A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time. Various
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country would have performed in the same time. In his early days, when he was a practising barrister, he would work through one assize court, and then travel all night across country roads thirty or forty miles, take up the business at another court and after going through it travel to the next court, and so on. At the assizes, as a judge, he would go to the bench early in the morning, would sit there all afternoon, and would not adjourn till four or five in the morning if necessary to get through with a case. He has worn out three juries in a day. His legal acquirements and great talents caused him to be looked up to with profound respect by the bar, the members of which also entertained much personal affection for him. His summing up of a case was a masterpiece of lucidity and force. The first public office held by the late Sir Matthew Cameron was on a commission with Colonel Coffin, appointed in 1852, to inquire into the causes of accidents which had been of frequent occurrence on the Great Western Railway. In 1859 he went into the City Council of Toronto, representing St. James ward, and thenceforward he figured prominently in public life. In 1861, and again a few years later, at the solicitation of many citizens, he contested the mayoralty unsuccessfully. In 1861 he entered the arena of national politics, and sat for North Ontario in the Canadian Assembly from the general election of that year until the general election in 1863, when he was defeated. But in July, 1864, he was re-elected for the same seat, which he continued to hold until confederation, when he was again unsuccessful. At the general Provincial elections in 1867 he was returned to the Ontario legislature for East Toronto, and re-elected in 1871 and 1875. He was a member of the Executive Council in Ontario in the Sandfield Macdonald administration from July 20, 1867, until the resignation of the ministry, December 19, 1871, and, with the exception of the last five months of this period, when he was commissioner of Crown Lands, he held the offices of Provincial Secretary and Registrar. He was also leader, and a very able one, too, of the opposition, from the general elections in December, 1871, until appointed to the judgeship in the Queen’s Bench, in November, 1878, which position he held until he rose to the chief justiceship of the Common Pleas in 1884. He aided in forming the Liberal-Conservative Association of Toronto, became its first president, and held that office until his elevation to the bench. He was also vice-president of the Liberal-Conservative convention which was assembled in Toronto in 1874. He was a member of the Caledonian and St. Andrew’s societies. He was created a Knight Bachelor on April 5th last, at the same time Chief Justice Stuart, of Quebec, received a similar honour. As a lawyer Sir Matthew had few equals either among his predecessors or his contemporaries; and as a citizen he was generous almost to excess. As a minister of the Crown, and as leader of the opposition, he was a prodigious worker, an able tactician, and a most formidable, though always courteous, enemy. As a judge he had the confidence and respect of the bar to the utmost extent, while his immense knowledge of law and the clearness of his decisions made him a most valuable public servant. Chief Justice Cameron belonged to the Episcopal denomination, and for about thirty years was a member of Trinity Church, Toronto. In politics he was a Liberal-Conservative. On December 1st, 1851, he was married in Toronto to Charlotte Ross, daughter of William Wedd, who immediately prior to his death resided in Hamilton, Ontario. Mrs. Cameron died January 14th, 1868. She was a sister of William Wedd, first classical master at Upper Canada College, and also of the late Mrs. Dr. McMichael, Mrs. Dr. Strathy, Toronto, and Mrs. Scadding, of Orillia. Sir Matthew left three sons and three daughters. His sons are, Dr. Irving H. Cameron, Ross McAlpine Cameron, and Douglas W. Cameron. His daughters are Mrs. Darling, the widow of the late son of the Rev. W. S. Darling, Mrs. A. Wright, and a young unmarried daughter.
