament Hill in Ottawa, July
1 1867, as Canada's first
Governor General. His first
official duty was to inform Sir
John A Macdonald that the Queen
had made him a Knight of the
Bath, and his ministerial
associates Commanders of the
Bath, and that Sir John was to
form a Government.
Since 1866, Canada's capital had
been in Ottawa and the Governor
General lived in Rideau Hall
down river from his office on
Parliament Hill. In the summer,
Monck would make the journey to
his office by long-boat, manned
by Royal Navy bluejackets.
Monck ended his term on November
14th, 1868 and went home to
Ireland. For his work in Canada,
he was made a Peer of the United
Kingdom, Baron Monck of
Ballytrammon, and from 1874 to
1893 he was Lord Lieutenant of
the county of Dublin. He died in
1894.
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