Waste Not, Want Not (When Mackenzie Came to Town)

No matter where you're from, being able to make a connection to a (in)famous individual through a specific location can be a source of pride. While I'm not personally for violent rebellion, I was nonetheless a bit starstruck that William Lyon Mackenzie had once visited the fair little village of Galt. His effigy was there too... and as it turns out, neither of them fared too well.

William Lyon Mackenzie

It was 1833 and William Lyon Mackenzie was touring the province; speaking to small crowds of men from all walks of life, attempting to drum up support for political reform. He was a well known critic of the ruling Family Compact and its individual members, and indeed had been expelled numerous times from the Upper Canada Assembly (only to be re-elected back in each time). What he wanted were investigations into past alleged abuses of power on behalf of the government, and better representation for the people of the growing settlements in the province.

While support for Mackenzie continued to exist throughout Upper Canada, it began to wane as his ideas became viewed as too radical, or disloyal to the Crown. Thus, when he decided to speak at the little (and only) tavern in Galt in 1833 there were both fellow reformers and adversarial Tories in attendance. From neighbouring townships there amassed a crowd estimated to be a few hundred strong, but as we all know, it only takes one to ruin a party.

As supporters were eagerly listening to Mackenzie in the afternoon sun, there could be seen an unusual pair of shapes coming toward them from Main Street. Those shapes were in fact, "a person with a blackened face and fantastic dress... carrying a hideous-looking effigy" (Young). Supposedly to continue the theme, the effigy (meant to be Mackenzie) was also fully dressed for the occasion with the addition of a parcel of gunpowder hidden within. A group of Mackenzie and reform detractors were looking to make it quite clear that such men and policies were not welcome in their village.

Men's Leather Shoe, 1799
Bata Shoe Museum Collection

The gun powder lit and the effigy exploded into flames in front of its horrified audience. Mackenzie meanwhile continued his speech completely unfazed - shouting his words with a smile on his face from the tavern window to the crowd below. Among his supporters, and a member of that crowd, was a young farmer by the name of Marshall. By his attendance at Mackenzie's speech that day Marshall demonstrated his desire for political change. Equally, by his exceedingly hasty exit from that speech along with the very boots that adorned the inflamed effigy, he demonstrated his desire for decent footwear.

Why let good things go to waste?

Sources
James Young's 1880, Reminisces of the Early History of Galt and the Settlement of Dumfries in the Province of Ontario.
James Young's 1912, Public Men and Public Life in Canada: The Story of the Canadian Confederacy
Historica Canada, 2013, "Rebellion in Upper Canada"
Dictionary of Canadian Biography, 1976, "William Lyon Mackenzie"

Further Reading
Bata Shoe Museum, 2014