Social Class and the Family Compact: the Class System in the Cataraqui Townships, Ernestown, and Kingston from 1791-1820

Abstract

Scholars have often assumed that the Upper Canadian social class system was shaped by a hierarchical and landed patronage system known as the Family Compact. Based on the views of Bishop John Strachan and Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, this Family Compact is viewed as a post-War of 1812 development and is said to replace the oligarchy that was in place in 1791. An examination of the Loyalist settlement townships, in particular Ernestown Township and the Cataraqui Townships, suggests instead that a mercantile aristocracy of patronage and wealth existed by 1791, including Richard Cartwright Jr. of Kingston, along with rural leaders such as the Fairfields and Parrotts of Ernestown. This study of a key and complex time and place challenges prevailing views on class and class consciousness in Upper Canada and refines our understanding of this society. Such an investigation is timely given both the seeming unwillingness of historians to fully challenge existing depictions of the Upper Canadian class system, despite their noticeable flaws, and the impending commemorations of the War of 1812. Using archival documents ( accounts and letters) relating to two Loyalist/merchant families (the Parrotts and the Fairfields) along with a re-interpretation of secondary sources, a new view of a “Merchant Compact” is explored. This approach encompasses the changing relations of the settlements in question (Ernestown/Bath and Kingston) and shows the importance of previously neglected figures such as James Parrott. More broadly, it contributes new layers of analysis to the discussion of class consciousness in Upper Canada.