People mentioned in the correspondence

Abbott, Ivel (d. 1876-09-21)
Ivel “Long” Abbott, who stood six foot six inches tall, struck gold in the summer of 1861 on Lowhee Creek, nicknamed Humbug Creek before the gold finds.1 While his partner William Jourdan went to fetch supplies, Abbott carelessly struck through what was thought to be the blue-clay bedrock to expose rich gold deposits underneath.2
In this despatch, Douglas remarks on the richness of the find, which he claims could produce up to $100,000 for each member of the company; however, Akrigg and Akrigg write that the Otter docked in Victoria with $250,000 from Abbott and Company.3
Abbott became a local personality when he took his share and spent it on gambling and drinking sprees in Victoria, on one of which he smashed a mirror with gold pieces.4 After spending all his funds, he tried his luck in Cassiar gold country.5
His luck failed him, and he died in 1876 in Glenora, where his death certificate reads as “Joel Abbott.”6
  • 1. Richard Wright, Barkerville, Williams Creek, Cariboo: A Gold Rush Experience, rev. ed. (Williams Lake: Winter Quarters Press, 1998), 122-23.
  • 2. Don Waite, The Cariboo Gold Rush Story (Surrey: Hancock House, 1988), 34.
  • 3. G. P. V. Akrigg and H. B. Akrigg, British Columbia Chronicle, 1847-1871 (Victoria: Discovery Press, 1977), 212.
  • 4. Ibid., 257-58.
  • 5. Richard Wright, Barkerville, Williams Creek, Cariboo, 122-23.
  • 6. BC Archives, Geneaology: Joel Abbott, Royal BC Museum.
Mentions of this person in the documents
Abernethy, George (1807-10-071877-05-02)
Titles and roles:
  • Governor
Governor George Abernethy was born on 7 October 1807 in New York. Abernethy led Oregon's first and only provisional government and guided Oregon's response to the Whitman Massacre.1 Before his election as governor, Abernethy was a miller by trade. He came to Oregon in 1840 as part of the “Great Reinforcement” to the Methodists' endeavours in the Willamette Valley; due to his trade he was able to open a mercantile in Oregon City which served as a source of supplies for the emigrants.2
In 1845, Abernethy won the election to become Oregon's first provisional governor, which he won again in 1847. During this time, he also took control of Oregon's first newspaper -- The Oregon Spectator -- which he held jurisdiction over from 1846 to 1855.3 Abernethy's first proposal as governor was to institute a militia, adopt a standard of weights and measures, and survey a new road into the Willamette Valley.4 Amongst his propositions, Abernethy was also a strong advocate for: strong schools, a pilot service to assist ships attempting to travel across the Columbia River, and an easier system for land claims.5
At the onset of the Whitman Massacre in the late 1840s, Abernethy was still in the position of governor. He led Oregon's response to the massacre by organizing the meetings which recruited a volunteer militia, and he financed the militia that would be involved in the upcoming war -- led by Colonel Gilliam.6 Abernethy called for immediate and prompt action mindset after the Whitman Massacre.7 In 1849, Oregon officially became a territory and along with this change, Abernethy's position of provisional governor ended; however, he remained in Oregon City until a flood destroyed his house in 1861 which pushed him to move to Portland.8
On 2 May 1877, Abernethy died at the age of 70 in Portland. The Oregonian published the announcement of his death the next day, along with a celebratory article describing him as an early pioneer who was active and conspicuous in laying the foundation of a great common-wealth.9 During his life -- before and after his move to Portland -- Abernethy was a major philanthropist. In 1847, he contributed to the Clackamas County Female Seminary, and in 1856 he purchased Portland's first fire engine. Today, Abernethy's (also spelt “Abernathy”) name appears on a school and neighborhood in Portland, and a creek and island in Clackamas County.10
  • 1. David Peterson del Mar, George Abernethy: 1807-1877, The Oregon Encyclopedia.
  • 2. Ibid.; Stephenie Flora, George Abernethy, Oregon Pioneers, 1.
  • 3. Peterson del Mar, George Abernethy.
  • 4. Ibid.
  • 5. Ibid.
  • 6. Ibid.
  • 7. Cassandra Tate, Aftermath, History Link.
  • 8. George Abernethy, Historical Marker ; Peterson del Mar, George Abernethy.
  • 9. Flora, George Abernethy, 3.
  • 10. Peterson del Mar, George Abernethy.
Mentions of this person in the documents
Adams,
 
Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
Mentions of this person in the documents
Adams, Charles Francis (1807-08-181886-11-21)
In an enclosure to this despatch, Charles Francis Adams notifies Lord John Russell of Allen Francis's appointment as American consul in Victoria.1
Adams was born 18 August 1807 to the American president John Quincy Adams.2 He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1841 to 1843, and a member of the state senate from 1844 to 1845. In 1861, he was appointed Minister to England by President Lincoln, which he served until 1868. He died in Boston, Mass., on 21 November 1886.3
Mentions of this person in the documents
Adams, John R.
