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John Bevans Giles and The Huron Gazette
0 n Friday, February
18, 1848, the first
issue of the
'Huron Gazette' was pub-
lished from its West street
office in Goderich. The
'Gazette' beat out the
'Huron Signal' by just one
week for the distinction of
being Huron County's
first weekly newspaper.
Under the banner "The
Queen, the Laws and the
People," the 'Gazette'
served Goderich, Stratford,
St. Mary's, Mitchell and
Bayfield and adhered to the
Tory cause. Its editor, John
Bevans Giles, was an Eng-
lishman, about 45 years
old, who was married with
children. The annual sub-
scription rate was 16 shil-
lings but farmers within 10
miles of Goderich could
pay in produce.
Only two issues of the
'Gazette' exist so it is diffi-
cult to fairly assess its liter-
ary and journalist merits.
On the front page of the
May 26, 1848 issue, there
is a rare and early item on
a "Meeting of Commu-
nists" which occurred in
London, England.
Giles argued, in the May
1848 issue, that "the idea of
publishing a newspaper at
the extreme westem verge
of the Province was consid-
ered too dangerous to be
entered upon" but sales
proved so brisk that he pro-
posed to expand the
'Gazette: Finding four
pages insufficient to
•
Huron History
David Yates
provide the latest news,
Giles announced that the
'Gazette' would become a
semiweekly paper appear-
ing on Tuesdays and Thurs-
days as soon as the proper
machinerywas installed. It
appears that the semi-
weekly edition, if it ever was
printed, was short-lived,
perhaps only a few issues.
By March 1849, the
'Gazette' was published on
Thursdays a day earlier
than its rival the 'Huron
Signal:
The March 8, 1849 issue
railed at "a flaming
account" in the 'Signal'
regarding the Rebellion
Losses Bill. A petition
addressed of local freehold-
ers addressed to the Sheriff
of the Huron District
opposing the bill was given
favourable attention in the
`Gazette. The controversial
measure which was even-
tually passed proposed to
compensate rebels, except
those tried and convicted of
treason, for property lost
during the 1837-38 rebel-
lion. The Tories opposed
the measure while Reform-
ers endorsed it as a means
of retaining the loyalty of
the French Canadian
population.
Unfortunately, almost
everything else known
about the 'Gazette' must
be filtered through
Thomas McQueen's
'Huron Signal.' More than
partisan rivalry, McQueen
viciously attacked Giles on
a deeply personal level
that reflected little credit
on the normally highly
principled, albeit rigid,
reformer. It seems
McQueen fired the open-
ing shots in what became
an ugly print war with
Giles. On April 21, 1848,
after initially refusing to
acknowledge his rival
paper's existence,
McQueen wrote that the
'Huron Gazette' was des-
tined for 'dissolution' due.
to its 'inherent feebleness:
It took McQueen two and
a half columns of print to
say that the `Gazette' was
not worthy of his atten-
tion. McQueen dismissed
the 'Gazette' as "some-
thing half -way between an
abortion and an idea" and
full of'lack-a-day twaddle.'
In May 1848, McQueen
devoted several more col-
umn inches to attacking the
'Gazette' for its 'wickedness,'
'vulgarity' and 'blackguard -
ism: In another column
titled 'Mr Giles and His Phi-
losophy', McQueen
engaged Giles in an inter-
esting debate on the merits
of phrenology (reading the
bumps on one's skull to
determine character traits)
and capital punishment.
McQueen was a militant
opponent of the death pen-
alty and took personal
offence at Giles' apparent
support for hanging. Once
again, it is unfortunate that
only one side of the debate
exists.
It cannot be known what,
if anything, Giles had done
to provoke McQueen's ire.
Perhaps, it was the intense
competition for newspaper
sales that drove McQueen
to near hysteria McQueen
claimed the 'Gazette' was
"published at a serious loss
weekly, and, under his
[Giles') management, never
can improve, for whether
he is or is not aware of it,
there are not six men in
Goderich, who do not
unhesitatingly declare it a
failure." In another article,
McQueen said the 'Gazette'
was "not even a decent bur-
lesque:' McQueen even
advocated tossing the
'Gazette's press into the
lake to "rid the town of a
very filthy nuisance:' Yet,
one wonders if the 'Gazette'
was such a miserable fail-
ure why did McQueen
attack it so often?
By April 1849, the
'Gazette's financial posi-
tion must have been pre-
carious. It was not enough
to gloat over Giles' misfor-
tune in losing the contract
to print the Huron District
Council's minutes but,
McQueen heaped scom
on Giles by calling him an
irresponsible person and
warned that those "foolish
enough to have any deal-
ings with him should suf-
fer the consequences:'
McQueen reached a new
low when Giles was injured.
in a physical altercation
with his landlord, the
'somewhat notorious' Cap-
tain John Longworth,
regarding arrears in rent
On June 22, 1849, under the
sensational headline
'Blood, Battery and
Attempted Murder; the 'Sig-
nal' sarcastically related "a
very serious case, and one
of almost infinite impor-
tance to the peace and felic-
ity of the whole world"
which came before a local
magistrate. According to the
'Signal's one-sided account,
Longworth tried to seize
'Squire Giles' goods and
property in lieu of the rent
"Leaping about like a ban-
tam cock" Giles wamed
Longworth "do you know,
sir, that I'm a gentleman?
You better take care, six
what you say!" Longworth,
a veteran of the Peninsular
Wars, Waterloo, the 1837
Rebellion, and a 'somewhat
notorious' duellist, was not
intimidated. He knocked
'Squire Giles' against a door
causing him a head injury.
The 'Signal' cruelly mocked
the extent of Giles' injuries
and called him "a trifling lit-
tle creature:'
Apparently, Giles pro-
tested that Daniel H. Lizars
of Stratford, his financial
agent, had paid his overdue
rent However, in a letter
published in the 'Signal,
Lizars denied any connec-
tion with Giles. Yet, one
wonders why Giles would
leave his business affairs in
the hands of Lizars a
Reform opponent of the
'Gazette'? The 'Signal'
excused itself from giving
Giles' account because the
case was going to be heard
at the fall assizes. The case
never went to triaL
The 'Signal's last refer-
ence to the 'Gazette' was on
July 12, 1849. The 'Gazette'
appears to have folded
about that time. On January
10,1850, the 'Signal' noted
that Giles was the new edi-
tor of the 'St. Catherine's
Constitutional.' When a
daughter was married in St
Catherine's in December
1861, Giles was listed as
deceased, however, not
much else can be deter-
mined about his fate.
Update: In regards to the story 'The Goderich Organ
Company' (1 February 2017), Gail (nee Saunders) Cas-
well has relaied that her father, Frank Saunders, sold the
Goderich Organ Company in December 1951. Saunders
went on to become the administrator of the Alexandra &
Marine General Hospital for five years and a half
years. He died in 1983 at the age of 98.'
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