During his military career, he was most famous for being a commander of the Queen's Rangers, a group of loyalist that fought in the American Revolution. With the Queen's Rangers, Simcoe was undefeated. He also later became the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada in 1791. Simcoe encouraged immigration, built roads and courts, ended slavery and also founded Toronto, which he chose to be the capital of Upper Canada. Many things were named after him such as Lake Simcoe and many roads.
John Graves Simcoe was born on February 25, 1752 to John Simcoe and Katherine Stamford. His father, John Simcoe, was a captain in the Royal Navy. He was killed in Quebec when General Wolfe invaded. John Graves Simcoe was educated at Eton College and Oxford University. He joined the British military in 1770 at age 18.
Simcoe came to North America in 1775 to fight for the British in the American Revolution. He was given control of the 35th Regiment of foot. Simcoe and his men fought in the Siege of Boston, but lost to the American troops, driving the British out of Boston. During the siege, Simcoe purchased a captaincy of the 40th Regiment of foot. With these troops, Simcoe participated in the capture of New York, the New Jersey Campaign, and the Long Island Campaign. He was wounded three times in many other battles. His great military reputation was growing as he was promoted to lieutenant, then to lieutenant-colonel.
In 1777, Simcoe was given the command of the Queen's Rangers, and infantry unit made of well trained loyalists. The Queen's Rangers were undefeated under the command of Simcoe. With the Queen's Rangers, Simcoe fought in the Pennsylvania Campaign, Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Charlestown, South Carolina, Virginia and the Yorktown campaign. He had also escorted other units during retreats. In 1779, Simcoe was captured by the Americans during one of his battles but he was released in a prisoner exchange. After the American Revolution was over, Simcoe was in poor health and went back to his estate in England.
In 1791, John Graves Simcoe was appointed the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. At first, Simcoe decided to move the capital which was Newark (now Niagara-On-The-Lake) to a safer place, further away from the American boarder. His first choice was London, but Lord Dorchester, the Governor-in-Chief of North America, rejected this choice as he thought London was too far away from water routes connected to the St. Lawrence River. Simcoe's second choice was York (now Toronto). This choice was accepted and in 1793, construction began on the first two roads of York; Young Street, running north-south from Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe; and Dundas Street, running east-west from York to Hamilton. As lieutenant-governor, Simcoe also encouraged immigration, introduced courts, ended slavery in Upper Canada, and also developed the province by building roads and giving land to American settlers.
Due to poor health, Simcoe was forced to move back to England in 1796 and couldn't return back to Upper Canada. He had many other promotions as he promoted to major-general in 1794, to lieutenant-general in 1798, then to commander-in-chief in India in 1806. Simcoe turned ill during one of his sea voyages and died in Exeter on October 26, 1806. John Graves Simcoe was buried in Wolford Chapel on the Simcoe family estate.
