Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford
| Archibald Acheson | |
|---|---|
| 2nd Earl of Gosford | |
 |
|
| Reign | 1807-1849 |
| Predecessor | Arthur Acheson, 1st Earl of Gosford |
| Successor | Archibald Acheson, 3rd Earl of Gosford |
| Born |
1 August 1776 Markethill, County Armagh |
| Died | 27 March 1849 (aged 72) |
Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford GCB (1 August 1776 – 27 March 1849, Markethill), styled The Honourable Archibald Acheson from 1790 to 1806 and Lord Acheson from 1806 to 1807, was a British politician who served as Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Canada and Governor General of British North America in the 19th century.
Born at Markethill, County Armagh, Ireland, Gosford was the son of Arthur Acheson, 1st Earl of Gosford, and his wife Millicent (née Pole).
Acheson sat in the Irish House of Commons for Armagh County from 1798 until the Act of Union in 1801, when Ireland became part of the United Kingdom. Subsequently he was a Member of the British House of Commons representing Armagh to 1807, when he succeeded to his father's Irish titles as Earl of Gosford. He entered the British House of Lords in 1811 upon being elected an Irish Representative Peer.
In 1831 he was appointed the first Lord Lieutenant of Armagh for life which incorporated the post of Custos Rotulorum of County Armagh ( which he already held).
In 1835, he became Governor General of British North America (also Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Canada), and commissioner in the Royal Commission for the Investigation of all Grievances Affecting His Majesty's Subjects of Lower Canada. He was instructed to appease the reformists, led by Louis-Joseph Papineau, without giving them any real power. Gosford attempted to distance himself from his predecessor, Lord Aylmer, who had exacerbated the hostility of French-Canadians to the British administration. Gosford officially established the Diocese of Montreal in 1836, though it had been unofficially created a few years before. In August of that year Gosford dissolved the Legislative Assembly when they refused to pass his budget.
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