The Goderich Signal-Star, 1975-04-17, Page 21An officer of the Grenadier; Guards; a lover of the gay life
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GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, T I $$DAX; t►?IW 7, ,l;lt7." ,- ?',�i*"",l ,>�, ,.
THE PERIOD OF WATER! po
Life Guardq
Officer of Infantry
BY W.E. ELLIOTT
In the final phase ofthe
Battle of Waterloo, the puke of
Wellington shouted "Up,
Guards, and at them!" - as we
learned long ago in Ontario
school readers.
One of the officers who led
the Grenadier Guard's in ,that
charge against the French
would be a young 'man from
Kent, William Bennett Rich.
Wellington lost five senior
officers that day - Sunday; June
16, 1815 - but Rich, then 24,
escaped unhajmed, so far as
now known. Certainly he lived
for a half -century longer and
died ,in his bed at Wellesley
:< House (203 Lighthouse Street)
in Goderich. He was 73.
Young Rich had been com-
'' missioned in the Guards,in 1813.
After Waterloo and the
beginning of a long peace he
left the service, as did many
other offii ers,...He.enjnyed,a- gaY.
1e. A .W
oil_. W41177,;.an.._a_�
tractive wife, Sarah, a member
of the wealthy Cobb family.
He, got deeply in debt and for
a long time was assisted by his
wife's family, but evidently
there was a concensus that he
ought to migrate to Canada,
which he did in 1833. Rich and
his already considerable family
made their way, not to any city
or large town in the new land,
but to the backwoods set-
tlement of Goderich, founded
only six years earlier.
The reasdn ° for this
destination, involving a long
t o and uncomfortable overland
journey, 'can only be con-
jectured. Rich may have lffiown
the noted Dr. Jack Lizars,
uncle of Postmaster John Galt,
who spent the early years.Qf.b.is.
life inn Goderich, graduated in
medicine in London and
Edinburgh, and served w'th
distinction in the Crimean Vr.
Dr. Lizars came back to
Goderich in 1856, .practised•for
a time affil' then . went to
Toronto, where he died in 1875.
Another " reason, possibly;
was that Goderich was
s F _ headquarters of the Canada
Company, 'engaged in settling
its million -acre Huron Tract,
and. Rich' may have expected
employment with it.
Four years after 'his arrival,
he wrote to his brother -Robert,
In England, that the rentals
from some houses he owned
were insufficient .to support
him, and in 1844 reported that
through "paltry economy" on
the part of the Canada Com` -
u .' pany he had lost a situation
paying $1,000 a year.
. Many years later, in the
obituary of Lucy Behnett
Widder, a daughter, it was
stated that Rich had been "in
the Canada Company," so the
probability is that he got back
�n the payroll eventually.
FEARED THE SCOTCH
•
he might have receivedhelp
from the Lieutenant -Governor
of Upper Canada (Sir Francis
Bond Head) who was from
xent, but "my means are in-
competent to the jdurney and a
decent rigout."
Rich's letters to his brother,
through 28 years, up to the time
of Robert's death in 1861, have
been brought to light recently
in England, and are to be made
available for publication here.
They provide .an educated
man's comment upon persons,
events and conditions in the
Goderich•area during years of
great settlement.
Rich was an early investor in
real ' estate, and became
secretary -treasurer of Huron
Building Society. In .1833, the
year of his arrival, he pur-
chased . from the Canada
Company Lot 102, at the corner
of Lighthouse street and the
then -unnamed Wellesley.
Having .nann.ed,bis.house fox the
here" and settled upon the lots
where I am now writing, it was
all trees and close underwood:
Now, after building five houses
of, green wood they fell to
pieces, so was necessitated to
put up this brick one, and my
wife put in thew furniture, so
you may fancy we are going
ahead; 34 by° 34 and -back of it
conjoined back kitchen, wood
and'coal houses, etc."
That back kitchen, a brick
building "conjoined" to the
house, is still in .existence, also
the frame building which
contained an outside toilet and
laundry, but the coal and wood
houses are gone.
BOUGHT COLBORNE LAND
Six years after arrival here,
Rich .purchased for 30 pounds
(about $150) 80 acres in the
north end of Block "A",
Colborne. According toy. the
held no title to his 2,532. acres
along the shore. The log house
built for the baron is said to
have been erected in the 1830s,
but a gentlemen's agreement
'With the Canada Company, or
perhaps , a memorandum,
evidently sufficed , until
-documents were drawn in 1841.
Rich's deed to the 80 acres is
inscribed: "Registered by John
Galt, Registrar of Huron."
Rich probably did not need to
find the .30, pounds purchase
price, for 'he immediately
mortgaged the lot to the Huron
Building Society. Five years
lat i- he sold the 80 aches to
Galt, taking a mortgage back.
When Rich died in Goderich
in September, 1864, the Huron
"Signal published a surprisingly
brief notice:
"DIED - In this town, on the.
