THE READY TOUCH John Ready and Prince Edward Island, 1824-1831
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THE READY TOUCH John Ready and Prince Edward Island, 1824-1831 By Elinor Vass n the morning of July 10, 1845, gland and a lifelong member of the dence, the 4th Duke of Richmond men- Major General John Ready, serv- Church of England. At a much later date, tions Ready's extensive knowledge of Oing as lieutenant governor of the Isle of one of his superiors, the 4th Earl of that country. He also served on the Man, was given poison. Within a few Dalhousie, would speculate privately that Duke's staff when Richmond was lord hours he was dead. So ended the life of Ready was a natural son of the 3rd Earl of lieutenant there. When Richmond was the man who had been the fifth and most Bathurst, British Colonial Secretary from appointed governor in chief of British popular lieutenant governor of Prince 1812 to 1827. But if there was a rela- North America in 1818, Ready accom- Edward Island. tionship between Bathurst and Ready, panied the Duke to Canada. He served A number of factors help account for there is no hint to be found in Ready's first as Richmond's military secretary John Ready's popularity on Prince Ed- official and private correspondence with and later was named civil secretary. ward Island. He had the good fortune to him. However, Bathurst was the brother- In the summer of 1819, Richmond follow on the heels of the Island's most in-law and close personal friend of undertook a tour of inspection through detested governor, C. D. Smith. Almost Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond, Lower and Upper Canada. At what is anyone would have seemed like an im- and there is ample evidence of now Sorel, Quebec, he was bitten on the provement after the dictatorial Smith. Richmond's overt support for Ready's hand by a captive fox, but he continued Moreover, Ready's term ended before career advancement (however much on to York (Toronto) and Niagara. On the emergence of the radical Escheat support Bathurst may have provided the return journey, as the party neared Movement, which would bedevil ensuing behind the scenes.) Ready maintained Kingston, the first signs of hydrophobia administrations with its radical approach ties both with the 4th Duke and, later, appeared; soon afterwards, the Duke to the Land Question. This being said, with his son, the 5th Duke of Richmond. died a horrible death from rabies in a Ready's popularity on Prince Edward Behind the respectful tone of Ready's settler's barn. Ready and the duke's son Island was more than a matter of cir- correspondence with the latter, there had accompanied the tour only as far as cumstance. He proved himself a skilled are suggestions that an easy informality Montreal. When they learned of the and energetic administrator. Just as im- existed between the two men. As well, Duke's illness, they immediately set out portantly, he was a man of considerable Ready family tradition maintains that the for Kingston, but they had not gone far charm. Finally, he took an active interest Duke of Wellington was a godfather at when they were intercepted with the in the day-to-day lives of the Island's the birth of Ready's son Charles, a fur- news of his death. colonists. This combination of good ther indication that John Ready had The 4th Earl of Dalhousie was named sense and good intentions helped create friends in high places. Richmond's successor at Quebec. He what mightbe called "the Ready Touch." In 1804 Ready married Susanna retained Ready as his civil secretary, Bromley. They would subsequently have made him aide-de-camp, acting provin- four children: John, Charles, Susan, and cial secretary, and, later, a member of The Making of a Governor Mary Jane. By 1813, either through merit the Executive Council. or the intervention of influential friends Dalhousie's initial impressions of Nothing is known of John Ready's life — perhaps both — Ready had risen to Ready were favourable, but over the next before he entered the British army as an the rank of lieutenant colonel. few years, his journal entries became ensign in 1796, at the age of 19. Despite It seems certain that he spent many more and more critical of him. Accord- his Irish surname, he was born in En- years in Ireland, as in his correspon- ing to Dalhousie, there was widespread 30 dissatisfaction that one man should hold The New Governor George's battery as the John entered the so many remunerative positions, so many harbour, and Ready was greeted on in fact, that Dalhousie felt the workload Ready was not unemployed for long. In landing by a cheering crowd. An honour prevented Ready from discharging his April 1824, he was appointed lieutenant guard was drawn up on the wharf, and a duties satisfactorily. The Earl also felt governor of Prince Edward Island to number of the "most respectable inhab- Ready