The Types Riot galvanized Reform opposition to the Family Compact and helped launch Mackenzie's political career in Upper Canada.
Key Facts
- Date
- June 8, 1826
- Number of rioters
- 9 to 15
- Alleged organizer
- Samuel Jarvis, government official
- Civil damages awarded
- £625 pounds sterling
- Newspaper targeted
- Colonial Advocate
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
William Lyon Mackenzie published editorials in his Colonial Advocate newspaper accusing the Family Compact — Upper Canada's self-appointed ruling elite — of incompetence and corrupt profiteering. This offended members of the governing clique, prompting plans, allegedly organized by government official Samuel Jarvis, to destroy Mackenzie's press.
On the evening of June 8, 1826, nine to fifteen rioters forced their way into the Colonial Advocate's offices in York, destroying the printing press and movable type. Mackenzie's employees sought help from passersby, but bystanders refused to intervene upon seeing government officials William Allan and Stephen Heward watching. The rioters then threw cases of type into the nearby bay.
Mackenzie successfully sued the rioters, with a jury awarding him £625 in damages. The trial drew widespread media condemnation of the officials who failed to stop the riot. Reformers elevated Mackenzie as a martyr, and he won election to the Parliament of Upper Canada. Historians regard the event as a marker of declining Tory authority in Upper Canada.
Political Outcome
Mackenzie won a civil damages award of £625, gained popular support as a Reform martyr, and was elected to the Parliament of Upper Canada; the riot signaled weakening Tory influence.
Family Compact held dominant control over Upper Canada's government and public life
Reform movement gained momentum and popular legitimacy, with Tory influence in decline