Papers : 1815-1828.

            George Ramsay was born at Dalhousie Castle, Scotland, the eldest son of George Ramsay, the 8th Earl of Dalhousie. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, after which he pursued a military career and served throughout the Napoleonic Wars. In 1816 he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia and served in this capacity until 1820 when he left Halifax to assume his duties at Quebec on 22 May 1820 as Governor-in-Chief of British North America. He continued in this position until 1828. Just a few weeks before leaving Nova Scotia, he laid the cornerstone of the college that was named in his honour. At his insistence, Dalhousie College, later to become Dalhousie University, should be open to youth of all religions and classes in society. Between 1829 and 1831 he toured India and Burma, but with failing health, he resigned his command and returned to Britain in 1832 to his beloved Dalhousie Castle in Scotland where he died on 21 March 1838.            

            Selected items from the Dalhousie Papers have been microfilmed and include correspondence, memoranda and reports relative to the state of British North America, in particular their revenue, militia, roads, system of land granting, and laws. Subjects include international relations and diplomacy (Britain - United States - New Brunswick - Maine)transportation infrastructure, native/indigenous peoples, disasters, War of 1812 (British military and 104th Regiment), and ocmmunication networks.

Organisation

Document 63 - 1821, Jan. 16 - May 28
Memo book of the results of an enquiry by the Earl of Dalhousie into the state of the several
North American British provinces, particularly their revenue, militia, roads, system of land
granting, and laws.

Document 68 - 1821, May
Memo on proposed new settlements in the district of Gaspé to make a line of communication
to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Document 106 - 1823, May 17 - Dec. 6
Correspondence with Ward Chipman concerning his assumption of the administration of the
government of New Brunswick (four letters from Chipman, two copies of letters to him, and
two copies of letters between Chipman and Earl Bathurst).

Document 159 - 1825-1828
Letters from Sir Howard Douglas, Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, and Earl Howe,
concerning problems of that province, particularly on the question of the boundary between
New Brunswick and Maine, and including the land-sale scheme, defence, transport, and the
Colonial Office. (There are also copies of letters dated 1827 with Enoch Lincoln, Governor
of Maine, concerning the arrest of an American named John Baker at Madawaska.)

Document 321 - 1818, Feb. 6
Letter from Charles R. Vaughan, British Ambassador in Washington, concerning the disputed
territory in New Brunswick.
Document 322 - 1828, April
Memo (4) relating to the boundaries of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Document 323 - 1828, May 24
Letter from Andrew Stuart, Québec, offering his services to assist in the establishment of the
boundary between Lower Canada and New Brunswick and the United States.

Document 430 - 1815, June
Report of the state of the roads around the south-west coast of Nova Scotia, i.e. from Digby
to Halifax. Memo relative to the route from the entrance of Portage to Fredericton (with
note of the route by which the 104th Regiment marched from Fredericton to Québec in
February 1813, including the mention of stopping overnight at the farm of Loyalist, Philip
Long/Lang at Lac Témiscouata, Québec), and of routes from Halifax to Saint John, Québec to
Halifax, and Miramichi to Halifax.

Document 431 - [1817], March 28
Memo by Mr. Black on the white or yellow pine and other trees suitable for ship building in
the Maritime provinces.

Document 435 - 1819, August
Report on the route from St. John to Fort Cumberland and on the state of the roads.

Document 436 - 1819, Nov. 22
Letter to Col. Darling, Military Secretary, Halifax, from Lt. J.A. Maclauchlan, Fredericton,
concerning plans for a journey from St. John to the River St. Lawrence.

Document 438 - 1820, Jan. 8
Paper bound letter to the Earl of Dalhousie from John Howe, Halifax, concerning the
improvement of communications between Halifax, Fredericton and Québec, copies of letters
thereon, 1811-1816, included (found at end of reel).

Document 446 - 1823, July 21-26
Letter and copies of letters between Lord Dalhousie and a committee appointed by the
inhabitants of St. John, New Brunswick, for promoting the cutting of a canal from the Gulf of
the St. Lawrence to the Bay of Fundy (six papers).

Document 451 - 1826, Dec. 30
Copy of a report to Sir Howard Douglas, Lt. Governor of New Brunswick, from James A.
Maclauchlan, supervisor of the great road leading to Canada.

Document 463 - n.d.
Memo on the need for roads, in particular one from Fort Cumberland to Québec.

Document 506 - 1817, June 2 & n.d.
Two letters from Wilham Vaughan, Governor of the New England Company, and Joseph
Stonard, both in London, concerning the use of funds by the said company for the benefit of
the Indians in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Document 527 - 1825, Dec. 5
By the committee of distribution for the relief of the sufferers due to the late calamitous fire
in Miramichi, with thanks for help.

Document 592 - 1818
Letter expressing gratitude and farewell to Lord Dalhousie from I.E. Woolford, Fredericton            

            There is no table of contents at the beginning of the reel.
 A table of contents, listing the available documents in the Loyalist Collection Inventory is available in print and online.
 The complete inventory of the Dalhousie Papers is available in Source List of Manuscripts Relating to the U.S.A. and Canada in Private Archives Preserved in the Scottish Record Office (call number HIL-REFOS CD1042 .A2 L56).  The items that are included on the microfilm reel in the Loyalist Collection have been noted in the published inventory.