was seriously handicapped in succeed the unpopular Charles Douglass itants" had gathered to welcome him. Quebec in that he did not speak French. Smith, who had just been recalled. Ready Ready proceeded to the barracks at However, Ready maintained a friendly was unable to take up his duties immedi- Georges Battery, the residence of the relationship with John Neilson and Louis ately because of the ill health of his wife, former lieutenant governor, where he Joseph Papineau, who headed the oppo- who had been recuperating in France. was received by Smith and members of sition to Dalhousie in the Quebec as- When he could no longer delay his de- the Executive Council. That evening the sembly. Possibly, it was this friendship, parture, he left Susanna and his two town was "very generally illumined," as as much as any perceived incompetence, daughters in Brighton in the care of his the "spirited and cheerful" inhabitants that revised Dalhousie's opinion of sister. In September 1824, he sailed from gave "loose to their joy." They obviously Ready. Bristol aboard the John, which, accord- were happy that Smith had finally been Whatever the reason, Dalhousie was ing to newspaper reports, had been recalled, and that the new incumbent determined to get rid of Ready and early "handsomely fitted up" for the accom- was a man about whom favourable re- in 1822, he was asked for his resignation. modation of Ready and his staff. On board ports had been received in the colony. Ready requested that it should appear with him was John Stewart, a member of About a week later, a welcoming din- he had tendered his resignation because the Prince Edward Island Assembly who ner was held at the Wellington Hotel. of a wish to return to England, and had been instrumental in having the Once again, the Register carried a de- Dalhousie agreed that this would be the previous lieutenant governor recalled. tailed report of the evening, which was official version of events. His family left The new lieutenant governor's arrival presided over by John Stewart. There in July, but Ready stayed on to sell his in Charlottetown that October was de- was, it observed, a "numerous and re- household effects and to settle his affairs, scribed in the Prince Edward Island Reg- spectable assemblage"; between 50 and leaving for England in November 1822. ister. A salute was fired by the guns of 60 guests sat down to dine, serenaded by Early in his career, Ready spent a number of years in Ireland; but this watercolour landscape of the Irish countryside, which has been attributed to Ready, may have been done in 1842. 31 John Ready's coat of arms, reproduced herefrom an engraved piece of his service, only compounds the mystery of his origins. The sinister (right-hand) side of the arms has been identified as that of his first wife's family, the Bromleys. The dexter (left-hand) side in the parted shield, which is used in heraldry to display the husband's arms, carries a crescent, denoting a second son, above a double-headed eagle. Although the crest — a cockerel — was used as early as 1812, when it was engraved on a silver ladle owned by Ready, there is no record of these arms or crest ever having been granted to the Ready family. a band, a Highland piper, and salutes from a battery of 12-pounder cannons Travels East stationed outside the hotel. What with the songs, speeches, toasts, the band, OB Wednesday morning the 27th ult. them, a ship of 600 tons, was painted in the piper, the guns, and the cheering tie Lieut. Governor let Charlotte^Town large characters her name "Governor crowd outside, it must have been a very Ready" a compliment which his Excellency accompanied by the Adjt Gen. of Militia, spirited celebration. The newspaper re- ColonelHollandvon a tour to the Eastward. evidently felt. Having spent some time in At 2 o'clock.. .he inspected the 8th Batt. of viewing this scene of bustle and activity, he ported that "the evening surpassed Militia at St. Peter's, spent the night at Mr. embarked on Saturday morning in a boat anything of the kind ever before wit- Worrell's and proceeded next morning to- provided by Mr. Cambridge, who accompa- nessed" in Charlottetown. wards Naufrage, where it was his intention nied him round the head lands to Fortune Social and legal formalities attended to have inspected the 10th Battalion but the Bay settlement; here he inspected several | to, Ready got down to work. The Island Smallpox beingin that quarter h e dispensed companies of Militia, and afterwards re- legislature had not sat since 1820 because with their assembling and continued his sumed his journey by the road leading to of difficulties between Lieutenant Gov- journey by way of the Capes: the road here I the head of St Peter's Bay, on which vari-1 ernor Smith and the elected house of for upwards of thirty miles along the coast ous parties were busily at work, employed assembly.