The Old Garrison Burying Ground 1794-1863
A grave marker inscribed 'Katherine Simcoe, January 16,1793-April 19, 1794. Happy In the Lord.' once stood in this cemetery. It marked the resting place of the 15 month old child of Elizabeth and John Graves Simcoe. Here in Victoria Square, a block of land south-east of King and Bathurst Streets, a 2000 City of Toronto Culture Division plaque gives us this information:
The Town of York's first burying ground lies within this park. Established by the British army, the cemetery occupies a 38 by 91 metre rectangle running at a diagonal across the centre of the park. The first known interment was that of Katherine Simcoe, the 15-month-old daughter of Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe and his wife Elizabeth. Many of the known burials were the wives and children of garrison soldiers. Notable interments include Christopher Robinson (d. 1798), father of Sir John Beverly Robinson; Captain Neal McNeale, killed in the Battle of York on 27 April 1813; and Lieutenant Zachariah Mudge (d. 1831), Private Secretary to Sir John Colborne, whose unexplained suicide shook the colonial community. The last known burial was that of Private James McQuarrick (d. 1863). Afterwards, an interim military cemetery opened at the foot of Dufferin Street, which was replaced with one on Garrison Common to the west of Fort York.
Location Co-ordinates: 43.642714 -79.400119
Photo by Alan L Brown - September 2006
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