The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871
Alexander, Reverend Henry
d. 1896
Reverend Henry Alexander was a Royal Navy chaplain who wrote the Colonial Secretary
in London on 14 October 1863
to determine whether he was entitled to land in British Columbia under the provisions of the
Military and Naval Settlers' Act,
1863.1
This act, proclaimed by British Columbia governor James Douglas, provided
British military and naval officers free grants of land in the colony based on their years of
service.2
Alexander was informed that as he was a chaplain, and not a regular officer, he did
not qualify for the grants.
Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham Clinton, the fifth Duke of Newcastle, noted in the file that
Chaplains have not the qualifications for settling a country which Military & Naval
Officers
have…3
Alexander, who had been in the navy since 1854, continued to serve until
1872.4
Educated at Cambridge, he was a British citizen who had been born abroad, his birthplace
being officially listed as
Not Known.5
He was ordained deacon in 1852, priested in 1853, and held the position of
Rector of Colwick from 1874 until his death in 1896 at the age of
seventy.6
1. Alexander to Colonial Secretary, 14 October 1863, 9951, CO 60/17.
B636A01.html
3. Romaine to Under-Secretary of State, 28 October 1863, 10420, CO 60/17.
B635AD06.html
4. C. E. Warren and F. Lean, Royal Navy List [January 1880] (London: Witherby & Co., 1880), 114. http://books.google.ca
5. J. A. Venn, ed., Alumni Cantabrigienses [part 2, vol. 1] (London: Cambridge University Press, 1940), 29.
http://n2t.net/ark:/13960/t4pk0gf8f;
United Kingdom, The National Archives, RG12 General Register Office: 1891 Census Returns RG12/2679, 55.
5. J. A. Venn, ed., Alumni Cantabrigienses [part 2, vol. 1] (London: Cambridge University Press, 1940), 29.
http://n2t.net/ark:/13960/t4pk0gf8f;
United Kingdom, General Register Office Index, Deaths Registered in July, August, and September 1896, Basford, vol. 7b, 128. http://www.freebmd.org.uk