According to this despatch, Adams was the owner of one of the richest gold mines in the Cariboo in 1862. Douglas writes that Adams arrived in British Columbia from New Brunswick in 1861 and purchased a one-third share of a mine near Williams Creek; Douglas emphasizes the success of the mine, reporting that from the 1st day of June to the 1st day of October, the Company have taken up 10,000 ounces, equal to One Hundred and Sixty Thousand Dollars, approximately $3 million today.1 This is an impressive revenue for a man who, according to Douglas, had no previous mining experience.
By 1883 Adams had left the Cariboo, but he was the subject of an article in the British Colonist after he was robbed while on a prospecting tour in Arizona.2 One member of his party was shot during the robbery and did not survive.3
Mentions of this person in the documents
Adams, William Pitt (1804-12-111852-09-01)
William Pitt Adams, born on 11 December 1804, was Her Majesty's Charge d'Affaires and Consul General to Peru; Adams expressed that British subjects in Peru showed interest in settlement on Vancouver Island in 1849, however he never followed through with promoting this settlement due to a lack of information provided to him by the Hudson's Bay Company.1
In 1817, Adams married Georgiana-Emily Lukin with whom he had one daughter.2 Adams died in Lima, Peru on 1 September 1852.3
Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
Mentions of this person in the documents
Adderley, Charles Bowyer (1814-08-021905-03-28)
After obtaining a pass degree from Christ Church, Oxford in 1835, Adderley spent the next five years developing estates inherited from a great uncle in which he instituted a series of planning and educational reforms.1 On Peel's urging, he entered the House of Commons as a tory in 1841 and held his seat through eight elections.2 In 1849 he participated in the Church of England colony of Canterbury in New Zealand and, with E. G. Wakefield and E. Bulwer-Lytton, formed the Colonial Reform Society which encouraged greater independence in the settler colonies and reduction of imperial financial support.3 As a Conservative he advanced a series of education reform bills. In 1866 Adderley became parliamentary undersecretary of state for the colonies, for which one of his main tasks was to manoeuvre the British North America Bill through the Commons. Part of his argument to forestall British amendments, that … federation has in this case specially been a matter of most delicate treaty and compact between the provinces, became one of legal bases in the ongoing debate concerning the nature of Confederation.4 Raised to the peerage in 1878, he continued to make speeches in the Lords and write letters to the Times on educational and colonial affairs.5
  • 1. H. C. G. Matthew, Adderley, Charles Bowyer, first Baron Norton(1814-1905), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
  • 2. Ibid.
  • 3. Ibid.
  • 4. UK, House of Commons, Hansard, UK Parliament, 28 February 1867, vol. 185, column 1169 ; G. F. G. Stanley, Act or Pact? Another Look at Confederation, Canadian Historical Association: Report of the Annual Meeting, vol. 35, issue 1, 1956, p.15.
  • 5. Matthew, Adderley, Charles Bowyer.
Mentions of this person in the documents
Addington, L. A.
Titles and roles:
  • Captain
Captain L. A. Addington was mentioned in this despatch, containing W. B. Lord's application for a public appointment in British Columbia. On August 23, 1862, Captain L. A. Addington wrote testifying to Lord's capabilities and worth, in a document enclosed within the application.
Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
Mentions of this person in the documents
Addington, Henry Unwin (17901870)
Addington was born in 1790 and educated at Winchester College. After joining the Foreign Office in 1807, he rose to the position of minister-plenipotentiary in the negotiations with the United States concerning the Oregon boundary during the mid 1820s. Recalled by Lord Palmerston in 1833 for his opinions and actions as minister to Spain, he was appointed by Lord Aberdeen as under-secretary of the Foreign Office where he served until 1854. With descriptions from colleagues and biographers that range from stupid to obstinate, it is perhaps not surprising that he acquired the nickname, “Pumpy”, in the Foreign Office.
Mentions of this person in the documents
Adrian, Adam
Adrian Adam was first employed as an extra clerk in the Colonial Office in 1835. In 1848 he became clerk in the registry department and in 1864, clerk in the chief clerk's department. He retired in 1880.1
  • 1. Edward Fairfield, The Colonial Office List for 1881 (London: Harrison, 1881), 319.
