George Heriot

George Heriot (1759 – 22 July 1839) was a Scots-Canadian civil servant, author and artist. He is most notable as a major figure in early Canadian art.

Early life Heriot was born at Haddington, Scotland, in 1759, the eldest child of John Heriot, the sheriff clerk of the town, and his wife Marjory. The Heriots were part of the long-established family of the Heriots of Trabroun, the most well-known member of which was the seventeenth-century goldsmith and philanthropist George Heriot. He was educated at Duns and the Coldstream grammar school, before attending the Edinburgh Royal High School from 1769 to 1774, where he received a conventional classical education. After leaving the Royal High School he remained in Edinburgh, where he studied art under the encouragement of Sir James Grant. He wrote and sketched extensively during his time in the Caribbean, and when he returned to London in 1781 he published A Descriptive Poem, written in the West Indies. On his return, he enrolled at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. Here, he was instructed in art and taught landscape drawing and painting, then considered an essential part of a military education, by Paul Sandby.

He had left the academy by 1783, but remained in Woolwich, employed as a civilian clerk by the Army. In 1792, he was posted to Quebec, as a clerk in the ordnance office there. He replaced Hugh Finlay, who had fallen into severe financial difficulty and no longer had the support of the government. However, a later attempt to gain Finlay's former seat on the Legislative Council of Lower Canada was unsuccessful, and permanently soured Heriot's relations with Robert Shore Milnes, the Lieutenant Governor.

Artistic work

Heriot was probably introduced to the picturesque style at Woolwich, and it can be found in his drawings and watercolours throughout the 1780s.

During his 1796 return to Britain, he submitted three watercolours to the Royal Academy of Arts, which were exhibited the following spring.

Writing

During his time in Canada, he spent a great deal of time travelling, as well as painting and writing. He published two books based on his experience of the country; The History of Canada from its first discovery (1804), and Travels through the Canadas (1807). The later of these is extensively illustrated with plates made from his own paintings.