Joshua Maugher biography

Josue Mauger

Little is known of Joshua Maugher's earlier life, other than he
was born in Jersey. When but a young man he was off to sea
and ended up in Louisbourg, arriving during the
English occupation period, 1745-1749

• Biography from www.blupete.com

Friends in high places

Joshua Mauger had, it seems, friends in high places back in London, and it was through these connections that he was to receive an appointment as a victualer to the Royal navy. With the handover of Louisbourg, the British were obliged to move their establishment from Louisbourg to Halifax. This occurred in July of 1749 and a settler at Halifax was to observe that aboard the arriving ships were "milch cows and other stock, besides military stores".

Doubtlessly amongst the crates of stock and stalls of animals was to be found 24-year-old Joshua Maugher. He had come to Halifax. Government money was flowing and he meant to get himself some. Maugher was soon to set up shops and was keen to meet the needs of any one who had something to trade, from influence to furs. For eleven years, if anyone in the Nova Scotia had something to sell, or something to buy,Joshua Maugher was the man to look up.

In addition to his establishments on McNab's Island and in downtown Halifax, Maugher set up truckhouses at Piziquid, Minas, Grand Pre, Annapolis and on the St John River.

He used his own vessels and ran produce up to Louisbourg; and, down from there, he brought the utensils for which the Acadian householder and farmer so eagerly waited. It was believed that Maugher was an intermediary on the peninsula between the French and the Indians "through which French manufactured tomahawks and scalping knives reached the Micmacs for use against the British".

'Illicit trade'

Maugher was "clearly engaged in illicit and contraband trade ... a kingpin of the illicit trade between Halifax and Louisbourg".

Cornwallis denounced him to the Imperial Government as an audacious smuggler," if not worse, and wondered why "so dubious a person" should be permitted to act as Agent-Victualer for Nova Scotia.

It is from Macdonald’s The last Siege of Louisbourg that we learn that Maugher's principle place of distribution was upon a large island just off the mouth of Halifax Harbour which we know these days as McNab's Island. A lot of his merchandise was bought through connections he had in France and which were shipped to Louisbourg.

He would then smuggle the goods down from Louisbourg and land them on Maugher's Beach on McNab's where he had "vast repositories of French goods". Macdonald then proceeds to inform us that the goods were brought overland and distributed to the Acadians and Indians through his numerous truckhouses.

'Nefarious trading activities'

Joshua Maugher, due to his nefarious trading activities in the infant English colony of Nova Scotia, was to earn a fortune.

From the Dictionary of Canadian Biography's account, we learn that Maugher's activities went beyond that of just being a merchant. He was involved in the ship building and lumbering at Lunenburg, including the operation of sawmills.

He also held title to numerous stretches of land throughout the province and various properties at Halifax. He owned, at one time, as many as 27 ships and with them ran fish and lumber to the West Indies and carried back up the coast sugar, molasses and rum; an activity, incidently, which many a ship owning Nova Scotian was to pursue well into the 19th century.

In 1760 Maugher retired to England with his wife, Elizabeth, and their child, a daughter, Sarah (baptized at Halifax on 8 April 1754). He was to use his fortune to advance himself in the high societies of both England and France. He was elected to parliament in 1768 and continued to hold his seat, except for a short interruption, until 1780. For many years he acted as Agent-General for Nova Scotia. Maugher died in 1788, leaving his fortune behind.

Macdonald would have it that his daughter married a French nobleman who was to become the Duc de Bouillon, which would have made Sarah, the Duchesse de Bouillon. Macdonald then proceeds to write that the Duc and the Duchesse were to be caught up in the terrors of the French Revolution and lost their heads by the operation of the guillotine.

I am not sure where Macdonald got his information, but it seems he was wrong. A person who was doing some research on the Duc de Bouillon thought it unlikely; and more recently I have heard from one of the descendants of the Maugher family who is located in London.

He wrote: "Joshua Maugher did indeed leave a fortune behind. Somewhere I think I have the figures. His main heir was in fact Philip Nicolle, his sister's son. From our own family records, and my late fathers extensive research, your article is wrong in claiming Joshua Maugher's daughter became the Duchesse de Bouillon.

“His daughter pre-deceased him. She married General James d'Auvergne, mentioned above, who was much older than her. General James d'Auvergne (later Mayor of Southampton) was the uncle of Admiral Philip d'Auvergne, who became the Duc de Bouillon. A book ‘’The tragedy of Philippe d'Auvergne’’ by G R Balleine, although having many errors in detail, deals with the tale of how Philip d'Auvergne came by the Dukedom and then lost it. Joshua Maugher was very supportive to Phillipe and paid the ransom for his release from imprisonment in France in 1779."

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