New London

History

Before the present New London village, there was a community called New London located at the mouth of Malpeque Bay, where the New London lighthouse is located at the end of Cape Road (close to French River). This community was settled by Robert Clark, an English Quaker merchant who owned Lot 21. He arrived in 1773 with grand plans to build a settlement to rival his native London. One of Clark's early settlers was Benjamin Chappell, one of the founders of the Methodist faith on the island, who came to New London aboard the sailing ship The Snow Elizabeth in 1774. Chappell wrote a diary of his experiences, and described his first, harsh New London winter as being "... very short of provisions. No rum, no bread, no meat, no beer, no sugar and half an ox", and (on March 1), wrote that "the people in general through the want of bread seem to decline in their work." The present New London (previously called New London South, then Clifton and before that, Graham's Corner) was settled by Scottish immigrants before 1859.