Peter de Blaquière
Canadian politician
Peter Boyle de Blaquière (April 26, 1783 – October 23, 1860) was a political figure in Upper Canada and the first formal chancellor of the University of Toronto.
Life
He was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1783, the son of John Blaquiere, himself son of Jean de Blaquiere who emigrated from France. He served in the Royal Navy aboard HMS Director under Captain William Bligh, was forced off Director at the Nore with Bligh in 1797 and later fought at the Battle of Camperdown. After he retired from the Navy, he settled in Southampton, England. He emigrated to Upper Canada in 1837 and settled in the town of Woodstock.
He served as a lieutenant-colonel in the Oxford militia during the Upper Canada Rebellion. He was appointed to the Legislative Council in 1839 and, in 1841, became a member of the Legislative Council of the united Province of Canada. In 1842, he became warden for the Brock District.
In 1849, King's College, affiliated with the Church of England, became the University of Toronto, independent of the church, and, in 1850, de Blaquière became chancellor. In response, Bishop John Strachan established Trinity College as a church university in 1852; it would later join with the University of Toronto.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Peter de Blaquière” is canadian politician. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Peter, Blaquière and Canadian, not as a finished interpretation.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7177884. VIAF identifies the subject as 1434157342836610100001. The Library of Congress control number is no2019159859. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1783, 1860, 1797 and 1837.
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This entry incorporates text from “Peter de Blaquière” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.