Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Simcoe, Francis Gwillim
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1791 - 1812
History
Francis Gwillim Simcoe was born in 1791, accompanying his parents—John Graves Simcoe and Elizabeth Posthuma Simcoe—to Upper Canada, where he spent his infancy and early childhood. In 1793, John Graves Simcoe purchased a tract of land east of the town of York, and built a summer residence, naming it Castle Frank in his son’s honour. At age 17, he entered the British army as an Ensign, and in 1809, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and assigned to Wellington’s army in Iberian Peninsula. He took an active part in the campaigns in Portugal and Spain and was fatally wounded during the assault on the Portuguese town of Adajos in 1812.