Researching John Wade

Wade fled to France after the Jacobite rising of 1745 was crushed. As a Catholic layman, he lived with exiled English Catholics in France, where he taught music and worked on church music for private use.

The son of John Wade and Harriet Chipman, Wade was born in Granville, Nova Scotia and educated at Annapolis Royal. He was called to the Nova Scotia bar in 1840. In 1842, Wade married Caroline Viets, the daughter of the Reverend Roger Viets. He represented Digby County in the provincial assembly from 1851 to 1867 and served as speaker for the assembly from 1864 to 1867. Wade supported Confederation which led to his defeat when he ran for reelection to the provincial assembly in 1867. He was named Queen's Counsel in 1867. Wade was elected as a Member of the historical Conservative Party in 1878 to the House of Commons in the riding of Digby in a by-election and re-elected in 1878. He was defeated in the election of 1882.

As an author his greatest success was ‘The Black Book, or Corruption Unmasked! Being an Account of Persons, Places, and Sinecures,’ 1820–3, 2 vols. Published by Effingham Wilson, and brought out when the reform excitement was commencing, it produced a considerable sensation, and fifty thousand copies were sold. With some alterations in the title, it was reproduced in 1831, 1832, and 1835.

In 1826 he wrote for Longmans ‘The Cabinet Lawyer: a Popular Digest of the Laws of England,’ the twenty-fifth edition of which appeared in 1829. Another popular work was ‘British History, chronologically arranged,’ 1839; supplement 1841; 3rd edit. 1844; 5th edit. 1847. Effingham Wilson paid Wade so much a week for years while he was compiling the ‘British History,’ and supplied him with all the necessary works of reference.

Wade also edited an annotated ‘Junius, including Letters by the same Writer under other signatures,’ (1850, in Bohn's ‘Standard Library,’ 2 vols.). Here he was out of his depth, and the imperfections of his edition, and especially of his introduction, were pointed out by Charles W. Dilke in the ‘Athenæum’ of 2 Feb. et seq. Literature he did not find a profitable employment, and his main dependence in his later years was a civil-list pension of 50l., granted to him on 19 June 1862 by Lord Palmerston, chiefly on the representations of Effingham Wilson.

He was a vice-president of the historical section of the Institution d'Afrique of Paris.

He died at Chelsea on 29 Sept. 1875, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery on 2 Oct.

Wade was born in Yorkshire to manufacturer David Wade and Mary Stockwell. The family migrated to Sydney in 1858, and John ran a store at Forbes. On 28 June 1863 he married Margaret Crawford; they had thirteen children. In 1866 he moved to Dungog, where he also ran a store. In 1878 he established a cornflour mill on the Williams River; this proved a success as one of the first cornflour mills in Australia. Wade was also an active Methodist, serving as conference representative and circuit steward. He co-founded the local School of Arts and the Williams River Steam Navigation Company, and twice ran for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Durham.

In 1888 Wade moved his mill and factory to Sydney, where his brand became widely known. In 1900 his wife, who had been active in Wesleyan charity, died. On 19 August 1903 he married Sarah Jane Clark. He sold out of his company in 1908, and died at Mosman in 1931.