Text from the Plaque
Founder of the "Talbot Settlement", he was born at Castle Malahide, Ireland, a member of the Anglo-Irish nobility. In 1803, after serving in the British Army, and on Simcoe's staff, he was granted 5,000 acres in this region and settled in Dunwich Township. Through political and family influence he obtained extraordinary powers to promote colonization. Talbot built mills, supervised the construction of a 300 mile road paralleling Lake Erie, established thousands of settler in his "principality" and controlled the settlement of London. In 1817 St. Thomas was named for him. Eccentric and authoritarian, patrician in his manner and conservative in his views, by 1837 he had successfully organized settlement in twenty-seven townships from Long Point to the Detroit River.
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