Western District was one of four districts of the Province of Quebec created in 1788 in the western reaches of the Montreal District which were later detached in 1791 to create the new colony of Upper Canada. Known as Hesse District (named after Hesse in Germany) until 1792, it was abolished in 1849.
Historical evolution
The District originally consisted of that part of the Province of Quebec west of "a north and south line, intersecting the extreme projection of Long Point into the lake Erie,"[1] being the territory described as:
... comprehend[ing] all the residue of our said province in the western and inland parts thereof, of the entire breadth thereof, from the southerly to the northerly border of the same...[1][a]
As Detroit was still occupied British territory in 1792, it formed part of the District at the time. In the first election to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, three former or current residents of Detroit were elected.[2] This anomaly, together with other occupied places at Fort Mackinac and Fort Miami, were finally vacated upon the ratification of the Jay Treaty in 1795; they were withdrawn from the District in June 1796.
The District, after detaching territory that would be part of the new London District, was reconstituted as the Western District by an Act of the Parliament of Upper Canada in 1798. It was described as consisting of "...the Counties of Essex and Kent together with so much of this Province as is not included within any other district thereof..."[3] The counties were described as consisting of the following:
Camden (distinguished by being called Camden West)
the Moravian tract of land,[b] called Orford (distinguished by Orford North and South)
Howard
Harwich
Raleigh
Romney
Tilbury (divided into east and west)
with the township on the River Sinclair, occupied by the Shawney Indians,[c] together with the islands in the lakes Erie and Sinclair wholly or in greater part opposite thereto...
The townships of
Rochester
Mersea
Gosfield
Maidstone
Sandwich
Colchester
Malden
and the tracts of land occupied by the Huron and other Indians upon the Strait,[d] together with such of the islands as are in lakes Erie, Sinclair, or the Straits...[e]
In 1847, legislation was initiated to create a new Kent District; however, facilities at the designated district town of Chatham needed to be built. The creation of the new district was not completed.
At the beginning of 1850, the District was abolished, being replaced by the United Counties of Essex and Kent for municipal purposes.[7] In 1851, the southern part of Kent was detached to for a separate county, with the northern part becoming Lambton County, which was united with Essex to become the United Counties of Essex and Lambton.[8] However, Kent and Lambton were united for the purpose of electing a member to the Parliament of the Province of Canada.[9] The former District's townships were accordingly distributed as follows:
Distribution of the townships of the former Western District (1851)
United Counties of Essex and Lambton
Kent County
Essex County
Lambton County
Mersea
Gosfield
Colchester
Rochester
Maidstone
Malden
Anderdon
Tilbury West
Sandwich
Bosanquet
Plympton
Warwick
Sarnia
Moore
Enniskillen
Brooke
Sombra
Dawn
Euphemia
including Walpole Islands, St. Ann's Island, and the other islands at the mouth of the River St. Clair[f]
Orford
Howard
Camden
Chatham
Harwich
Dover East
Dover West
Raleigh
Tilbury East
Romney
Zone
Legacy
Western District Grammar School, founded 1807, is now occupied by General Brock Public School in Windsor, Ontario.[10]
