Handbill of the Burrial of Sr. Isaac Brock

This handbill, printed by William Lyon Mackenzie, is from the dedication and reburial of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock at his monument in Queenston. William Lyon Mackenzie had just moved from Dundas, Ontario to Queenston in 1824, where he was operating a general store and publishing his controversial newspaper, The Colonial Advocate. The printing press used to print this handbill, was likely the same press he used to print the newspaper that called for constitutional reform and inspired those to rise up against the Family Compact.

In addition to Brock’s numerous accomplishments, some of which are listed on this handbill, he has had the distinction of being buried four times. After his death on October 13, 1812 during the Battle of Queenston Heights, he was buried at his first resting place at one of the bastions at Fort George. But it was decided the “hero” of Upper Canada deserved a more suitable memorial, and in 1824, he, along with his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell, were buried beneath the monument in October of 1824.

The vault beneath the monument was not going to be his final resting place.

On April 17, 1840, the monument was damaged by a gunpowder bomb. It is believed that Irish-Canadian, Benjamin Lett, who was involved in William Lyon Mackenzie’s 1837 Rebellion, was the culprit. The remains of Brock were moved to the Hamilton family cemetery on the grounds of Willowbank in Queenston, until they could reinterred under a new monument on October 13, 1853.