William Bent Berczy

Canadian politician

William Bent Berczy (January 6, 1791 – December 9, 1873) was a farmer, painter and political figure in Upper Canada.

He was born in London, England in 1791, the son of German immigrants William Berczy and Jeanne Charlotte Allamand, and came to old York County in Upper Canada with his family in 1794. He grew up in York (now Toronto) (1794 1798, 1802 1804), Montreal (1798 1802, 1804 1812) and Quebec City (1804 1812) wherever his father's development work required the family to relocate.

He served in the Corps of Canadian Chasseurs during the War of 1812 and was at the Battle of Crysler's Farm. From 1818 to 1832, he lived on and off on a property near Sandwich (now Windsor), where he grew tobacco.

From 1828 to 1834, he represented Kent in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada from the 9th to 11th Parliament. Despite representing Kent, Berczy was residing mostly at York during legislative sitting or in Sainte Mélanie in then Lower Canada after 1832.

In 1832, he settled on the property at Sainte Mélanie d'Ailleboust of his wife, Louise Amélie Panet (married 1819), who had inherited it from her father, seigneur Pierre Louis Panet. Berczy was lieutenant colonel in the Lower Canada with the 8th Military District, Canadian Militia unit based in Berthier, Quebec from 1845 to 1863, reaching the rank of colonel. He died in Sainte Mélanie d'Ailleboust, Quebec in 1873, predeceased by his wife in 1863 and brother Charles Albert Berczy in 1858. Berczy and Panet died without having any children. He is buried at St John's Anglican Cemetery in Kildare.

Like his father he was a painter. Two paintings by Berczy hang in the National Gallery of Canada, Huron Indians leaving residence near Amherstburg and Blessing of the Fields.