Richmond Military Settlement Plaque

RICHMOND MILITARY SETTLEMENT
1818

In August, 1818, some thirty disbanded veterans of the 99th
Regiment, led by Captain G.T. Burke, arrived in newly surveyed
Goulbourn Township. These formed the advance party of a
military settlement planned and supported by the quartermaster-
general’s department. Here they laid out a town site named
after the governor-general, the Duke of Richmond. Storehouses
were built, settlers’ cabins erected and the colonists provided
with farm implements and rations. Under the general
supervision of Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Cockburn, about
400 heads of families, including some civilians, were
established in the settlement by the end of 1818, thus forming
the first large community within the present Carleton County.

Erected by the Ontario Archaeological and Historic Sites Board.