Wolseley, William National Historic Person

Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia
Plaque photo © Parks Canada Agency / Agence Parcs Canada, 2005
Plaque photo
© Parks Canada Agency / Agence Parcs Canada, 2005
Plaque photo © Parks Canada Agency / Agence Parcs Canada, 2005Plaque location for William Wolseley and Admiral Phillips Cosby © Parks Canada Agency / Agence Parcs Canada, 2005
Address : path at corner of St. Anthony and St. George St., Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

Recognition Statute: Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date: 1945-05-16
Life Date: 1756 to 1842

Other Name(s):
  • Wolseley, William  (Designation Name)

Importance: Admiral (1819) in the Royal Navy, served in the East Indies and Mediterranean

Plaque(s)


Existing plaque: On Meseum wall in Fort Anne National Historic Site path at corner of St. Anthony and St. George St., Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

William Wolseley was born at Annapolis Royal, the son of an officer of the garrison. He entered the Royal Navy in 1769, and served with distinction in the Indian Ocean and in the Mediterranean, where he led the landing party which captured the tower at Mortella in 1794. Promoted to rear-admiral in 1804, Wolseley retired the following year, although he continued to advance, by regular gradation, to the rank of admiral in 1819. In 1842 he died in London, the result of the reopening of a wound received sixty years earlier in Ceylon.