Mentions of this person in the documents
Ahan (d. 1865-06-18)
Ahan was a powerful chief related to the Tsilhqot'in First Nations group.1 Ahan, with his relative Sutas, entered Bute Inlet to attack a group of men employed in the creation of a road.2 A year later, during a prolonged winter that caused a lack of food among the First Nations groups, Ahan and Sutas travelled to Bella Coola with expensive furs to make peace between the groups for their involvement in the massacres.3 Mr. Moss along with ten Bella Coola First Nations captured Ahan and Sutas and took them to prison.4 During the trial, Ahan admitted to inflicting the final shot in the death of McDougal but stated that they were pressured into conducting the attack by the great Chief Klatsassin, who threatened them with death.5 At the end of the trial, Mr. Brew found Ahan guilty of first degree murder in the deaths of Macdonald, Higgins, and McDougal. He had Ahan executed on 18 July 1865 for these crimes.6
Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
Mentions of this person in the documents
Ahmete
Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
Mentions of this person in the documents
Aiken, James
Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
Mentions of this person in the documents
Aikenson,William
William Aikenson appears in this letter, in which he recommends that his nephew contact the HBC to inquire about the emigrators rules or conditions required for Vancouver Island.1
Mentions of this person in the documents
Aikin,George
Aiken, spelled as “Aikin” in the correspondence collection, was appointed British consul for California on April 26, 1851,1 and remained in the position until he retired in 1857.2 During that time he acted as the president of the San Francisco cricket club.3
As this and other documents show, Aikin reported to the Colonial Office on the gold deposits found in the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1852.
Mentions of this person in the documents
Aikman
Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
Mentions of this person in the documents
    Airey, R.
     
    • 1.
    Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
    Mentions of this person in the documents
    Airly, Richard
    Titles and roles:
    • Sir
    Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
    Mentions of this person in the documents
    Aitken, Will
    Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
    Mentions of this person in the documents
    Akshahtahan
    Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
    Mentions of this person in the documents
      Akwah
      Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
      Mentions of this person in the documents
        Alcalá-Galiano, Dionisio (17621805-10-21)
        Titles and roles:
        • Officer
        Dionisio Alcalá-Galiano was a Spanish naval officer and explorer. He was sent to the Northwest Coast by the Spanish Crown in 1791/1792 to search for the fabled Northwest Passage, which he did not discover, because it does not exist.1
        After spending time in Friendly Cove on Nootka Island in the spring of 1792, he completed the first European circumnavigation of Vancouver Island, and while charting the region, he encountered Captain George Vancouver,2 with whom he collaborated by comparing notes and eating a very hearty breakfast that might have included sturgeon.3 A report of his journey was published in 1802,4 and though Galiano's conclusions about the economic potential of the area were generally positive, the Spanish government declined a massive colonial effort there, since Galiano did not find the Northwest Passage.5 He thus concluded his naval career in other parts of the world, with which these despatches are not concerned.6
        Several local landmarks are named after Galiano, including, most notably, Galiano Island; others include Galiano Gallery and Alcala Point—there is also a Galiano Bay in Nootka Sound. All of these landmarks were named by 19th and 20th century British and Canadian surveyors, in honour of Galiano.7
        Mentions of this person in the documents
        Aldrich, Stephan J.
         
        Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
        Mentions of this person in the documents
        Aldworth, Aldion
        Titles and roles:
        • Lieutenant
        One of the Deptford officers.
        Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
        Mentions of this person in the documents
        Alexander, Henry (d. 1896)
        Titles and roles:
        • Reverend
        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
        • 2. James Douglas, Military and Naval Settlers' Act, 1863, 2. http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0370762
        • 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
        Mentions of this person in the documents
        Alexis
        Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
        Mentions of this person in the documents
        Alfred, Ernest Albert (1844-08-061900-07-30)
        Titles and roles:
        • Duke of Edinburgh
        Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
        Mentions of this person in the documents
        Allan, George Traill (b. 1810)
        Allan, born in Crieff, county Perth, Scotland, joined the HBC in 1830 as a clerk. In 1831 he was transferred to the Columbia district where he worked as a clerk until 1842. During the next five years he worked as one of the company's joint agents in Honolulu. Allan refused the position of HBC chief factor; he resigned in 1849 and worked as a commission merchant in Oregon until 1861.
        • 1. Hartwell Bowsfield, ed., Fort Victoria Letters 1846-1851 (Winnipeg: Hudson's Bay Record Society, 1979).
        • 2. E. E. Rich, ed., The Letters of John McLoughlin from Fort Vancouver to the Governor and Committee, Second Series, 1839-1844 (London: Champlain Society for the Hudson's Bay Record Society, 1941).
        Mentions of this person in the documents
        Allan-lah-hah
         
        Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
        Mentions of this person in the documents
          Allen, B. G.
          Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
          Mentions of this person in the documents
          Allen, William (17921864-01-23)
          Titles and roles:
          • Captain
          William Allen appears in Pearson, Charles S. to Lytton, Sir Edward George Earle Bulwer 5 July 1858, CO 305:9, no. 6529, 647 as a supporter of Louisa Johns' petition for a widow's pension and employment for her son on Vancouver Island. Pearson reminds Lytton that Allen was formerly Commander of the Niger exploring expedition of 1841-42. The mission was considered unsuccessful due to high mortality rates from disease. Allen, then captain of the Wilberforce, was not blamed for the expedition's failure but placed on half pay when he returned to England.1 He retired from the Navy in 1855 and promoted to retired rear-admiral in 1862.2
          Allen was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society.3 He wrote prolifically on topics ranging from the elimination of the African slave trade to community improvement, as well as multiple works based on his travels.4 Allen was also a musician and an accomplished painter.5 The Royal Society displayed his landscape paintings from 1828 to 1847.6 Allen was born in Weymouth in 1792 and died in Dorset on January 23, 1864.7
          • 1. J. S. Keltie and Rev. Andrew Lambert, Allen, William, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
          • 2. Ibid.
          • 3. Ibid.
          • 4. Ibid.
          • 5. Ibid.
          • 6. Ibid.
          • 7. Ibid.
          Mentions of this person in the documents
          Allen, Charles William
           
          Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
          Mentions of this person in the documents
          Allen, T.
          Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
          Mentions of this person in the documents
          Alleyne, Master of Public Policy
          Titles and roles:
          • Master of Public Policy
           
          Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
          Mentions of this person in the documents
          Allison, John Fall (18251897)
          John Allison was a gold prospector who settled in the Similkameen Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia.1 Allison was born in 1825 in Leeds, England. He immigrated to California in 1837 and, at age 12, participated in the gold rush there. In 1858, he came to the Fraser Valley to prospect for gold. In 1860 Governor James Douglas sent him to prospect in the Similkameen region.2
          On 27 July 1860, Allison reported to Peter O'Reilly, a county court judge, that gold was plentiful in the region.3 In a despatch to Newcastle on 3 August 1860, Douglas states that Mr. Allison's claim produces £10 a day, for each man employed.4
          His first wife, Nora Yakumtikum, a First Nations woman, worked for the HBC running a pack train. They had three children together before their relationship ended. In 1868, he married Susan Moir who is known for her memoir, A Pioneer Gentlewoman in British Columbia.5
          The Allison Pass, between Hope and Princeton, is named after Allison for his discovery.6
          Mentions of this person in the documents
          Alport, C. A.
          Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
          Mentions of this person in the documents
          Alston, E. Graham (1832-09-061872-11-12)
          Called to the bar as a lawyer in London in 1857, Alston arrived in Victoria in 1859 and was appointed registrar of titles for Vancouver Island in 1861.1 A member of the Legislative Council for Vancouver Island in 1861-62 and again for the united colony during 1868-1871, Alston disapproved of more democratic forms of government. After the colonies united in 1866, he confided his pleasure in having got rid of the House of Apes, the Assembly of Vancouver Island.2 When British Columbia joined confederation in 1871, he requested that the imperial government transfer him since he could see no hope of preferment within the Colony, inasmuch as a Responsible form of Government has been established, in which all vacancies will be filled by the political friends of the ministry of the day.3 He left British Columbia in August 1871 and served as queen's advocate in Sierra Leone for a year before succumbing to African fever.4
          • 1. Dorothy Blakey Smith, Alston, Edward Graham, Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
          • 2. Ibid.
          • 3. Ibid.
          • 4. Ibid.
          Mentions of this person in the documents
          Alway, John
          Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
          Mentions of this person in the documents
          Anaheim
          Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
          Mentions of this person in the documents
          Anderson
          Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
          Mentions of this person in the documents
            Anderson, Alexander Caulfield (1814-03-101884-05-08)
            A. C. Anderson was born near Calcutta, India, in 1814 but raised in Essex, England.1 He joined the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company in March 1831, sailing for Canada in April.2 In 1832, Anderson was posted to Fort Vancouver, in 1833 to Fort McLoughlin, and from 1836 to 1839 to Fort Fraser.3 Anderson also served at Fort George (1839-40), Fort Nisqually (1840-1841), and Fort Alexandria (1843-1848).4
            Following the Oregon boundary treaty in 1846, Anderson led three expeditions in search of a new fur brigade route from New Caledonia to the coast.5 On the first he travelled from Kamloops to the lower Fraser via Lillooet and Harrison River in May 1846; he returned via the Coquihalla and Nicola Lake, and in May 1847 he traveled from Kamloops and the Coldwater River and Uztlius Creek to the Fraser River near Yale.6 In 1848, Anderson took charge of Fort Colvile, serving there until 1851, when he was transferred to Fort Vancouver.7 He retired from the Hudson's Bay Company on 1 June 1854, settling near Cathlamet in Washington Territory.8
            He moved to Victoria in 1858, was appointed postmaster of Victoria and collector of customs for British Columbia, and maintained several business interests as well.9 In 1876, he became dominion inspector of fisheries for British Columbia and also the federal representative to the Indian Reserve Commission.Anderson died on 8 May 1884 in Saanich, British Columbia.10
            • 1. W. Kaye Lamb, Anderson, Alexander Caulfield, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
            • 2. Ibid.
