Date Published:
July 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Robert Monkton

Monckton, Hon. Robert (1726-1782), soldier, was born on June 24, 1726, the second son of John Monckton, created Viscount Galway in 1727, and Lady Elizabeth Manners, daughter of the Duke of Rutland. He entered the British army, and rose to the rank of lieutenant-general in 1770. He was sent to Nova Scotia in 1752, and in 1754 was made lieutenant-governor of Annapolis Royal. In 1755 he was in command of the expedition against Fort Beauséjour ; and his journal of this expedition has been printed in J. C. Webster, The forts of Chignecto (Shediac, New Brunswick, 1930). In December, 1755, he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia. In 1759 he was senior brigadier-general under Wolfe at Quebec, and was severely wounded at the battle of the Plains of Abraham. He was appointed governor of New York in 1761, and thereafter his connection with Canada ceased. He returned to England in 1763, and was successively governor of Berwick-on-Tweed and of Portsmouth. In 1779 he was elected also member of parliament for Portsmouth. He died on May 3, 1782, and was buried at Kensington parish church. He was not married. Moncton, New Brunswick, was named after him.

[Consult the article on Monkton at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.]

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Source: W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. IV, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 400p., pp. 318-319.