Assembly he was censured for his actions and demoted. Ainslie's undistinguished military and colonial governorship forced him to accept a lower post in 1816, that being lieutenant-governor of Cape Breton Island. He arrived there in to find a colony in chaos because of lack of funds and uncollected taxes. Ainslie contributed to the situation by assuming a managerial stance similar to the one that had earned him this demotion. Basically the colony felt the taxes were illegal because of the lack of, and subsequent approval by, an assembly council. Ainslie's inability to deal with the crisis effectively destroyed the colony and it was re-absorbed into Nova Scotia on 16 October 1820. On that day Lieutenant-Governor Sir James Kempt of Nova Scotia officially proclaimed the end of Cape Breton as a separate colony. Coin collector Major-General Ainslie, for he had been promoted previous to his recall, was now free from any active employment. Nature had designed him for a savant, not a soldier. His hobby was collecting coins. The taste for coin-collecting had much decreased in England since the days of Addison, and he found a clear field for his labours. He made a specialty of Anglo-Norman coins, and travelled all over England, and, what was then a more uncommon thing, all over the rural districts of Normandy and Brittany, in search of coins. He published in 1830 the result of his labours in a magnificent quarto entitled Anglo-French Coinage, adorned with many illustrations. By his industry he had got together almost a unique collection of rare coins, and, absorbed in the pursuit, died peacefully in 1839. Legacy Lake Ainslie and Ainslie Point on Cape Breton Island is named for him. George Robert Ainslie. Illustrations of the Anglo-French coinage: taken from the cabinet of a fellow of the antiquarian societies of London, and Scotland; of the royal societies of France, Normandy, and many others, British as well as foreign. 1830. References 1776 births 1839 deaths British Army major generals Scottish numismatists Governors of Dominica Lieutenant Governors of Cape Breton Island 85th Regiment of Foot (Bucks Volunteers) officers British Army personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars King's Own Scottish Borderers officers Green Howards officers Governors of British Grenada