            • 3. Ibid.
            • 4. Ibid.
            • 5. Ibid.
            • 6. Ibid.
            • 7. Ibid.
            • 8. Ibid.
            • 9. Ibid.
            • 10. Ibid.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Anderson, George H.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Anderson, James
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Anderson, John
            John Anderson was inspector of the Machinery Department at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, England.
            Imperial Calendar, 1858, p. 187.
            Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Anderson, D. C.
            Titles and roles:
            • Major General
            Major General D. C. Anderson was mentioned in this despatch, containing W. B. Lord's application for a public appointment in British Columbia. On November 26, 1861, Anderson wrote testifying to Lord's abilities as a veterinary surgeon, in a document enclosed within the application.
            Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Anderson, David (1814-02-101885-11-05)
            Titles and roles:
            • Reverend
            Born in Edinburgh in 1814, David Anderson completed his education at Exeter College, Oxford, and was ordained as a deacon in the Anglican Church in 1837.1 After a decade of clerical positions in England, the support of the Archbishop of Canterbury led to his consecration in 1849 as the first bishop of the newly established diocese of Rupert's Land, which was partly endowed by the Hudson's Bay Company.2
            Anderson did not prove a skilful church leader in a society divided by religious and ethnic differences. The associate governor of Rupert's Land lamented that the bishop not only never thinks of what he is going to say […] he is utterly incapable of remembering what he has said.3 During Anderson's 15 years as bishop, the Red River Settlement was torn by a series of religious and socio-ethnic conflicts, some exacerbated by his junior clerics, and some by the bishop himself.4
            • 1. F. Pannekoek, Anderson, David, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
            • 2. Ibid.
            • 3. E. E. Rich, ed., London Correspondence Inward from Eden Colvile, 1849-1852, (London: Hudson's Bay Record Society, 1956), 250.
            • 4. S. Van Kirk, Women in Fur Trade Society in Western Canada, 1670-1870, (Winnipeg: Watson & Dwyer Pub., 1980), 220-30; F. Pannekoek, A Snug Little Flock: The Social Origins of the Riel Resistance, 1869-70, (Winnipeg: Watson & Dwyer Pub., 1991), 119-59.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Anderson, W. E.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Andoe, William
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Andrews, J. A.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Angelo, Charles Aubrey
            Born in England in 1811, Charles Aubrey Angelo was a journalist, traveller, and two-time author of travel accounts.1 After living and working in California, Angelo travelled to Vancouver Island in 1859 during the Fraser River gold rush.2 He settled in Victoria, which he described, in his book Idaho(1865), as far worse than a Venetian oligarchy.3 Angelo became a clerk in the Victoria Customs Office, where he received duties for the province and recorded the transactions in the department books.4 In the summer of 1859, colonial officials discovered certain irregularities and apparent frauds in the Customs Office.5 They determined that $800 was missing from the account books.6 In a despatch to Sir Lytton, James Douglas recounts that suspicion [attaches] strongly to [Angelo].7 Swift proceedings were enacted by the Attorney General and Crown Solicitor against Angelo.8 He was tried and found guilty on 11 August 1859 for embezzling and falsifying the Customs Office accounts.9 Angelo was imprisoned for two months, despite several petitions of release from the public.10 In the Daily Evening Bulletin, Angelo is described as the life and soul of the Custom House Department… [returning] to the world as a wiser man.11 After his imprisonment, Angelo returned to California as a journalist for a local newspaper, and then joined the Idaho gold rush in 1863, the inspiration for his book, Idaho.12 On30 May 1875, Angelo passed away at the age of 64.13
            • 1. Tina Merril Loo Law and Authority in British Columbia, 1821-1871, Retrospective Theses and Dissertations, 1919-2007, (University of British Columbia: 1990) 65, 98.
            • 2. Ibid.
            • 3. C. Angelo Idaho, a Descriptive Tour, (Fairfield, Wash: Ye Galleon Press), 8-9.
            • 4. James Douglas to Edward George Earle Bulwer Lytton, 6 June 1859, CO 305:10, no. 7342, 196.
            • 5. Ibid.
            • 6. Ibid.
            • 7. Ibid.
            • 8. Second Day. Regina v. Angelo, The British Colonist, 15 August 1859, 1.
            • 9. James Douglas to Edward George Earle Bulwer Lytton, 6 June 1859, CO 305:10, no. 7342, 196.
            • 10. Tina Merill Loo Law and Authority in British Columbia, 1821-1871, Retrospective Theses and Dissertations, 1919-2007, (University of British Columbia: 1990) 65, 98.
            • 11. Letter from Victoria, V. I., Daily Evening Bulletin, 30 July 1860.
