Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Moodie 1778-1837

On December 4, 1837, Robert Moodie and two companions set out from his house, which stood near here, to warn the Lieutenant-Governor, Francis Bond Head, at Toronto, that armed rebels were advancing towards the city. In an attempt to pass William Lyon Mackenzie's men who were blocking Yonge Street at Montgomery's Tavern (near the present Eglinton Avenue), Moodie was shot and fatally wounded. A native of Scotland, he had served as an officer of the British army during the Napoleonic wars and in Canada during the War of 1812, participating in the battles at Lundy's Lane, Fort Erie and Sackett's Harbour. He settled at Richmond Hill in 1835, and is buried at Holy Trinity Church, Thornhill.