William Bagshaw was born on February 13, 1783 in Alstonefield, England. He entered the British Army in 1804, and eleven years later found himself standing in the ranks of the 33rd Regiment of Foot on the field at Waterloo as Napoleon’s last great gamble broke against the allied line. For that service, in 1819, the Crown entitled him to two hundred acres in Upper Canada, a standard form of compensation extended to veterans of the period.
The entitlement was formalized in a Crown Patent dated April 10, 1833, when Bagshaw, by then recorded as a Yeoman of the Township of Brock, received title to Lot Number Four in the Ninth Concession, County of York, Home District. The patent carried the usual Crown reservations of gold and silver mines, white pine timber, and survey roads, along with a handwritten clause requiring him to erect a dwelling and take up residence within three years. Bagshaw remained in Brock Township for the rest of his life, where he died on May 12, 1861.
The grant is to William Bagshaw of the Township of Brock in the County of York in the Home District, Yeoman (Yeoman means a farmer or landowner.) Containing Two Hundred Acres being Lot Number Four in the Ninth Concession of the said Township of Brock
Several standard Crown reservations appear:
- Gold and Silver mines reserved to the Crown
- White Pine trees reserved to the Crown
- Survey roads reserved
- Conditions regarding settlement
Settlement Conditions
One important handwritten section states that within three years the grantee must erect and build a good and sufficient dwelling house and become resident. These were normal settlement requirements.
Chronology :
- 1804 – William Bagshaw enters the British Army.
- 18 June 1815 – Fights at the Battle of Waterloo (33rd Regiment of Foot).
- 20 October 1819 – Receives entitlement to 200 acres in Upper Canada for military service.
- 10 Apr 1833 – Crown Patent signed.
- 21 Apr 1833 – Entered by the Auditor.
-
24 Apr 1833 – Recorded and indexed in the land records.
Book 46, folio 575 - 1833 – Crown Patent issued for Lot 4, Concession 9, Brock Township.
- Later becomes established in Brock Township, where the family remains.
William Bagshaw
200 acres
Brock Township
Recorded April 24, 1833
Book 46, Folio 575