On this anniversary of the passing of "Infant Graves," I thought I might pose a question to you that (by some chance) you might know the answer: what was the cause of Simcoe's death?
I've read the usual biographical publications about his life, but I have yet to come across any discussion on what killed Simcoe. I know he had a combination of health issues throughout his life (e.g., asthma; migraines; battle wounds; etc.); however, during the journey to Portugal, something affected him so seriously that it was deemed necessary to rush him back to England. What could have possibly caused him to decline so rapidly?
(If there are any primary and/or secondary sources discussing this, I'd be interested in reading them!)
Thanks for letting me pick your brain. :)
Hello there, my fellow friend of the Man with the Urns!
[edit: dear @copper-haired-cuddlebug, can we also talk about how "Infant Graves" bespeaks just how infamously tone deaf Samuel Graves actually was? Calling his baby godson Infant Graves...]
It's an interesting question, and I can only give as precise an answer as speculations based on what little material we have allow. However, there are some clues from Simcoe's letters that his biographer Mary Beacock-Fryer cites in her work.
It seems like generally speaking, his health was taking a turn for the worse in 1805-1806. I would guess that the main complaint he was struggling with was his asthma or rather, the lasting effect this at the time largely untreatable disease had had on his respiratory system and general health.
Both Simcoe and his wife knew he was not well when he received the offer of the Portuguese mission, but he went anyway. What makes his decision even more tragic is that he initially toyed with the thought of refusing and staying home:
I cannot hesitate a moment in saying that the command
therein pointed out is not suited to my inclination nor
to that experience nor sort of ability that I believe myself
to possess.
John Graves Simcoe to Thomas Grenville, 27 July 1806, in: Beacock Fryer, Mary: John Graves Simcoe 1752-1806: A Biography, Toronto 1998, p. 241.
In the end, I assume what caused him to go was his desire for public recognition of his services to the country- he had before had entertained high hopes of receiving a title just before embarking on the journey to Upper Canada, and his stint in Haiti fighting for a cause he as a private citizen detested was (also due to his ill health, which almost landed him in hot water for supposed desertion) very brief. Quite likely, he saw a chance to finally earn the public laurels he, who had devoted his career to the higher cause he deemed was serving his country, had so long covetted.
Interestingly, Beacock Fryer mentioned that his family (i.e. his wife and the oldest daughters) thought he was in a solid enough state of health to go to India, but not to travel to Portugal on short notice.
And so he went. On 2 September, he wrote several letters home, one of them to his eldest daughter, Eliza, claiming he was feeling better after having had to be brought ashore at Coimbra to convalesce. To Elizabeth, he wrote:
[...] & well I did so, for I was seized with the asthmatic
paroxysm on my return, which lasted seven hours,
during which period I exhausted the whole artillery of
medicine for my recovery, but being skilfully attended
by the faculty, & most affectionately nursed by my
friends & servants, I thank God that I am perfectly
convalescent.
John Graves Simcoe to Elizabeth Posthuma Simcoe, 2 September 1806, in: Beacock Fryer, Mary: John Graves Simcoe 1752-1806: A Biography, Toronto 1998, p. 243.
Clearly, Simcoe was only telling half the truth, in order not to alarm his wife and children. Despite receiving treatment from a naval surgeon, the voyage had badly affected his health. Again writing to Elizabeth, he identified the causes of his illness as the "Hurry of the voyage", having been made to share a single cabin with 8 men and most interestingly, mentions the HMS Illustrious, the ship in which he was travelling, was being painted with "white lead on the outside & verdigris [a green colour produced by oxydated copper] within" while on voyage to Portugal.
Paint fumes were known to be health hazards, so I am quite surprised that Simcoe, whose ill health was not a secret, was put aboard HMS Illustrious of all ships.
Interestingly, we have a letter from his quasi-mother-in-law, Margaret Graves, talking about the dangers of paint fumes in relation to her house rennovations half a year after Simcoe's death:
I have been sleeping on two Sophas in the great Drawing Room for this month past and when I shall have the comfort to repose on a Bed again I cannot exactly say. I do sit in my Library again but at the hazard of my health for it stinks of pain[t] like poison.
Margaret Graves to Eliza Simcoe, April 1807, in: Bath History Volume VII - 1998; Arnold, Hillary: Genteel Widows of Bath - I - Mrs Margaret Graves and her Letters froms Bath, 1793-1807, p. 90.
Exposed to poisonous substances and being made to share closely confined quarters with eight people, likely causing the cabin to be stuffy and overheated (which is a common asthma trigger) would certainly have had an ill effect on a person whose health can be described as frail at best.
While perhaps not quite as impactful as these factors, I wonder whether the voyage itself played a part, too. To me, it seems rather interesting that Simcoe did not join the Navy to follow in the footsteps of his father and godfather, the latter of whom without question would have helped him establish a successful career as he had also done for his nephews. His decision to join the Army might be indicative of his mother and godfather, and maybe Simcoe himself, having been anxious that life aboard ship might be too strenouous for him.
On 25 September, the Earl of St. Vincent, commander of the mission, was aware of Simcoe's health now failing irreparably, and sent him home in the same vessel he had come in. Simcoe thus spent another four weeks among the paint fumes of HMS Illustrious before at last arriving in Tor Bay almost a month later.
From there, he was transported upriver to Exeter, where he was taken to the house of Archdeacon Moore. At the time, Elizabeth and their two oldest daughters Eliza and Charlotte had been in London, making purchases for the family's future move to India. They hastened to Exeter and arrived just in time to be able to say goodbye to him. Their other children, some of whom were staying with friends, could only be notified of their father's death afterwards.
I often wonder what might have been, had Simcoe decided not to go to Portugal; we know that he was quite happy and healthy when at home in Devon, and perhaps, if he had remained there, he may have lived a little longer, and not died in circumstances that came with such a tragic abrubtness that came to haunt the entire family for the next generation.
