John Clitherow

Major-General John Clitherow (13 December 1782 – 14 October 1852) was an army officer, politician and was briefly Lieutenant Governor of Canada West and Canada East (1841).

He was born at Essendon, Hertfordshire, England in 1782. John Clitherow enlisted in the British Army in 1799 and served in the Egyptian campaign of 1801 and in the Peninsular War among other assignments. He arrived in British North America in 1838 as commander of Montreal following the Lower Canada Rebellion. He married Miss Christie-Burton, granddaughter of General Gabriel Christie, of Montreal.

He served as an advisor to Lord Durham as a member of the Special Council that administered Lower Canada following the rebellion.

When the second rebellion broke out Clitherow commanded 3,000 regulars that marched on rebel headquarters. He also presided over courts martial that prosecuted the rebels.

In 1841, he was transferred to Canada West to command British forces there and was made governor by Lord Sydenham. Upon becoming governor, he was succeeded as commander of the British forces by Richard Armstrong. He prorogued the first session of the first parliament of the Province of Canada when Sydenham died and remained acting Governor for six days until the appointment of Sir Richard Downes Jackson as administrator.