Benjamin Pawling ( 1749 – buried December 16, 1818) was a soldier, judge, political figure and publisher in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of t ...

Early life

He was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. His parents probably emigrated to North America from Wales. His family's property was confiscated at the beginning of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolu ...

and he joined the British forces at

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

in 1777 with his occupation listed as farmer. He was assigned to Butler's Rangers in 1778 and he became a captain in 1784 and retired that same year. Pawling settled in Grantham Township in the

Niagara region The Regional Municipality of Niagara, also colloquially known as the Niagara Region or Region of Niagara, is a regional municipality comprising twelve municipalities of Southern Ontario, Canada. The regional seat is in Thorold. It is the southe ...

in 1783. He served on the land board of the Nassau District and Lincoln County. He was appointed to the Court of Common Pleas in 1788 and became a justice of the peace the following year. He sparsely attended hearings with the land board or the court and requested his resignation to the lieutenant governor of Upper Canada in 1793. His position of judge ended upon the abolishment of the Court of Common Pleas in 1794. Pawling married a woman named Susan and had six children.

Later career

In 1792, he was elected to the

1st Parliament of Upper Canada The 1st Parliament of Upper Canada was opened 17 September 1792. Elections in Upper Canada had been held in August 1792. All sessions were held at Navy Hall in Newark, later Niagara-on-the-Lake. This parliament was dissolved 1 July 1796. T ...

representing the 2nd riding of Lincoln. He defeated prominent merchant Samuel Street 148 votes to 48. He remained the constituency's representative until 1796. In 1794 he became a major in the Lincoln militia and resigned sometime before 1806. On December 3, 1818, a person named Pawling was listed as a publisher and printer for the '' Niagara Spectator''. Some identified this as Benjamin Pawling, although the publisher might have been his nephew. Later that month, Pawling was charged with libel over a letter published in the newspaper written by

Robert Fleming Gourlay Robert Fleming Gourlay (March 24, 1778 – August 1, 1863) was a Scottish-Canadian writer, political reform activist, and agriculturalist. Early life and education Gourlay was born in Craigrothie in the Parish of Ceres, Fife, Scotland on 22 ...

. An assemblyman named

Isaac Swayze Isaac Swayze (1751 – February 11, 1828) was a soldier and political figure in Upper Canada. He was born in Morris County, New Jersey in 1751 into a family of German immigrants. During the American Revolution, according to legend, he serv ...

reported that Pawling was held on £400 () bail. Pawling died in Grantham Township on December 12, 1818, and buried on December 16.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pawling, Benjamin 1749 births 1816 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada Upper Canada judges Politicians from Philadelphia People of colonial Pennsylvania