Hat Brock’s

HISTORY

By Andrew Hind

When Major-General Isaac Brock died while defending Canada from a United States invasion on October 13, 1812, Britain lost the services of an able administrator and skilled military leader. Canada gained a hero.

As with any figure of towering stature, items of association take on special significance. Brock’s hat, on permanent display at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum, is no different. People are endlessly fascinated with it.

“We don’t tend to idolize our military leaders in the same way that Americans do, but Brock is widely recognized as a figure of significance in Canadian history and a source of national pride,” says Sarah Kaufman, Managing Director of the Museum. “His stature was undoubtedly elevated because of the recent War of 1812 bicentennial, and he is particularly well known in Ontario. For instance, we have Brock University, and many towns have a Brock Street.”

His hat represents a tangible reminder of the man, his service, and his death (some would describe it as martyrdom) in the defense of Canada,

“The hat has amazing provenance, unusual for an artifact so old,” explains Kaufman. “The first we hear of Brock’s hat is in an 1810 letter that mentions its delay in arriving from Britain.”

The letter, dated July 9, 1810, reads in part:

“I have a thousand thanks to offer you for the very great attention you have shown in executing my commissions; the different articles arrived in the very best order, with the exception of the cocked hat, which has not been received a most distressing circumstance, as, from the enormity of my head, I find the utmost difficulty in getting a substitute in this country.”

The hat on order was made of felted beaver, which was high fashion at the time. More practically, beaver felt hats were also waterproof. The hat had a linen band trim, a black cockade, a double brass coin chain running to buttons on the top and bottom. Most notably, it was adorned with white ostrich feathers.

“For Brock,” explains Kauffman, “the hat was a symbol of status. The beaver felt and most especially the rarity of ostrich feather would have demonstrated his station.”

But, not unusual for an item so old, there is some mystery surrounding the hat. It’s possible, perhaps likely, Kaufman explains, that Brock placed orders for two hats, one pre-1810 and the other in 1811, and that the hat in the museum’s possession is the second of the two. Here’s why. When Brock was promoted to Major-General on June 4, 1811, he would have required a change in uniform in keeping with his new rank. At about the same time, new dress regulations were introduced that included “plain hats with the usual Cord and Tassels, with Ostrich Feathers around the brim. This is henceforth the exclusive Distinction of a General Officer.”

We may never know whether the hat in the museum’s possession is the first or the second, or indeed whether there was a second hat on order because we have no record of such. For the layperson, this is splitting hairs. In either case, whether the hat on display is the one referenced in the 1810 letter or a later one, it did belong to General Brock. Unfortunately for Brock, he never had the opportunity to wear it. In Autumn of 1812, the United States declared war on Britain and sought to conquer Canada. Brock was shot and killed leading a countercharge in October 1812, at the Battle of Queenston Heights (an act that both demonstrated his personal courage but also a lapse in judgement, as it was unwise for the commander of all British forces in Upper Canada to put himself in harm’s way). Brock was lionized as a hero even as he fell.

The hat and tin hat box Brock had ordered arrived sometime after his death, likely in 1813. It was passed on to his closest next of kin, Captain Jack Brock, a cousin serving with the 49th Regiment then stationed at Balls Mills. Captain Brock had grown fond of property owner George Ball and gifted the hat to him for his generosity and hospitality in hosting the regiment (as a regulation general’s hat, George couldn’t have worn it himself, even in the unlikely circumstance – bearing in mind the ‘enormity’ of his cousin’s head - that it fit.

“While General Brock didn’t wear the hat, it was placed on his coffin at two of his four burials – in 1824 and again in 1853 when he was reinterred upon the completion of the second and current Brock’s Monument,” Kauffman explains.

There are stories reported that local militiamen passed the hat between them during these reburials, taking turns wearing it and inadvertently causing considerable wear to the hat. A letter dated September 5th, 1887, George Ball’s son, John W. Ball, writes of the hat: “It was in a good state of presentation, until it was loaned, to be placed on the coffin of the late General Brock when his remains were taken from Fort George, to be placed in the first monument on Queenston Heights, when it was completed and again when the new monument was finished, for the removal of the remains thereto….instead of being cared for as promised by the Colonel in charge, it was fingered and tried on by so many people, as to leave it in its present shabby state. The hat was I think loaned a third time, when the Prince of Wales visited the Monument, and was again subjected to the same treatment by hundreds.”

Considering the solemnity of these events, this seems unlikely – passing around the hat of a fallen hero and doffing it like some souvenir would have been extremely disrespectful. It’s more likely that the wearing resulted in handling over the course of the decades in which it was in the Ball family possession.

George Ball later moved to Niagara-on-the-Lake where he resided in Locust Grove (which still stands) and maintaining proud possession of Brock’s hat until his death. In 1897, George Ball’s children donated the hat to the newly formed Niagara Historical Society. It’s been part of the collection ever since.

According to the history books, Major-General Brock never wore the hat on display at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum. It doesn’t matter. When we look upon the hat, we see a man courageously leading a desperate charge up the slope of Queenston Heights, out in front of his men, urging them forward with waves of his sword to urge them forward, and then, tragically, being shot in the heart and killed. Inspired by his actions, British and allied First Nation forces prevailed and the battle was won.