Samuel Lount - 1837 Rebellion

1837 Rebellion

In July 1837, just after the death of King William IV, William Lyon Mackenzie began organizing a "constitutional convention." Delegates would be selected by Reform associations around the province, who would meet to defend Upper Canada's constitution. The Tories refused to call an election after the death of the king, as the constitution required, making the Tory dominated House of Assembly illegal. At a meeting held in Newmarket in August, Samuel Lount, Samuel Hughes, Nelson Gorham, Silas Fletcher, Jeremiah Graham and John McIntosh were selected as delegates. All but Hughes and McIntosh were among the primary organizers of the rebel farmers who were to march on the city of Toronto on 7 December 1837. Lount organized the volunteers from the Children of Peace community in Sharon to join a planned march on Toronto and joined the rebel group gathered at Montgomery’s Tavern.

When the rebellion fell apart, Lount attempted to flee to the United States, but was arrested and accused of treason. Despite a petition signed by 35,000 Upper Canadians demanding clemency, Lount was hanged on April 12, 1838 in the courtyard of the King Street Gaol at King and Toronto Streets in Toronto. Peter Matthews, another public-spirited farmer who participated in the rebellion, was executed along side him.

Lount had intervened to try to get medical aid for loyalist Lieutenant Colonel Robert Moodie and had stopped Mackenzie from burning the house of sheriff William Botsford Jarvis. However, the Executive Council of the province had felt that they needed to set an example. Lount was accompanied by Matthews.

Lount's last words were recorded: "Be of good courage boys, I am not ashamed of anything I've done, I trust in God, and I'm going to die like a man." These words are replicated on a historical plaque near the site of the jail where he was executed.