In 1796, the Crown purchased from the Chippewa First Nation the first block of land in Lambton County and the first township established within the bounds of the present St. Clair Township. It was named Shawanese Township, with alternate spellings, partially surveyed in 1811 for Lord Selkirk's Baldoon Settlement, and fully surveyed and established in 1820. By 1820, Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada and a veteran of the Napoleonic Peninsular War in Spain, had renamed Shawanese Township Sombra, feeling that the Spanish word for “shade” best described the dense forest canopy. The area north of Sombra Township and south of Lake Huron was known alternatively as the St. Clair District or Township. In 1829, when St. Clair District was divided into Moore and Sarnia Townships, Moore Township was surveyed and established. Moore Township and Mooretown were named after General Sir John Moore, who was killed in the battle of La Coruña, Spain, in 1809. In 1823, Corunna was surveyed as a possible location for the capital of the united provinces of Upper Canada, now Ontario, and Lower Canada, now Québec, and its centre square was to be set aside for the Parliament buildings as St. George's Square in honour of the patron saint of England.