            • 12. Tina Merill LooLaw and Authority in British Columbia, 1821-1871, Retrospective Theses and Dissertations, 1919-2007, (University of British Columbia: 1990) 65, 98.
            • 13. Ibid.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Annesborg, Margaret
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Appleton, John (18151864)
            John Appleton, an American lawyer, politician, and statesman, was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, 11 February 1815. He became a lawyer and editor before becoming chief clerk in the United States Navy Department. In 1848, he was transferred to the State Department, headed by James Buchanan, and a few weeks later President James K. Polk appointed him US chargé d'affaires in Bolivia.1
            Appleton served one term in Congress (1851-53) and in 1855 was appointed secretary of the US legation at London under Buchanan and returned to the US the following year to assist in Buchanan's successful campaign for the presidency. Appleton served as assistant secretary in the State Department from 1857 to 1860, when he was appointed ambassador to Russia. He died in Portland, Maine, on 22 August 1864.2
            • 1. Dumas Malone, ed., Dictionary of American Biography, (New York: Scribner's, 1964), 329-330.
            • 2. Ibid.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Arbuckle, Benjamin Vaughan
            Titles and roles:
            • Colonel
            Royal Artillery commander. Father of E. Vaughan Arbuckle.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Arbuthnot, George (1802-11-201865-07-28)
            George Arbuthnot was a junior clerk in the British Treasury Department from 18 July 1820 to 12 October 1832, when he was promoted to assistant clerk. While assistant clerk, he served as private secretary to the senior parliamentary secretary from 4 March 1823 to February 1838, to the assistant secretary from 16 February 1838 to February 1843, to the first lord from 3 February 1843 to July 1846, and to the chancellor of the exchequer from 7 July 1846 to November 1850. He was promoted to senior clerk on 22 March 1850 and on 12 November appointed auditor of the civil list. This post he held until his death at his home in Surbiton, a suburb of London, on 28 July 1865.1
            • 1. Maurice Wright, , Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Arbuthnot, Henry
            Henry Arbuthnot was a commissioner of audit for England's audit office. He is mentioned in this despatch, as one of the commissioners involved in sending forms and instructions to British Columbia to establish a system of accounts for the colony in 1858. As recorded in this despatch, Arbuthnot was also involved in sending forms that allowed the treasurer of BC to issue money and defray expenditures. On November 14, 1862, he was mentioned in this despatch, as one of the commissioners reporting on imperial expenditure on San Juan Island.
            Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Archibald
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Armitage, William (d. 1863-11-24)
            William Armitage, originally from Liverpool, murdered Thomas Clegg in the Williams Lake area. Authorities arrested Armitage but never caught his accomplice (although a body was discovered in the Thompson River and based on the tattoos on the body authorities supposed it to be the accomplice).1 At a meeting of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Lillooet on 15 October 1863, Judge Matthew Baillie Begbie sentenced Armitage to death.2 On 24 November 1863, Armitage was hanged from the infamous “Hangman's Tree.”3 Some sources claim that William Armitage was an alias for a man named George Storm.4
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Arrowsmith, John (17801873-05-02)
            John Arrowsmith was a British cartographer famous for his maps of the world. Many explorers used Arrowsmith's maps to improve their own.1 In one correspondence to Pakington, Douglas refers to the inaccuracy of Arrowsmith's map of Vancouver Island, and in a later correspondence to Newcastle he includes Arrowsmiths improved map of Vancouver's Island. Mount Arrowsmith on Vancouver Island is named after John and his uncle, Aaron Arrowsmith.2
            Arrowsmith was born in 1790 in Durham, England. He travelled to London in 1810 to learn map-making from his uncle Aaron Arrowsmith, and in 1821 they published a map of North America together.3 In 1830, he was one of the founders of the Royal Geographical Society,4 and, in 1863, he received the society's gold medal.5 Arrowsmith retired in 1861, and died twelve years later on May 2, 1873.6
            • 1. Elizabeth Baigent, Arrowsmith, John, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online.
            • 2. Captain John T. Walbran, British Columbia Coast Names (Vancouver, BC: Douglas & McIntyre, 1971), 24.
            • 3. Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 404.
            • 4. Elizabeth Baigent, Arrowsmith, John, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online.
            • 5. Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 404.
            • 6. Elizabeth Baigent, Arrowsmith, John, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Arthur, Alex
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Ash, John
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Ashley, (Anthony) Evelyn (1836-07-241907-11-15)
            Ashley, born in 1836, was private secretary to Prime Minister Lord Palmerston from 1858 until Palmerston's death in 1865. Enclosed in this despatch is a document addressed from Ashley to the Colonial Office forwarding a memorial from the Mayor and Council of the City of Victoria offering the Queen congratulations on the birth of the Prince and Princess of Wales' son.
