The Irish Hero

This chapter is a case study of James FitzGibbon, the “Irish Everyman” of Upper Canada. He was one of the best-known Irishmen in the Canadas in the first half of the nineteenth century, with a sterling public reputation for heroism, physical courage, and gentlemanly conduct during his lifetime. A protégé of General Sir Isaac Brock and a noted officer during the War of 1812, FitzGibbon later was a famous mediator between Irish Catholic immigrants and the colonial establishment and a ‘one-man riot squad’ when threats of Irish violence turned into actual altercations. After the 1840s, however, he became a mostly forgotten figure, in part perhaps because his representations of Irish manliness and heroism were so thoroughly traditional. This chapter is the first to explore his importance to his fellow Irishmen in the Canadas and to the colonial establishment through ethnic and gendered paradigms.