Benjamin Lett

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Benjamin Lett (14 November 1813 – 1858) was an Anglo-Irish -Canadian filibusterer best known for his 1840 bombing of the monument to British general Sir Isaac Brock near Queenston, Ontario.

A disciple of William Lyon Mackenzie, in 1838 he was charged with the murder of Captain Edgeworth Ussher. Lieutenant Governor Sir George Arthur posted a reward of 500 pounds for his capture. He fled to the United States, where he attempted to burn a British steamship. He was arrested and convicted of arson, but escaped on his way to prison. Eventually he was captured, and placed in solitary confinement in a prison in Auburn, New York. There he was mistreated, leading to his pardon in 1845 by the Governor of New York, Silas Wright. He died by strychnine poisoning in 1858, presumably murdered.