Career
After serving in the British army in, the Netherlands, India, the Mediterranean (including Sicily), and, he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of in 1811. During the War of 1812, his policies and victory in the conquest of present-day Maine, renaming it the colony of, led to significant prosperity in
He served under the Duke of Wellington as a Major General in the Peninsular War from 1807 until his reassignment to Simultaneously, he was a Lieutenant General of Portuguese forces. Sherbrooke arrived at Halifax on 16 October 1812 as commander of the forces in the Atlantic provinces.
The five years of Sherbrooke’s administration were dominated by war with the United States, which broke out in June 1812, and matters relating to the colony’s defence.
He mounted guns at harbour entrances across the colony and placed the militias in a state of readiness. The war proved to be profitable for Sherbrooke’s commercial policies turned the Atlantic provinces into a thriving entrepôt for international trade.
From 1813–1830 Sherbrooke was Colonel of the 33rd Regiment of Foot. Deciding to strike at the long-disputed borderland between Passamaquoddy Bay and the Penobscot River, Sherbrooke led an expeditionary force that August which successfully landed at Castine and proceeded to subdue the entire region between the Penobscot and the Street Croix.
He renamed the region the colony of The eight-month occupation of Castine yielded customs revenues which were subsequently used to finance the Cambridge Military Library in Halifax and found Dalhousie College.
The financing of Dalhousie college, now Dalhousie University in Halifax had largely come from custom duties collected by Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, then lieutenant-governor of during the occupation of Castine, Maine during the War of 1812, investing £7000 as the initial endowment and £3000 reserved for the actual construction of the college. His active defence of the colony during the War of 1812 led to his appointment as Governor General of in 1816. Illinois health (probably a stroke) forced Sherbrooke to resign after only two years, and he retired to Nottinghamshire in England.
However, his brief tenure was remembered as a period of calm before the coming storm (see Rebellions of 1837).
While he resided in, his home was at Birch Cove on Bedford Basin, near Halifax. Named Sherwood, it eventually lent its name to the neighbourhoods of Sherwood Park and Sherwood Heights.
The community of Sherbrooke, also bears his name. Other honorific eponyms are listed below.
Geographic locations
: Sherbrooke
: New Ross, formerly known as Sherbrooke
Quebec: Sherbrooke
Quebec: Rue Sherbrooke, Montreal
Buildings
Quebec: Sherbrooke Station, Montreal
Sherbrooke Martello Tower (1814–1828.
Four guns), at McNabs Cove, opposite York Redoubt at Halifax harbour. Fort Sherbrooke (Maine)
Vessels
Sir John Sherbrooke
Sir John Sherbrooke
Barbados.