Smiths Falls by William T. Clegg, ca. 1840

Description

Media Type

Image

Item Type

Watercolors

Description

Catalogued by the Archives of Ontario:

Digital Image Number: I0021029.JPG
Title Smith's Falls
Date [ca. 1845]
Place RIDEAU CANAL (ONT.)
Creator William T. Clegg fonds
Format Watercolour
Reference Code C 232
Item Reference Code C 232-0-0-0-12
Subject Landscape paintings Canals Waterfalls Locks (Hydraulic engineering)

Title William T. Clegg fonds
Dates of Creation [ca.1832] - [ca.1845]
Physical Description 19 watercolours
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of watercolours depicting various locations on the Rideau Canal created by William T. Clegg. The watercolours may have been prepared to document the construction of the canal for presentation to visiting officials. The drawings are not signed and dated, but have information regarding location written on the verso. The watercolours identify various lock stations along the Rideau Canal from Bytown (Ottawa) to Kingston: Hartwell's locks; Hog's Back; Black Rapids; Long Island; Burritt's Rapids; Nicholson's Rapids; Clow's Rapids; Merrick's Mills; Maitland's Locks; Edmund's Mills; Old Sly's Locks; Smith's Falls; First Rapids; Narrows; Isthmus; Chaffey's Mills; Davis; Brewer's Lower Mills; and Kingston's Mills.

Administrative History or Biographical Sketch
William T. Clegg (1796-1894) was an artist and a Clerk of Cheque with the Royal Engineers for the Rideau Canada Construction active from 1826 to 1845.

Clegg, William T., 1796-1894
Restrictions on Access
The original watercolours are closed. Researchers must consult the reference slides or the Visual Database.
Terms For Use and Reproduction
Copyright for this material has expired. All requests for permission to publish must be submitted in writing to the Senior Portfolio Archivist responsible for Photographic Records and Documentary Art.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
No acquisition information is available for this fonds.
Associated Material
Clegg watercolours exist in the following collections and institutions : Library and Archives Canada; Sigmund Samuel Collection of Canadiana, Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). A number of Clegg watercolours are reproduced in Robert W. Passfield, Building the Rideau Canal: a pictorial history (Toronto, 1982); --- Engineering the Defence of the Canadas: Lt.Col. John By and the Rideau Canal. Manuscript Report Series No. 212. (Parks Canada, Ottawa, 1976). Also, Early Painters and Engravers in Canada, by J. Russell Harper contains more information on works in private collections.
Availability of Other Formats
All watercolours are available as reference slides. Colour and b&w transparencies are available for reproduction purposes.
Notes
These watercolours were originally attributed to John Burrows. After examination of three sets of Rideau Canal drawings in the custody of the National Archives of Canada; two by John Burrows and one by William Clegg, after John Burrows; and, drawings by William Clegg in other repositories and publications, it is believed that the set of watercolours held by the Archives of Ontario can be attributed to William T. Clegg, after John Burrows.
It is likely that a set of watercolours was prepared by John Burrows, civil engineer, surveyor and artist who was appointed by Colonel John By as Clerk of the Works to document various sections of the Rideau Canal Construction system and copied with later additions and modifications by William Clegg.

Biographical Sketch or Administrative History
William T. Clegg (1796-1894) was an artist and a Clerk of Cheque with the Royal Engineers for the Rideau Canada Construction active from 1826 to 1845.
Clegg emigrated to Canada from Ireland in 1827 with the Royal Engineers. Clegg knew and worked with John Burrows, the Clerk of the Works, on the Rideau Canal system who also documented the Rideau Canada Construction. Clegg remained in Ottawa until his death is 1894.
Source Note
Military Series, National Archives of Canada, RG 8, volume 52 and 276 and MG 12, WO 44 Vol. 26 reel B 1299 p. 209

Notes

A similar watercolour by Clegg (Library and Archives Canada) is illustrated in Glenn J. Lockwood's "Smiths Falls: A Social History of the Men and Women in a Rideau Canal Community 1794-1994", p.140 - plate 66, left - the caption reads: "The Smith's Falls lock stations, Ward and Jason islands, as sketched by William Clegg (opposite) and John Burrows respectively, circa 1845. In only a dozen years Smith's Falls ceased to be surrounded by forest (shown in Plate 65) as cleared and fenced fields were laid out. The stone lockmasters' houses were the significant buildings at the combined and detached locks, but already the focus of the village was on the northern shore. This view shows the lengthy bridge from Ward Island in the middle ground to Jason Island behind it, while a tall timber bridge leads from Ward Island to the village proper on the northern mainland. This view was sketched a few years before Frost & Wood moved from Jason Island to the northern riverbank in the foreground of these sketches."

Glenn J. Lockwood. "Smiths Falls: A Social History of the Men and Women in a Rideau Canal Community 1794-1994." Smiths Falls: Corporation of the Town of Smiths Falls, 1994.

Date of Original