| Honorific-Prefix: | The Honourable |
| Gabriel George Ludlow | |
| Order1: | 1st |
| Office1: | Mayor of Saint John, New Brunswick |
| Predecessor1: | Inaugural holder |
| Successor1: | William Campbell |
| Term Start1: | May 18, 1785 |
| Term End1: | 1795[1] |
| Birth Date: | 16 April 1736 |
| Birth Place: | Queens County, Long Island, Province of New York |
| Death Place: | Saint John, Colony of New Brunswick |
| Parents: | Gabriel Ludlow Frances Duncan Ludlow |
| Relations: | George Duncan Ludlow (brother) Gulian Verplanck (brother in-law) Edward Hunter Ludlow (grandson) |
| Children: | Gabriel Verplanck Ludlow |
Gabriel George Ludlow (April 16, 1736 – February 12, 1808) was a Loyalist[2] military officer and politician who served as the first mayor of Canada's oldest incorporated city, Saint John, in then-colonial New Brunswick.
Gabriel George Ludlow was born on April 16, 1736, in Queens County, Long Island, in the Province of New York of then-British America. He was born to merchant Gabriel Ludlow and Frances Frances (née Duncan) Ludlow. Additionally, he was the younger brother of George Duncan Ludlow.[3]
Ludlow served in the 3rd Battalion of the Long Island-based De Lancey's Brigade as a colonel. He later served as a King's College governor as well as a Justice of the peace.[4] Ludlow later arrived in Parrtown with his older brother.[5] On May 18, 1785,[6] upon the incorporation of Saint John following the amalgamation of the Loyalist-created Parrtown and Carleton,[7] Ludlow was sworn into office as its first mayor. According to the Telegraph-Journal, he was additionally the first mayor in Canada.[6]
Ludlow's family, including himself,[8] were firm supporters of slavery and were slaveowners. His father traded slaves, and whilst his older brother, George, was the first Chief Justice of New Brunswick,[9] he also declared slavery, which he practiced, to be legal in the controversial 1799 court case R v Jones.[10] [11]
Ludlow also temporarily served as the acting Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick.[12]
On February 12, 1808, Ludlow married Anne Verplanck,[3] sister of Gulian Verplanck, the Federalist Speaker of the New York State Assembly.[13] They had one son, Gabriel Verplanck Ludlow,[3] the father of Edward Hunter Ludlow.[13] On February 12, 1808, Ludlow died in Saint John at the age of 71,[3] and was buried at the Old Carleton Graveyard in Saint John West along with his wife.[14] [15]