Benjamin Lett

Benjamin Lett (14 November 1813–9 December 1858) was an Anglo-Irish-Canadian filibusterer who was a disciple of William Lyon Mackenzie.

Although he did not participate in the Upper Canada Rebellion, Lett was charged in 1838 with the murder of Captain Edgeworth Ussher who had piloted the boats of Allan Napier MacNab during what would come to be known as the Caroline affair. On the night of 16 November 1838, Ussher was roused from his bed to answer a knock on the door, only to be killed by a shot fired through a window.

Fleeing to the United States, in January 1839, Lett unsuccessfully attempted to burn British ships anchored at Kingston. That July, joined by Samuel Peters Hart and Henry J. Moon, the three embarked on a raid in Cobourg to rob and kill Robert Henry and abduct Sheppard McCormick, a veteran of the attack on the Caroline. However, word leaked out and the plot was foiled with Lett just managing to escape to the American side of Lake Ontario. In the wake of the "Cobourg conspiracy" Lieutenant Governor Sir George Arthur posted a reward of £500 for his capture. In March 1841 Lett attempted to burn the SS Minos but failed.

On 17 April 1840 came the act Lett is best known for; the bombing of the monument to British general Sir Isaac Brock near Queenston, Ontario. The explosion did serious and irreparable damage to the monument although it failed to bring it down. Although Lett was presumed to have orchestrated the plot, a subsequent Assizes (court hearing) failed to confirm this.

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