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Lot Essay
The picture appears to follow the direction of S. Russell’s lithograph ‘Officers’ Barracks at Fredericton. Winter 1834’ printed by Day & Haghe after a drawing by W.P. Kay ‘from a Sketch By Captn Campbell’. There is a copy of the lithograph in the Toronto Public Library (Baldwin Room JRR 46 Cab II). “Captn Campbell” has been identified as Sir John Campbell, 1807-1855, ADC to his father Sir Archibald, Lieut. Governor of New Brunswick, during his tenure of office there 1831-37. He was an amateur sketcher, and has been given as the artist (as has Helen Maria Campbell) of the J.W. Giles’s lithograph “New Brunswick Fashionables!!!”, the view of sleighs on Phoenix Square, Fredericton, published by Francis Beverley, Fredericton, January 1834 (Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, J. Leonard O’Brien fonds: MC299-7). For both images see P.A. Hachey, The New Brunswick Landscape Print, 1760-1880, Saint John, 1980, pp.41-2, nos 37-8.
Today the Fredericton Military Compound survives, comprising the Soldiers’ Stone Barracks (1826), the Guard House (1828), Militia Arms Store (1832) and Officers’ Quarters (1840 and 1853). The present building (as depicted by Cooper/Kay and Campbell) appears to show the Officers’ Quarters. One of Canada’s first permanent military installations, the first wooden structure from 1786 was destroyed by fire in 1815 and rebuilt within a year. This wooden building, rebuilt, is probably depicted here. It compares closely with the two storey building as it was before the fire, as sketched by Ann Campbell in 1812 (New Brunswick Museum). The barracks was rebuilt in stone in the ensuing years, and completed in 1853. It would be occupied by British officers until 1869, and housed officers of the Royal Canadian Regiment (Canada’s first military unit) from 1883 to 1914.
Today the Fredericton Military Compound survives, comprising the Soldiers’ Stone Barracks (1826), the Guard House (1828), Militia Arms Store (1832) and Officers’ Quarters (1840 and 1853). The present building (as depicted by Cooper/Kay and Campbell) appears to show the Officers’ Quarters. One of Canada’s first permanent military installations, the first wooden structure from 1786 was destroyed by fire in 1815 and rebuilt within a year. This wooden building, rebuilt, is probably depicted here. It compares closely with the two storey building as it was before the fire, as sketched by Ann Campbell in 1812 (New Brunswick Museum). The barracks was rebuilt in stone in the ensuing years, and completed in 1853. It would be occupied by British officers until 1869, and housed officers of the Royal Canadian Regiment (Canada’s first military unit) from 1883 to 1914.