Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1793-1877 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
1 box (13 cm)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Philip De Grassi, soldier, was born in Rome, Italy, in 1793. He became an officer in Napoleon’s army, and saw service in the Peninsular war. He was taken prisoner by the British; and in England he obtained a commission in the British army. He was in the British West Indies with his regiment from 1812 to 1815; and he was then placed on half-pay. After eking out a living in England by teaching languages, he emigrated, with his family, to Canada in 1831, and settled near York (Toronto), Upper Canada. In the rebellion of 1837, two of his daughters, Cornelia (d. 1885) and Charlotte (d. 1872), played a romantic and adventurous part; and he himself served with the loyalist forces. He died at Lindsay, Ontario, in 1877.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Gift of Sheila Boyd, 1950
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Collection of papers of the family and descendents of Philip De Grassi (1793-1877). Letters of Charles Gordon Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond (1791-1860), and other members of his family (1812-1836), mostly to Philip De Grassi.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://aeon.library.utoronto.ca
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English