            During his time as Palmerston's private secretary, Ashley accompanied British diplomat Laurence Oliphant on an expedition to Volhynia, Russia, where they were arrested on suspicions that they were Polish insurgents.1 In 1865, he was decorated commander of the Danish order of the Dannebrog.2 Following Palmerston's death, Ashley embraced his office as treasurer of county courts, and was elected as a Liberal for Poole, Dorset, in 1874.3 In the 1880 general election, he was appointed parliamentary secretary to the Board of Trade, in Prime Minister William Gladstone's administration; and in 1882 he transferred to the Colonial Office where he represented the Secretary of State, Lord Derby, in the House of Commons.4 Ashley died on 15 November 1907 at Broadlands.5
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Aspinwall (18071875)
            Aspinwall, born in 1807, took control of a powerful New York shipping firm during the 1830s. He acquired the US Mail contract between Panama and the Oregon Territory in 1848, and organized the Pacific Mail Steamship Company to provide service for it. The California Gold Rush caused the concern to flourish, and it negotiated for coal for its steamers from Vancouver Island.
            In 1850 Aspinwall organized the Panama Railroad Company and pushed a line across the isthmus in five years. The Atlantic terminus, Colon, became known as Aspinwall. After retiring from business in 1856, Aspinwall founded the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and played a role in the establishment of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Atherley, Mark Kerr (d. 1884)
            Atherley was a Lieutenant Colonel of the 92nd Regiment of Foot, a regiment of the 2nd Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders. According to Bedford, who writes to Lytton in the hopes of finding employment in the Constabulary or other service in British Columbia, Atherley was an officer who Bedford had served under at the time when in consequence of peace the reduction of the army was intended.1 In Atherley's letter, written from his station in Gibraltar at the time, he expresses his regret that Bedford did not remain in his regiment, since Bedford's service gave Atherley every satisfaction.2
            Atherley began his army career in 1823 as an ensign, then became lieutenant colonel in 1849 and colonel in 1854.3 He became major general in 1864, lieutenant general in 1872, and general in 1877.4 Atherley also served as Lieutenant Colonel for the 109th Foot in 1873 as well as both the 92nd and 93rd Foot when the Gordon Highlanders were stationed at Kilkenny in 1880.5 Atherly was succeeded by General John Alexander Ewart as Colonel of the Second Battalion upon his death in 1884.6
            • 1. Bedford to Lytton, 1858, 10233, CO 60/2, 545.
            • 2. Enclosure in Bedford to Lytton, 1858, 10233, CO 60/2, 545.
            • 3. Roderick Hamilton Burgoyne, Historical Records of the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders (London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1883), 363.
            • 4. Ibid.
            • 5. N. B. Leslie, The Succession of Colonels of the British Army From 1660 to the Present Day (London: Gale and Polden Ltd., 1974).
            • 6. C. Greenhill Gardyne, The Life of a Regiment: The History of the Gordon Highlanders From 1816 to 1898 (London: The Medici Society, 1929).
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Atherton, William (18061864-01-22)
            Titles and roles:
            • Sir
            William Atherton was a British lawyer and politician who was appointed Judge-Advocate of the Fleet, and standing counsel to the Admiralty in 1855. He was knighted, as a matter of course, when he was given the position of Solicitor General in 1859. In 1861 he was promoted to Attorney General. He died on 22 January 1864, at the age of fifty-eight.1
            • 1. Deaths of Distinguished Persons, Observer (London), 24 January 1864, 3.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Atkins, Thomas S.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Auckland, Lord
            Titles and roles:
            • Lord
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Ault, George
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Austen, A.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Austin, Hugh
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Avery, Thomas
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Avison
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Ayessick, Peter
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Aylash
            Aylash was an Indigenous woman who lived approximately 20 miles away from T'sakis (Fort Rupert). In July, 1862, John White, an Irish immigrant, accompanied four American men leaving New Westminster, British Columbia in a canoe. According to White's testimony to the Crown, after leaving Fort Rupert, White began to suspect foul play from his companions stating that he overheard them say that they will do away with him. After noticing violent intentions from the group, they docked on land where White refused to go any further with the group. They left White on the island with clothes…and a little flour whereupon he was left alone for two days. Subsequently, White was taken 20 miles away from Fort Rupert by a few Indigenous men where they promised to take [him] to their home. White was ordered to make a fire and then was shot in the shoulder by one of the Indigenous men. White then ran away and hid in a bush for days before he was found by Aylash and three other Indigenous people. Aylash took White to her home, gave him food, and, according to his account, treated [him] very well. Aylash and the others moved White to various villages before stopping at Sabassah. On 3 October 1862, White was removed from the village of the Kithrahtalah by Commander John Pike. White gave Aylash and her partner, Quoshawahl $15 for their humanity in rescuing him from starvation and providing him with food and lodging for more than 6 weeks.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Aylmer, H.
