Legacy of Honour: The Panets, Canada's Foremost Military Family

James Pritchard is a history professor at Queen’s University and
author of Louis XV’s Navy, 1748-1762: A Study of Organization and
Administration.

Jacques Gouin, former chief translator at National Defense Headquarters, a veteran and regimental historian, and Lucien Brault, former professor at R.M.C. and local historian, present a traditional family history. Their thesis that the Panets comprise Canada’s foremost military family is questionable, their evidence is tendentious, and their presentation is hagiographic. The account is arranged according to generations into seven brief chapters preceded by an introduction and followed by simplified genealogical tables and four appendices.

By presenting their study within the constraining and dubious framework of military rather than family history, the authors threw away a splendid opportunity to present a valuable study of continuity and change in a Canadian family during two centuries. The first member of the family to come to Canada, Jean-Claude Panet, was not a soldier. He was the son of a clerk of one of the Treasurers-General of the Navy whose influence got him into the colonial infantry and whose money got him released three years later, after he became established on the fringes of the colony’s judiciary. Actually, two Panet brothers sought their fortunes in Canada during the 1740s, and both left distinguished marks on late eighteenth century Canadian society and law. The wives of these brothers bore 30 children, but the authors introduce us to only two, neither of whom was a soldier. Indeed, prior to the fifth generation of Panets, military service in the militia was quite secondary to distinguished careers in law, politics, and religion.

Each chapter contains both too much extraneous material that has no bearing on the history of the family and too little significant analysis of the development and sources of the family’s influence. The family achieved seigniorial status by 1777, but we are told nothing of the family’s income, capital accumulation, and inheritance patterns. The proximity of family members to sources of English political and military influence is an outstanding family characteristic, but we are told nothing of the relation between past legacies and current challenges. In brief, this is a disappointing book. Military buffs will like it for all of the wrong reasons. One redeeming feature is the translation, in Appendix 3, of Jean-Claude Panet’s diary of the siege of Quebec during the late spring and summer of 1759; it is worth reading.