Robert Runchey

Captain Robert Reuben Runchey (1759 – bur. 17 July 1819) was a Canadian tavern owner who served as the first commander of Captain Runchey's Company of Coloured Men in Upper Canada (now Ontario) during the War of 1812. Runchey was an officer in the 1st Lincoln Militia when Major-General Sir Isaac Brock appointed him commander of the all-black Company. He served from the summer of 1812 when the Company was created until the fall of that same year.

The Regiment was dispatched to Canada from 1787 to 1797 where Runchey and his wife, Eleanor/Eléonarde (née Bonnat), settled. Their son, Robert Reuben, Jr., is listed as being born on the "Atlantic" on 22 December 1787, and was christened in the parish of Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu, Province of Quebec (later known as Lower Canada after 1791, now Québec) the next day. Runchey and Eleanor had another son, George, in the Province of Quebec (to become known as Upper Canada after 1791) in 1789, and Runchey was discharged from the Regiment in 1797.

Runchey did not resign from the Lincoln Militia, however, and in August 1812 Major-General Sir Isaac Brock chose him to lead Captain Runchey's Company of Coloured Men. The Company was formed within the Lincoln Militia, and Runchey's son, George, also detached from the 2nd Flank Company to serve as a lieutenant. The number of those in Runchey's Company varies by source and ranges from 27 to 50; men who wanted to join the Company met at Runchey's tavern. There are also cases of Runchey hiring out his men as servants for other officers. On one occasion, Runchey did not carry out his promise to give a militia surgeon a "black man" as a servant and received a formal complaint. There are no surviving records that show Runchey ever commanded his Company on the battlefield. The Company went on to participate in battles such as Fort George and the Siege of Fort Erie and, after the war ended, disbanded on 24 March 1815.

Later life

Runchey went back to running his tavern after his resignation from the Company. He died sometime before 17 July 1819, when he was buried in St. Andrew's Anglican Churchyard in Grimsby, Upper Canada; the exact date of his death is unknown.