Heriot, George, 1759-1839 : George Heriot was born in Haddington, Scotland. As a member of the Scottish minor gentry he received a classical education. He attended the Duns Academy and the grammar school at Coldstream. He went on to study at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, from 1769 to 1774. He remained in Edinburgh until 1777 and received instruction in drawing and painting. It was in 1777 that he sailed to the West Indies where he remained until 1781 when he returned to Britain. He enrolled as an officer cadet at the Royal Military Academy where he began drawing and painting topographical scenes in the field. By 1783 George Heriot was with the Board of Ordnance making sketches. In 1792 he was posted to Quebec and promoted to clerk of the cheque in the Ordnance department. In 1799, British Prime Minister William Pitt recommended George Heriot for the position of deputy postmaster general of British North America. He was appointed in 1799. During his term in Canada, he travelled extensively through the country making sketches and drawings as he went. As deputy postmaster general, Heriot, began a program of improving deliveries and increasing postal stations from Halifax to Sandwich (Windsor). His attempts to gain the cooperation of the colonial administration often failed. In January 1816 he decided to resign instead. Heriot returned to England and began many frequent trips abroad. He died unmarried in 1839 in London. George Heriot was the author of "Travels throughout Canada" in 1807, and "A history of Canada, from its first discovery" in 1804. For more information consult: Gerald Finley George Heriot : postmaster-painter of the Canadas (Toronto : University of Toronto Press, 1983). Dictionary of Canadian Biography
