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Macaulay, John
John Macaulay, merchant, journalist, office-holder, politician (b at Kingston, UC 17 Oct 1792; d there 10 Aug 1857). A prosperous merchant and an immensely capable, perceptive man, Macaulay came to attention as coeditor and owner of the Kingston Chronicle 1818-22. The paper gave, as his friend John Beverley ROBINSON put it, the "highest satisfaction to every well-wisher of Church & State." Supported by John STRACHAN, Macaulay soon became an influential adviser of Lieutenant-Governor MAITLAND's administration. He served on a host of committees and commissions, the most important of which concerned internal navigation. His reports together with Robert NICHOL's report on internal resources provided the framework for a provincial strategy for economic development. In his columns, he popularized the idea of development, especially canals.
In 1836 he moved to Toronto upon his appointments as legislative councillor and surveyor general, serving until he became civil and private secretary to Lieutenant-Governor Sir George ARTHUR in 1838. That year he took up the inspector generalship and held it until 8 June 1842. He remained a councillor until his death. Intensely private, fervently pious and somewhat diffident, he suffered almost unremitting affliction in his family life.