5th inst., at - his residence,
Wellesley House, William
Bennett Rich, Esq., aged 72,
description in the deed, the_ formerly, from the County of
I r urr --duke=sem_ f arrr fel?-
probali'ly had something to "de
with naming the street,.but- the
Canada Company already was
.1)ouundarystapted, at the 'nerz 1Zenc,..En-gland>"
tli : -n .1� df.: oto °'ntinl _ :wl bit
ast �a -o i:o c3:.. . • .. -� his -m ar ;--".
e nade uac `" of t
g � � q Y y,_�
south by 21 chains, then west to and lack of information con -
the lake and 'north "along the cerning the first 42 years of
- ..
pears-to—Rich's life, effectively- , barred—
'have comprised part of the any propernarrative until now,
present airfield. when particulars.11 have been
Thiswas the first registered provided by Commander
transaction in -the block Richard,. E. Nesbitt, R.D.,
granted ,to the Baron van Tuyll F.R.S.A., F.R.G.S,., of
of Holland, who at this time Alresfol d, Hants. His family on
He added that Goderich was
bout to become a district town'
d that he had .hopes of ap-
ointment as sheriff, but feared
,e influence of the "Scotdf
action, without Scotch M.P.P.
Capt. Robert Dunlop) at their'
ead." His fears were •well
Funded; the first sheriff of the
istrict, appointed in •1841, was,
cnry Hyndman, from. Ayr -
ire.
Rich wrote at this time that
with Waterloo throughout a
considerable area, especially
St. George's ward: Wellington,
Waterloo•, Arthur, Picton,
farther south, and appropriate
naval titles such as Nelson,
the distaff side is connected
with that' of Robert Rich 11,
eldest brother of, Williar.i
Bennett Rich. He has been
examining a mass of papers
wath a view to sorting out and
placing in order the letters
from Goderich. His first con-
tact here was with the town
clerk's office.
William Bennett Rich was
fourth son (eighth child) of
Robert Rich (1752-1829) a
vintner and rope maker of
Bermondsey, who was deputy
lieutenant of Surrey and as
friend of Lord Nelson.
"William's father was a
wealthy man," Commander
Nesbitt writes: He bought a
farm in Kent for his son Robert,
and a tannery at Kingston for
Thomas. It is certain that he
gave William a good portion
and bought him a commission
in the Grenadier Guards, This
was ,(and still isp the most
fashionable regiment In
Englandwould. rPqurre.• a in: ---this° ountry
arrge'incorne -keep-pace with— suisuitableor :ex -=Guards' officers'-
his fellow officers. A have never been easy to find,
"The Grenadier Guards were and so in 1833 he set off for
at Waterloo; -and-Wi-Ilia-m-woatl-d--- aha a.
almost certainly. be there. The theme of his letters
When he was 30, his brother reminds one of Micawber -
Thomas died aged 27, and left always expecting something to
his tannery in a precarious turn up. William was always
Iiosition. William could have anticipating that the railway
taken over this business in 1821,, ' would come through his land at
but did not do so. He was en- Goderich and make his fortune.
joying a very gay life with an Clearly, he laid good foun-
attractive wife, Sarah „,1 dations in Canada with a family
haven't -had time to research of 14 and a.good few blocks of
William''>s army life, but I am land."
very sure it was very gay and
very extravagant.
"There was never a better
time to enjoy 'life in England
the best of everything the world
could provide - if one had the
money. By the' time William
irr-•'serious'--.-, ;
Wellesley House, at. the corner of Lighthouse and Wellesley streets, was named by William
Bennett Rich, a former Guards officer, in honor of the Duke of Wellington's family. When Rich
came to Goderich in 1833, the land at this corner was "all trees and close underwood," he wrote
to a brother in England. The house is believed to have been built in the late 1840s. -
financial trouble; he had spent
all his inheritance, was heavily
in debt, and was relying for
assistafice on the Cobb family
(his` wife's). They supported
him for a , long' time at
Badesmere Cottage in Kent
(near his brother Robert)'while
..•.C_..
he tried ta.get some kind of job•,.•
DR. DAVID WALKER
B. Sc., M.D., C. C. F. P.
wishes to announce the
commencement of his practice in
FAME Y
!� MEDICINE,
He will be joining DR. BRUCE.
T-HOMSQN.
The ,offices are at
14 Caledonia Terrace, Goderich.
-The Separate Shoppe
MAIN CORNER, • CLINTON
OPEN 2-6 P.M. CLOSED WEDNESDAYS
fss..xc.s•
•
/ :«
•••
Edward Fuels is your headquarters for, -
William Bennett Rich wrote to his brother Robert, in England, that he had built this brick
house, "34 x 34 and back of it conjoint, back kitchen, wood and coal houses etc., orchard and 21/2
acres ground adjoining." The 'kitdhen, which once served a family of 14,1s still there, but the
wood and coal houses are gone. Exterior of the house was subsequently altered.
Trafalgar and St. Vincent.
Transferred from the gay
social life of England to the
crude living conditions of
Upper Canada, the former
Guards officer and his at-
tractive Sarah must have
experienced real hardship, of
which We may learn in Rich's
letters.
Presumably he built at once a
house of some kind,.but the date
of the brick house at Lighthouse
and Wellesley remains • un-
certain. It has always been '
believed to have been erected
"in the '40s," and certainly was
In existence when Charles
Widder assured his bride,
Rich's daughter 'Lucy, that. he
would build her' a house bigger
than her father's. The house
Charles built dates from 1853.
In a letter dated Dec. 24, 1856,
Rich wrote: "When I. came
ALCA
ro-P,
�AinY
Ican soffit, fascia and
ain-water goods . .
good trio of Pals for
ny Rainy Day. End
onstant mainte-
ance in those
and -to -get -at
reas of the
Ouse. Get
sur Alcan
uthorized
eater to in-
all
n all them
day •
,ry��3
Alcan
Siding
Member Canada Deposit,
Insurance Corporation
WC7RM andGREY
TRUST COMPANY SINCE 1$89
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