Robert Monckton

Monckton, Robert

Robert Monckton, British army officer (b in Yorkshire, Eng 24 June 1726; d at London, Eng 21 May 1782). Monckton arrived in Nova Scotia in 1752 and took part in the establishment of LUNENBURG in 1753. Two years later he engineered the first British success of the SEVEN YEARS' WAR when he captured FORT BEAUSÉJOUR (New Brunswick) in June, and that fall he supervised the deportation of the ACADIANS. Lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia from December 1755, in 1758 Monckton raided Acadian settlements on the Saint John River. The following year he took part in the siege of Québec as second-in-command to James WOLFE. Wounded on the Plains of Abraham, he left Québec in October for further service in the southern colonies and the West Indies, where he stayed until 1763. A competent and humane soldier, Monckton was briefly considered for the command in North America, but never returned. By the time of his death, he had become a lieutenant-general.