Canadian customs duties, 1762

Manuscript relating to customs duties on alcoholic spirits imported to Quebec, Canada, 1762, entitled 'Account of all Spirituous Liquors paying Duty to His Majesty Entered inwards in the Port of Quebec in Canada between the 26th May & 31st August 1762, with the particular Quantity & Quality of Spirits & the Duties Levied thereon'. Signed by John Gray, Collector of Customs, and dated 31st Aug 1762. The manuscript is endorsed 'Amount of Duties on Spirituous Liquors. Quebec 31st Aug 1762.' The following ships are mentioned, together with their masters' names and the ports whence they had come: William and Sarah, Union, Sally and Lucy, William and Elizabeth, Juno, Hope, American, Success and La Rette.

Quebec, an important fur-trading settlement, was at the centre of struggles between France and Great Britain during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Originally founded as a French colony, Quebec was captured by the British in 1629, who held it until 1632, when the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye restored Quebec to France. In 1690 the fleet of Sir William Phipps, governor of Massachusetts, attempted to take Quebec but was beaten back with troops led by its governor, the Count de Frontenac. In 1711 a second attempt to take the city also failed when a British armada crashed on the reefs of the St. Lawrence before reaching Quebec.
The city fell to the British in 1759 (during the Anglo-French Seven Years War, 1756-1763) and was ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris in 1763.

Single item.

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Bought from Myers & Co. in 1953. Shelved with MS 324.

Collection level description.

Compiled by Sarah Aitchison as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.

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