Spilling the Tea on Earl Grey

             Earl Grey, the British Colonial Secretary, revived the pensioner’s scheme in Amherstburg in 1851. This was because the British Army no longer wanted to pay regular soldiers to be stationed at or maintain Fort Malden. The Fort was losing its importance as peace with the United States was becoming more and more obvious. Instead of paying the expensive rates for regular soldiers, the British Army instead had pensioners, veterans with many years of service, maintain the Fort for a certain amount of time during the year, and form a militia during times of war.

            These pensioners were given a small cottage, 18 feet by 22 feet, on a roughly 2.5 plot of land, the cost of which (£30, just under $7000 CAD today) was deducted from their pensions. The cottages were built along what is now Alma Street, Fort Street, St. Arnaud Street, William Street, and Richmond Street. There were around 80 of these cottages built the pensioners brought their families with them to Amherstburg, living in the tiny cabins. The pensioners and their families made up roughly 10% of the population. They changed the demographic of Amherstburg, with the majority of pensioners and their families being Irish Catholic. Most of them men began working side jobs in addition to fulfilling their duties at the Fort, making extra money on the side. Much of these jobs included small time farming and manual labour.
          Two of the cottages still exist in the public sphere. One is located at Fort Malden, where it is set up in the same style as it would have been in the 1850’s. There is one room a living area with stove and one bedroom. The other cottage is located here at the Park House Museum. It is set up as an artisan shop, with a tinsmithing workshop on one side, and a printing press on the other. Both the tinshop and printing press produce works throughout the day. In addition to the publically available cottages, there are many houses on the roads mentioned earlier that still have part of or the entire original cabin attached to them. A walk or drive down the road is all you need to find the history or the pensioner’s scheme in Amherstburg.

written by C.J. Sinnott