Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester

Who was Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester?

Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, KB, known between 1776 and 1786 as Sir Guy Carleton, was an Anglo-Irish soldier and administrator. He twice served as Governor of the Province of Quebec, from 1768 to 1778, concurrently serving as Governor General of British North America in that time, and from 1785 to 1795. The title Baron Dorchester was created on 21 August 1786.

He commanded British troops in the American War of Independence, first leading the defence of Quebec during the 1775 rebel invasion and the 1776 counteroffensive that drove the rebels from the province. In 1782 and 1783 he led as the commander-in-chief of all British forces in North America. In this capacity he was notable for carrying out the Crown's promise of freedom to slaves who joined the British, and he oversaw the evacuation of British forces, Loyalists and more than 3,000 freedmen from New York in 1783 to transport them to a British colony.

The military and political career of his younger brother Thomas Carleton was interwoven with his own, and Thomas served under him in Canada.