Site history

Memorable events that link the house with politics at the time of Papineau

Attack by a mob in 1834

One of the first attacks on the Papineau residence takes place in 1834, after adoption of the 92 Resolutions by the majority of the population's representatives. A wave of violence grips Montreal following the election. Armed mobs attack the houses of members of the Assembly who had voted in favour of the adoption of the 92 Resolutions. On Friday, November 14, rioting Tories attack Papineau's home using sticks, stones and axes, destroying all the shutters and the windows on the ground floor.

Attack by the Doric Club

On November 6, 1837, members of the Doric Club, opponents of the Fils de la Liberté, attack Louis-Joseph Papineau's home and the offices of the The Vindicator and Canadian Advertiser (an English newspaper that supported the Patriotes) in order to quell the Patriotes' revolt.

Doric Club*

• Doric Club, founded in 1836 in Montreal, a paramilitary political association of young anglophone Tories. It replaced an earlier organization which, because of its armed contribution to political tensions in Montreal in the 1830s, was disbanded by Governor Gosford. A violent clash between the Doric Club and the Patriote organization the Fils de la Liberté on November 6, 1837, was a prelude to the Lower Canadian Rebellions of 1837. The Doric Club was dissolved when many of its members were recruited by General Colborne to fight the rebels.

Fils de la Liberté*

• Fils de la Liberté, an association of 700-800 young Patriotes founded September 5, 1837, in Montreal. Inspired by the ideals of the American Revolution, the Fils de la Liberté published a manifesto on October 4 which proclaimed their belief in the right of a people to choose its own government and of a colony to become independent. André Ouimet led the civil and political arm of the movement, while Thomas Storrow Brown looked after its military wing. On November 6, 1837, the Fils de la Liberté clashed violently with the anglophone Doric Club in Montreal. The association died with the outbreak of the Rebellions of 1837.

* Taken from the The Canadian Encyclopedia