John Nairne

Who was John Nairne?

Lieutenant-Colonel John Nairne was a Scottish-Canadian soldier and seigneur. Nairne came to Canada in 1758 as a lieutenant, and participated in the captures of Louisbourg and Quebec City. Given Nairne's lack of prospects back in Scotland, he decided to remain in Canada, and in 1762 he received, along with his friend Malcolm Fraser, the seigneury of La Malbaie, with Fraser taking Mount Murray and Nairne receiving Murray Bay and the town of La Malbaie. Nairne retired on half-pay as soon as he received his land.

Devoting himself to his seigneury, Nairne had it surveyed, and brought some soldiers from the regiment with him to settle the land. Nairne hoped to establish a Protestant settlement on his lands, but found it impossible to bring a Protestant priest in with only five Protestant families living in his seigneury. Although Nairne turned out to be an excellent farmer, it was difficult to make much revenue off of his land, and many of his requests went unanswered.

In 1769, Nairne married a fellow Scot, Christina Emery. With Christine, Nairne had four children, but by the time Nairne returned from a 1773 trip to Scotland, three of them had died.