Cornwallis, Edward (1713-1776), was a British Army officer and Member of Parliament. In 1749, he led an expedition to establish Halifax, Nova Scotia. Cornwallis served as governor of Nova Scotia from 1749 to 1752. He later became a highly controversial figure because of his treatment of the Indigenous (native) Mi’kmaq people.
Cornwallis was born on Feb. 22, 1713, in London, England. He joined the British Army around 1730. He first served in battle in continental Europe. Cornwallis was a senior officer during a British campaign against the Scots following the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
In 1749, the British government named Cornwallis as governor of the colony of Nova Scotia, in what is now eastern Canada. That year, he led 2,500 settlers to establish a fortified town in Nova Scotia, as a counterbalance to the French settlement of Louisbourg on Île Royale (now Cape Breton Island). The expedition landed at a large harbor along the south-central coast of Nova Scotia and established Halifax. Cornwallis headed the civil government of Nova Scotia and supervised the development of Halifax as a defensible outpost of the British Empire.
The Mi’kmaq who lived in the area, which they called K’jipuktuk, viewed the arrival of the British with alarm. They wrote to Cornwallis saying they accepted previous settlements at Annapolis Royal and Canso, but considered the establishment of Halifax an invasion. The Mi’kmaq sought talks with Cornwallis, but he was not willing to negotiate. Cornwallis soon introduced bounties (rewards) for the scalps of Mi’kmaq men, women, and children. Officials in other British and French colonies also introduced scalp bounties, but today many people consider such policies horrific.
Cornwallis returned to Britain in 1752. He later received much criticism for his part in failed military campaigns at Minorca and at Rochefort, France, in 1756 and 1757. Cornwallis served as a Member of Parliament from 1753 to 1762. His final posting was as governor of Gibraltar from 1762 until his death there on Jan. 14, 1776.
