Bytown sprang quickly into an important place, and became the centre of a vast lumber trade. After the union of Upper and Lower Canada, its name was changed to Ottawa; in August 1858 it became the capital of the united provinces, and in 1867 of the dominion of Canada. The cost of the Rideau canal — about a million — was so much above the original estimate that a select committee of the House of Commons, with John Nicholas Fazakerley, M.P. for Peterborough, as chairman, was appointed to inquire into the matter. By was recalled, and arrived in England in November 1832. He was examined by the committee, who, while admitting that the works had been carried out with care and economy, concluded their report with a strong expression of regret at the excess of the expenditure over the estimate and the parliamentary votes. By, who had expected commendation on the completion of this magnificent work in so short a time, under so many difficulties, and at a cost by no means extravagant, felt himself dreadfully ill-used, and never recovered from the disappointment. His health failing, he was placed on the unemployed list, and died at his residence, Shernfold Park, near Frant, Sussex, on 1 Feb. 1836.
By married, on 14 March 1818, Esther (d. 18 Feb. 1838), heiress of John March of Harley Street, London, and granddaughter of John Raymond Barker of Fairford Park, Gloucestershire, by whom he left two daughters: Esther (1820–1848), who married in 1838 the Hon. Percy Ashburnham (1799–1881), second son of the third earl; and Harriet Martha (1822–1842), unmarried.
[War Office Records; Royal Engineers' Records; Professional Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers, 4th ser. vols. i. ii. and v., with plates; Connolly's History of the Royal Sappers and Miners; Porter's History of the Royal Engineers; Family Recollections of Lieutenant-general Elias Walker Durnford, privately printed, Montreal, 1863; Parliamentary Committee Reports, 1832; Bouchette's British Dominions in North America, 1831, 2 vols. 4to; W. H. Smith's Canada, Past, Present, and Future, Toronto, 1851, 8vo; Bryce's Short History of the Canadian People, 1887; Bonnycastle's The Canadas in 1841, London, 1842, 2 vols. 8vo; Histories of Canada by Kingsford (vol. ix), by Roberts (Toronto, 1897), and by Greswell (Oxford, 1890); Walch's Notes on some of the Navigable Rivers and Canals in the United States and Canada, with plates, Madras, 1877; article by J. G. Bourinot in the Canadian Monthly, Toronto, June 1872, entitled ‘From the Great Lakes to the Sea;’ Historical Sketch of the Canals of Canada, in Van Nostrand's Eclectic Engineering Magazine, New York, 1871; Burke's Peerage, under ‘Ashburnham;’ Pall Mall Magazine, June 1898, article on Ottawa; United Empire Loyalist, 17 March, 1827; private sources.]
BYRNE, JULIA CLARA (1819–1894), author, born in 1819, was the second daughter and fourth child of Hans Busk (1772–1862) [q. v.] Educated by her father she became a good classical scholar and learned to speak French perfectly.
On 28 April 1842 Julia Busk married William Pitt Byrne, the proprietor of the ‘Morning Post,’ who died on 8 April 1861. There were issue of the marriage one son and one daughter.
She began at an early age to contribute to periodicals. Her first book — all her works were published anonymously — ‘A Glance behind the Grilles of the Religious Houses in France,’ appeared in 1855, and discussed the working of the Roman catholic church as compared with that of the protestant. Mrs. Byrne, coming under the influence of Cardinal Manning, became a convert to the Roman catholic church. Both at home and abroad Mrs. Byrne saw or met many persons of note, and her books deal largely with her social experiences. Some of her books, like ‘Flemish Interiors,’ 1856, and ‘Gossip of the Century,’ 1892, are anecdotal, light, and amusing, while others deal with serious social questions. ‘Undercurrents Overlooked,’ published in two volumes in 1860, called attention to the abuses of the workhouses, and its revelations, due to first-hand experience on the part of the author, created a profound impression, and helped to bring about many much-needed reforms. ‘Gheel, the City of the Simple,’ 1869, deals with the Belgian mode of treating the insane, and ‘The Beggynhof, or City of the Single,’ 1869, with a French method of providing for the unmarried.
Mrs. Byrne died at her residence, 16 Montagu Street, Portman Square, London, on 29 March 1894. She was a woman of versatile talents; she knew dead and modern languages, illustrated many of her books with her own hand, understood music, and was a good talker and correspondent.
Other works are:
- ‘Realities of Paris Life,’ 1859.
- ‘Red, White, and Blue: Sketches of Military Life,’ 1862, 3 vols.
- ‘Cosas de España, illustrative of Spain and the Spaniards as they are,’ 1866, 2 vols.
- ‘Pictures of Hungarian Life’ (illustrated by the author), 1869.
- ‘Feudal Castles of France’ (illustrated from the author's sketches), 1869.
- ‘Curiosities of the Search Room: a Collection of Serious and Whimsical Wills,’ 1880.
- . ‘De Omnibus Rebus: an Old Man's Discursive Ramblings on the Road of
