Discover Toronto's history as told through its plaques

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Colonel James Givins

Photos by Alan L Brown - Posted April, 2004

In front of a school at 49 Givins Street stands this Ontario Heritage Trust plaque. Here's what it has to say:

Coordinates: 43.646254 -79.41810

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This school bears the name of, and is located on land formerly owned by, James Givens, who came to Canada after fighting on the British side during the American Revolution. In 1791 he was commissioned in the Queen's Rangers and subsequently served as Indian agent at York from 1797. Appointed Provincial Aide-de-Camp to General Brock during the War of 1812, he was highly commended for the courageous manner in which, in command of a small band of Indians, he resisted American invaders during the attack on York in 1813. He served as Chief Superintendent of the Indian Department in Upper Canada 1830-1837. He died in March, 1846, at 87 and is buried in St. James Cemetery, Toronto.

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> Posted March 16, 2009
Givins was one of the officers who travelled with Lt. Gov. Simcoe on the round trip to Detroit that identified the site for Simcoe's proposed new capital inland, on the Thames which eventually became London. The trip was recorded by Major Littlehales (a Toronto street called "Littlehayes"(??) seems to commemorate him. Visit U Calgary's project (with Laval) OUR ROOTS/nos racines. Look for -- "Journal written by Edward Baker Littlehales (Major of Brigade, etc.) of an exploratory tour partly in sleighs but chiefly on foot, from Navy Hall, Niagara, to Detroit, made in the months of February and March, A.D. 1793, by His Excellency Lieut.-Gov. Simcoe". Other names from this delightful little book also have OHF plaques. Unlike the others, a Givins family settled in London. Talbot of course came back to the area a decade after this trip to manage the townships that opened up this part of Ontario.

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