While John Graves Simcoe has been a figure for derision in Canada to all but late-nineteenth century imperialists, his wife has always been given much more positive press.  Why?  In this little essay, I want to explore how Elizabeth Simcoe's life has been represented and used over time.  Changing ideas about who she was and why she mattered tell us as much about the historical context of each observer-historian as they do about the woman herself.   Possibly Charlotteville on

Toronto newspaperman John Ross Robertson presented Victorian and Edwardian Canadians with an image of Elizabeth Simcoe that endures to this day.  Why?  What purpose did his project serve then and now?  In part one of a two-part posting, I ponder where our ideas about Mrs. Simcoe came from and how both their persistence and change tell us something about ourselves.   Born in Toronto in 1841, Roberston was the eldest child of Scottish immigrants who came to Canada to start thei

There never was a Lady Simcoe.  Nor was there a Lord Simcoe.  Yet the belief that Upper Canada’s first imperial couple were titled...

Most Canadians know the Simcoe name – if only as a place on a map.  Far fewer know about the people behind the name.  And many might ask...