Daniel Tracey (September 1, 1794 – July 18, 1832) born in

Roscrea Roscrea () is a market town in County Tipperary, Ireland. In 2022 it had a population of 5,542. Roscrea is one of the oldest towns in Ireland, having developed around the 7th century monastery of Crónán of Roscrea, Saint Crónán of Roscrea, p ...

, Tipperary County,

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, was a doctor, journalist and politician in

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

(now

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

). He arrived in the Province of Lower Canada with his younger siblings in 1825. Though he had trained (and probably practised) as a doctor in Dublin he was never registered to practise in Lower Canada.

The Vindicator

In 1828, he began publishing ''the Irish Vindicator and Canada General Advertiser'', known simply as ''the Irish Vindicator''. Based in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

the newspaper aimed at the immigrant Irish community soon took a dissenting view of the non-elected but powerful, autocratic

Family Compact The Family Compact was a small closed group of men who exercised most of the political, economic and judicial power in Upper Canada (today's Ontario) from the 1810s to the 1840s. It was the Upper Canadian equivalent of the Château Clique in L ...

, known in Lower Canada as the

Château Clique Lower Canada Tories is a general name for individuals and parliamentary groups in Lower Canada, and later in the Province of Canada's division of Canada East, who supported the British connection, colonialism, and a strong colonial governor. ...

and advocated the enrichment of the democratic rights for the majority of its citizens, most of whom were

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. The paper also promoted

Daniel O’Connell Daniel(I) O’Connell (; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilisation of Catholic Irelan ...

and

Louis-Joseph Papineau Louis-Joseph Papineau (; October 7, 1786 – September 23, 1871), born in Montreal, Province of Quebec (1763–1791), Quebec, was a politician, lawyer, and the landlord of the ''seigneurie de la Petite-Nation''. He was the leader of the reform ...

. Tracey was one of several journalists imprisoned early in 1832 for criticizing the non-elected legislative council that represented the interests of the

. Tracey, editor of the ''Vindicator'' and

Ludger Duvernay Ludger Duvernay (January 22, 1799 – November 28, 1852), born in Verchères, Quebec, was a printer by profession and published a number of newspapers including the '' Gazette des Trois-Rivières,'' the first newspaper in Lower Canada outside ...

, the editor of the French language ''

La Minerve ''La Minerve'' (French for "The Minerva") was a newspaper founded in Montreal, Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) by Augustin-Norbert Morin to promote the political goals of Louis-Joseph Papineau's Parti patriote. It was notably directed by L ...

'' newspaper were arrested for libel and imprisoned together for over a month for writing articles that said that "it is certain that before long all of America must be republican." They were released after much public support and condemnation of the arrests.Abidor, Mitch - The Patriotes Rebellion
/ref>

Political career

In the spring of 1832, he was elected as a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The lower house consisted of e ...

. At the vote counting station supporters of the opponent candidate, Stanley Bagg (supported by the Clique) triggered a violent confrontation. As a result, three of Tracey's supporters were killed and many more were wounded.

Death

Despite his rising political stature he died suddenly in July, 1832 becoming a victim of the widespread

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

outbreak that summer in Montreal. After his death,

Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan, (probably 27 February 1797 – 29 May 1880) was an Irish doctor, historian and journalist. Career Born in Mallow, County Cork, Ireland, he studied medicine in Paris and immigrated to Lower Canada in 1823 where he ...

took over as editor of the ''Vindicator''.

External links

* * * Daniel Tracey and family of Roscrea Montreal and Alban
link
* Mullally, Emmett J. Dr Daniel Tracey, a pioneer worker for responsible government in Canad

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tracey, Daniel 1794 births 1832 deaths 19th-century Irish people Irish emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec 19th-century newspaper publishers (people) Canadian newspaper publishers (people) Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada Canadian republicans People from County Tipperary Politicians from County Tipperary Quebec people of Irish descent Irish expatriates in Canada People from Roscrea Immigrants to Lower Canada