Editing John Clitherow

{{Short description|British Army general}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = Lieutenant General
| name                = John Clitherow
| image               = 
| image_size          = 
| image_upright       = 
| smallimage          = <!--If this is specified, "image" should not be.-->
| alt                 = 
| caption             = 
| order               = 
| office              = Deputy Governor General of the Province of Canada
| term_start          = 18 September 1841
| term_end            = 24 September 1841
| monarch             = [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]]
| governor_general    = [[Charles Poulett Thomson, 1st Baron Sydenham|Lord Sydenham]]
| premier             = [[Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine|Sir Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine]]<br>[[Robert Baldwin]] (Deputy Premier)
| office2             = Member of the [[Special Council of Lower Canada]]
| term_start2         = 28 June 1838
| term_end2           = 2 November 1838
| monarch2            = [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]]
| governor_general2   = [[John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham|Lord Durham]]
| birth_date          = 13 December 1782
| birth_place         = [[Essendon, Hertfordshire]]
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1852|10|14|1782|12|13}}
| death_place         = [[Boston Manor House]], [[Brentford]], England
| death_cause         = 
| resting_place       = 
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| nationality         = British
| spouse              = (1) Sarah Christie Burton (1809)<br>(2) Millicent Pole of Gloucestershire (1825)
| relations           = 
| children            = John Christie Clitherow
| parents             = Christopher Clitherow and Anne Jodrell
| relatives           = 
| residence           = Boston Manor House
| education           = 
| alma_mater          = 
| occupation          = Army officer
<!--Military service-->| nickname            = 
| allegiance          = {{UK}}
| branch              = [[Image:Flag of the British Army.svg|23px]] [[British Army]]
| serviceyears        = 1799 - 1842
| rank                = [[Lieutenant-General]]
| unit                = [[History of the Scots Guards (1805–1913)|Scots Fusilier Guards]]
| commands            = Commanding Officer, Military District of Montreal (1838-1841)<br>Commanding Officer, [[Canada West]] (1841-1842)
| battles             = {{tree list}}
* [[French campaign in Egypt and Syria|Egyptian Campaign]]
* [[Napoleonic Wars]]
** [[British Army during the Napoleonic Wars#Hanover 1805|Hanover Expedition]]
** [[Walcheren Campaign]]
** [[Peninsular War]]
* [[Lower Canada Rebellion]]
** [[Battle of Beauharnois]]
{{tree list/end}}
| mawards             = [[Order of the Crescent]]
}}

[[Lieutenant-General (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-General]] '''John Clitherow''' (13 December 1782 &ndash; 14 October 1852) was a British army officer and colonial administrator. He was briefly Deputy [[Governor-General of the Province of Canada]] in 1841.

==Early life and family==
Clitherow was born at [[Essendon, Hertfordshire]], [[England]] in 1782, the son of Christopher Clitherow and Anne Jodrell. He was descended from Sir [[Christopher Clitherow]], Member of Parliament (1628-1629) and Lord Mayor of London in 1635.<ref name=DCB/> The Clitherow family were wealthy London merchants throughout the 17th and 18th centuries and owned [[Boston Manor House]] in [[Brentford]] (now part of London), from 1670 onwards.<ref>[https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/b292a2ca-9c28-4b37-8265-cf3875816561 "Clitherow Family", London Metropolitan Archives:  City of London.]</ref>

In 1809, Clitherow married Sarah Christie Burton, daughter of General [[Napier Christie Burton]] and granddaughter of General [[Gabriel Christie (British Army officer)|Gabriel Christie]], who had served with the British Army in the Revolutionary War, afterwards settling in [[Lower Canada]], where he acquired extensive land-holdings. Clitherow and his wife had one son, John Christie Clitherow, who eventually served in the [[Coldstream Guards]].  However, the marriage ended when Clitherow divorced Sarah in 1819, by private Act of Parliament.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/genealogicalmem06rogegoog#page/n28/mode/2up ''Genealogical Memoirs of the Scottish House of Christie''], [[Charles Rogers (author)|Charles Rogers]], (London: Royal Historical Society, 1878), pp. 22-25.</ref><ref>[https://www.legislation.gov.uk/changes/chron-tables/private/26 ''John Clitherow's Divorce from Sarah Clitherow'', 59 Geo. III (1819), c. 71.]</ref> In 1825, Clitherow married Millicent Pole of Gloucestershire.<ref name = DCB/>

== Military career ==

Clitherow enlisted in the [[British Army]] as an [[ensign (rank)|ensign]] in 1799.  He served in the Egyptian campaign of 1801, an expedition to Germany in 1805, and an expedition to the Netherlands in 1809.  He participated in the [[Peninsular War]] from 1810 to 1815, being wounded twice.  He was promoted to colonel in 1821, and to major-general in 1830.<ref>[http://www.assnat.qc.ca/en/patrimoine/anciens-parlementaires/clitherow-john-113.html "John Clitherow (1782-1852)", Québec Dictionary of Parliamentary Biography, from 1764 to the present],</ref>

In 1838, Clitherow was posted to [[British North America]], to serve as commanding officer of the military district of Montreal. He was accompanied by his son, who served as his ''aide-de-camp''.  Clitherow arrived in Montreal in March, 1838, shortly after the [[Lower Canada Rebellion]] had broken out in late 1837.

He served as an advisor to [[John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham|Lord Durham]] as a member of the [[Special Council of Lower Canada|Special Council]] that administered [[Lower Canada]] following the rebellion.

When the second rebellion broke out Clitherow commanded 3,000 regulars that marched on rebel headquarters.  He also presided over [[court martial|courts martial]] that prosecuted the rebels.

In 1841, he was transferred to [[Canada West]] to command British forces there.

== Deputy Governor General ==

The Governor General of the Province of Canada, [[Charles Poulett Thomson, 1st Baron Sydenham|Lord Sydenham]], appointed him as Deputy Governor General. In that capacity, on 18 September 1841, Clitherow prorogued the first session of the [[1st Parliament of the Province of Canada|first Parliament of the Province of Canada]].<ref name = DCB>{{cite DCB |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/clitherow_john_8E.html |volume=8 |title=Clitherow, John |first=Elinor Kyte |last=Senior}}</ref> Sydenham was unable to carry out his functions, as he had been badly injured by a fall from a horse. He died the day after Parliament was prorogued.<ref>{{cite DCB |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/thomson_charles_edward_poulett_7E.html |volume=7 |title=Thomson, Charles Edward Poulett, 1st Baron Sydeham |first=Phillip |last=Buckner}}</ref>

Clitherow remained the Deputy Governor General for six days, until the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in Canada, Sir [[Richard Downes Jackson]], was appointed as Administrator.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/politicalappoint00cotj_0/page/n6 J.O. Côté, ''Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 1841 to 1860''] (Quebec:  St. Michel and Darveau, 1860), p. 9.</ref>

==Retirement and death ==
In 1842, Clitherow inherited the family estate, [[Boston Manor House|Boston Manor]] in [[Brentford, England]].  He retired to England that year.

Clitherow died at [[Boston Manor House]] in 1852.<ref name = DCB/>

== References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{QuebecMLCbio|clitherow-john-113}}

{{ONLG}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clitherow, John}}
[[Category:1782 births]]
[[Category:1852 deaths]]
[[Category:British Army lieutenant generals]]
[[Category:Members of the Special Council of Lower Canada]]
[[Category:People from Essendon, Hertfordshire]]
[[Category:Scots Guards officers]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Hertfordshire]]