SOME OF KINGSTON’S INCREDIBLE
IRISH HERITAGE FACTS

Kingston’s first 3 mayors were Irish
Kingston’s first mayor was Thomas Kirkpatrick. He was Irish, as were the next two mayors William Ford and Dr Sampson. In 1838 Kingston was incorporated as a town with a mayor and an elected corporation of alderman and councillors. It was divided into 4 wards, each of which elected, on a rotating system, an alderman and a common councillor, for terms of 4 years. (Osborne & Swainson, 116) In March 1846 a meeting was held to press for changes in the municipal system and a bill was subsequently passed to incorporate Kingston as a city. Elections were held annually for the entire council and the council was subsequently enlarged. Kingston now had 5 wards – Sydenham, Ontario, St Lawrence, Cataraqui and Frontenac. (Osborne & Swainson, 118) Each ward elected 2 aldermen and 2 councillors with the council continuing to elect the mayor. A tour of the portraits hung on the walls of Kingston City Hall (a building designed by a Belfast man) confirms the high percentage of Irish elected to the position of Kingston Mayor, from its first mayor in 1837 to the present day.

The Irish captured most of the council seats in 1846
In 1846 elections were held for the new 20-man council. The only striking thing about the results was the strength of the Irish, who captured most of the seats. (Osborne & Swainson, 118) In 1848, while Kingston had a population of 8,362, a further 3,656 persons were to be found in such ‘outer suburbs’ as ‘Stuartsville’ population 2,286, ‘Williamsville’, ‘Chathamville’, ‘Charlesville’, ‘Picardville’ and ‘Orchardville’. Stuartsville (i.e. Lot 24) was outside Kingston’s limits in 1838 and in 1846. It did not enjoy a high reputation as it was seen as a poverty-stricken area “chiefly inhabited by working classes,” (Osborne & Swainson, 119) made up primarily of mechanics and labouring men. On 1 January 1850, Kingston annexed Lot 24 and other ‘suburbans’. They were organized into 2 additional wards, Rideau and Victoria. This increased the total number of wards to 7. (Osborne & Swainson, 118-121)


In 1851 more than 33% of Kingstonians were born in Ireland
In 1851, while over half of Kingston’s 11,585 people were foreign-born, over a third had been born in Ireland and some 16% emigrated to Kingston from Scotland, England, or Wales. Less than 5% of the total population were from outside Ireland or Britain, with the largest group hailing from the United States. (Osborne & Swainson, 135)

25 Fenians were held in Kingston Penitentiary
In 1866 the North American branch of the Fenian Movement, made up mainly from veterans from both sides of the American Civil War, hatched a 2-pronged plan as part of their struggle for Irish Independence. One part of the plan was to cross the border and hold ‘Canada’ as ransom. The other part of the plan was to force Britain to withdraw a significant number of troops from Ireland to defend ‘Canada’. This would ensure a more successful uprising in Ireland. In the raids across the border 25 Fenians fighting for Irish independence were captured and held at Kingston Penitentiary. The list of names and the dates they were held, courtesy of Dave St Onge, are listed at the back of this booklet.

Orange and Green conflicts in Kingston
Although there were several incidents in which Kingston was a shining example of interdenominational cooperation, there were also several incidents in the 19th century between Irish nationalists and the Orange Order, for instance, the riots which followed the 1843 Orange Order 12th of July parade. In September, 1860 an Orange Order archway was constructed along the route the Prince of Wales was to take during a visit to Kingston. The Orange Order was not a legal group in Britain so the Prince, not wanting his passage under the arch to be seen as giving improper recognition to the Order, asked them to remove it from his route. The Orangemen refused to remove it, so the Prince refused to disembark at Kingston. In addition, one of the cannons used in the Siege of Derry is located in Kingston.

The Irish are the largest single ethnic group in Kingston
In the spring / summer 1999 premier issue of Kingston Life magazine, Harvey Schachter states, in his article titled: Who We Are – Kingston’s Cultural Mosaic,
‘Statistics Canada reported 270 people of Jamaican origin living in the Kingston census district in 1996. Respondents were allowed to list up to six elements of their ancestry, and 13,710 listed themselves as having some Irish heritage, 2,500 giving that as their sole response; while 12,945 mentioned some Scottish ancestry. 1,736 gave that as their sole response.
But there were also 5,150 citing German heritage, plus 2,860 of Dutch ancestry, 1,645 of Portuguese. 1,270 Polish, 1,260 Italian, 960 Chinese, 940 French, 685 Ukrainian, 680 Jewish, 620 British, 500 American, 500 East Indian, 495 Greek, 380 Danish, 305 Spanish, 280 Swedish, 245 Hungarian, 220 Austrian, 210 Korean, 190 Finnish, 190 Vietnamese, 180 Swiss, 145 Belgian, 145 Iranian, 140 Japanese, 105 Scandinavian, 100 Lebanese, and 100 of Latin American ancestry.
Beyond these major groups - there were Afghans, and Ghanaians, Latvians and Ethiopians, Syrians, and Mexicans.’