William Jarvis with his son Samuel Peters Jarvis I

Jarvis (1756 – 1817), born in Stamford, Connecticut, was a Loyalist serving in the Queen’s Rangers during the American Revolution before moving to England about 1784. In 1792, he assumed the post of provincial secretary of Upper Canada under Lieuentant-Governor John Graves Simcoe. He and son Samuel Peters (1787 – 1792), who soon “fell sacrifice to this inhospitable climate”, both wear modified Queen’s Rangers uniforms. Jarvis’s long-tailed coat with velvet trim indicates a uniform for ceremonial and society occasions.