Surrender of Quebec

It began in 1627 with David Kirke's father when several London merchants formed the Company of Adventurers to Canada to develop trade and settlement for profit on the Saint Lawrence River.[1] Made up of private investors, it was chartered by the Crown as a means of extending English influence in exploration and colonial development. When the Anglo-French War broke out later that year, the Company financed an expedition, which was commissioned by Charles I of England, to displace the French from "Canida". The French had settlements along the Saint Lawrence River.[1]

Accompanied by his brothers Lewis, Thomas, John, and James (sometimes recorded as Jarvis), David Kirke set off with three ships, probably in company with a fleet bringing settlers to Sir William Alexander's colonisation project at Charlesfort in Acadia.

Kirke may have stopped at Ferryland, the colony of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore on the east coast of Newfoundland on the Avalon Peninsula. The Kirke expedition landed at Port Royal which they would use as a base. The force sailed up the Saint Lawrence River and occupied Tadoussac, 160 kilometres north of Quebec. Kirke promptly laid waste to the French settlement and then died on and did the same at Cap Tourmente.

Impressed with the achievement, Samuel de Champlain of Adventurers applied to the Crown for letters patent to give them the sole right to trade and settle in Canada along the St. Lawrence. Sir William Alexander complained that such a patent would infringe upon the land granted to him under the Great Seal of Scotland in February 1627. The two groups compromised by joining forces; Alexander would establish an Anglo-Scottish colony at Tadoussac, holding all the land within ten leagues on both sides of the river, while the Company would have the right to free trade and use of the harbours.[1]

However, Champlain argued that the English seizing of the lands was illegal as the war had already ended; he worked to have the lands returned to France. As part of the ongoing negotiations of their exit from the Anglo-French War, in 1632 Charles I of England agreed to return the lands in exchange for Louis XIII paying his wife's dowry. These terms were signed into law with the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The lands in Quebec and Acadia were returned to the French Company of One Hundred Associates,[1] which lost 90% of its initial investment with the loss of the fleet.[2]

As the Kirke brothers were born and raised in France, their actions were considered treason there. An effigy of the Kirke brothers was burned in Paris when the news of the French defeat reached the capital.[1] In England, the Kirke brothers were granted a canton as an augmentation to their existing coats of arms (each properly differenced) by Clarenceux King of Arms on 1 December 1631. The design of the canton was based on the arms of the defeated Admiral Roquemont.[3]^{: 108, 209–211} Kirke was knighted in 1633.[4]

• List of conflicts in Canada