George Heriot (artist)

[2] It is not known why he changed his plans, but his father's business had failed that year, causing his younger brother John to quit university and join the Army.

[4] He wrote and sketched extensively during his time in the Caribbean, and when he returned to London in 1781 he published A Descriptive Poem, written in the West Indies.

Here, he was instructed in art and taught landscape drawing and painting, then considered an essential part of a military education, by Paul Sandby.

[2] Shortly after his return to Quebec, he was appointed to the relatively senior position of assistant storekeeper general, perhaps through the influence of his younger brother, the journalist John Heriot.

[7] However, a later attempt to gain Finlay's former seat on the Legislative Council of Lower Canada was unsuccessful, and permanently soured Heriot's relations with Robert Shore Milnes, the Lieutenant Governor.

However, he quickly encountered both administrative and financial problems; the postmaster general required that all new services be able to support themselves, and refused to allow profits to be reinvested in the system rather than being remitted to central government.

However, he received a certain degree of support from the local authorities - Peter Hunter, the lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, was strongly in favour of improved infrastructure - and by 1805 had obtained a noticeable though limited increase in the quality of service in the west.