Talbot, Hon. Thomas, was born at Malahide, on the 17th July, 1771. His father was Richard Talbot, of Malahide, and his mother, Margaret, Baroness Talbot. The Talbots of Malahide trace their descent from the same stock as the Talbots who have been earls of Shrewsbury, in the peerage of Great Britain, since the middle of the fifteenth century. The subject of our sketch spent some years at the Public Free School of Manchester, and received a commission in the army in the year 1782, when he was only eleven years of age. In 1787, when only sixteen, we find him installed as aide-de-camp to his relative, the Marquis of Buckingham, who was then lord lieutenant of Ireland. His brother aide was the Arthur Wellesley, who afterwards became the illustrious Duke of Wellington. The two boys were necessarily thrown much together, and each of them formed a warm attachment for the other. Their future paths in life lay far apart, but they never ceased to correspond, and to recall the happy time they had spent together. In 1790 he joined the 24th regiment, which was then stationed at Quebec, in the capacity of lieutenant. Upon the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe at Quebec, at the end of May, 1792, Lieutenant Talbot, who had nearly completed his twenty-first year, became attached to the governor’s suite in the capacity of private secretary. Governor Simcoe, writing in 1803, says, “he not only conducted many details and important duties incidental to the original establishment of a colony, in matters of internal regulation, to my entire satisfaction, but was employed in the most confidential measures necessary to preserve the country in peace, without violating, on the one hand, the relations of amity with the United States, and on the other, alienating the affections of the Indian nations, at that period in open war with them. In this very critical situation, I principally made use of Mr. Talbot for the most confidential intercourse with the several Indian tribes, and occasionally with his Majesty’s minister at Philadelphia, and these duties, without any salary or emolument, he executed to my perfect satisfaction.” It seems to have been during his tenure of office as secretary that the idea of embracing a pioneer’s life in Canada first took possession of young Talbot’s mind. On the 4th of February, 1793, an expedition which was destined to have an important bearing upon the future life of Lieutenant Talbot, as well as upon the future history of the province, set out from Newark, now Niagara village, to explore the pathless wilds of Upper Canada. It consisted of Governor Simcoe himself and several of his officers, and the subject of our present sketch. The expedition occupied five weeks, and extended as far as Detroit. The route was through Mohawk village, on the Grand River, where the party were entertained by Joseph Brant; then westward to where Woodstock now stands; and so on by a somewhat devious course to Detroit. On the return journey the party camped on the present site of London, which Governor Simcoe then pronounced to be an admirable position for the future capital of the province. One important result of this long and toilsome journey was the construction of Dundas Street, or as it is frequently called, “the governor’s road.” Lieutenant Talbot was delighted with the wild and primitive aspect of the country through which they passed, and expressed a strong desire to explore the land farther to the south, bordering on lake Erie. His desire was gratified in the course of the following autumn, when Governor Simcoe indulged himself, and several members of his suite, with another western excursion. During this journey the party encamped on the present site of Port Talbot, which the young lieutenant declared to be the loveliest situation for a dwelling he had ever seen. “Here,” said he, “will I roost, and will soon make the forest tremble under the wings of the flock I will invite, by my warblings, around me.” Whether he was serious in this declaration at the time may be doubted; but, as will presently be seen, he ultimately kept his word. In 1793 young Talbot received his majority. In 1796 he became lieutenant-colonel of the fifth regiment of foot. He returned to Europe and joined his regiment, which was dispatched on active service to the continent. He himself was busily employed during this period, and was for some time in command of two battalions. Upon the conclusion of the peace of Amiens, on the 27th March, 1802, he sold his commission, retired from the service, and prepared to carry out the intention expressed by him to Governor Simcoe nine years before, of pitching his tent in the wilds of Canada. Why he adopted this course it is impossible to do more than conjecture. He never married, but remained a bachelor to the end of his days. The work of settlement cannot be said to have commenced in earnest until 1809. It was no light thing in those days for a man with a family dependent upon him to bury himself in the remote wilderness of Western Canada. There was no flouring mill, for instance, within sixty miles of his abode, which was known as Castle Malahide. During the American invasion of 1812–13-14, Colonel Talbot commanded the militia of the district, and was present at the battles of Lundy’s Lane and Fort Erie. Marauding parties sometimes found their way to Castle Malahide during this troubled period, and what few people there were in the settlement suffered a good deal of annoyance. Within a day or two after the battle of the Thames, where the brave Tecumseh met his doom, a party of these marauders, consisting of Indians and scouts from the American army, presented themselves at Fort Talbot, and summoned the garrison to surrender. The