            Titles and roles:
            • Colonel
            Colonel H. Aylmer was mentioned in this despatch, containing W. B. Lord's application for a public appointment in British Columbia. Aylmer wrote testifying to Lord's abilities as a veterinary surgeon, and his additional scientific knowledge, as a great benefit during service in the Crimea, in a document enclosed within the application.
            Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bacher
            In this despatch, Bacher and Eschwege wrote to Gordon Gairdner, chief clerk to the colonial office, about the reported murder of Dr. Max Pfeiffer in British Columbia. Bacher and Eschwege were informed that no report had been received from the colony on the fate of Pfeiffer, and they should contact the Governor of BC directly.
            Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bacon, Charles Anthony
            In this despatch, Hamilton informs Merivale that the Lord Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury have authorized the Master of the Mint to engage the services of Mr. Bacon as Melter.1 Newcastle's despatch to Douglas, and Douglas's subsequent reply, confirms that Bacon was employed as a melter at the Government Refinery and Assay Office in British Columbia. The office, which had been recently moved from Victoria to New Westminster, processed 1600 ounces of gold dust in one month and, according to Douglas, was in a state of efficient organization.2 After two years of employment there, Bacon and his co-workers earned Douglas's ire when they requested a salary increase that was deemed to bear very much the complexion of an attempt upon their part to coerce the Government into a compliance with their demands.3 Bacon and his co-workers claimed that they had been led to expect by the Master of the Mint that [their] salaries would be increased at an early period and refused to continue working until the raise was granted.4 The Assay Office insisted on the entitlement promised them by Professor Thomas Graham, but, with an understanding that was simply a verbal one, Douglas continuously denied their application. In the minutes of Douglas's despatch, Elliot criticizes the assayers and refiners for their comparative idleness and calls for effective discouragement of the Assay Office's strike. Newcastle's reply agrees with Elliot, stating that to yield to an official strike in such a colony as B.C. would be fatal.5
            Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bacon, K.
            In this despatch, Bacon relays Peel's concerns regarding the pension of Michael Kelcher to Barnard. Bacon was an esquire to Secretary Major General Jonathan Peel, who was Secretary of State for War at the British War Office. Bacon served as Peel's assistant chief clerk from 1818 until 1861.1
            • 1. British Government, Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons: Army Estimates; Army; Militia, 1861, 36, 228.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Baines, Edward
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Baird, F. C.
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Baker,
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Balch, Lafayette (18251862)
            Titles and roles:
            • Captain
            According to this letter, Captain Lafayette Balch, a native of Maine, co-owned the trading vessel Demaris Cove with Lieutenant Palmer.1
            In 1951, both the Demaris Cove and the schooner Georgianna travelled to Haida Gwaii in search of gold.2 In January 1952, the Georgianna was wrecked in a storm in the Skidegate Inlet, and Balch, aboard the Demaris Cove, rescued the crew and passengers.3
            The shipwrecked crew had been held by members of the Haida nation for eight weeks. Whether the crew were guests or prisoners was unclear, but this letter refers to a note from a crew member claiming that they were captives in the hands of the Indians, who had stripped them of everything.4 The crew sent the HBC a plea for help, but they were ignored because the HBC viewed them as an American threat to their gold prospects at Haida Gwaii.5 Captain Balch went to their aid and managed to safely ransome all the detainees.6
            A cluster of Islands within Haida Gwaii, formerly known as the Channel Islands, are now called the Balch Islands.7
            • 1. Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 55.
            • 2. Ibid.
            • 3. Ibid.
            • 4. Ibid.
            • 5. Ibid.
            • 6. Ibid.
            • 7. Ibid.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Ball, Henry
            Titles and roles:
            • Captain
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Ball, Henry Maynard (1825-07-131897)
            Obtaining his army commission in 1843, Henry Maynard Ball spent a decade with his regiment in Australia, which included commanding a detachment in the gold fields.1
            As a retired army captain, he arrived in Victoria in May 1859 with a letter of introduction from Secretary of State Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton. In June, Douglas appointed him assistant gold commissioner and stipendiary magistrate for the district of Lytton.2
            Four years later, Douglas described him as a shrewd careful magistrate, extremely methodical and correct in all his official transactions.3 He served in a similar capacity in the Kootenays and Quesnel.4 In 1867 he was appointed a member of the BC Legislative Council for Cariboo West.5 He retired in 1881 and spent the rest of his life in San Francisco.6
            • 1. A. Watts, The Country Court of British Columbia, Advocate 27 (1969): 76-77.
            • 2. Enclosure in Douglas to Newcastle, 18 February 1863, 3746, CO 60/15, 142.
            • 3. Ibid.
            • 4. . Watts, The Country Court of British Columbia, Advocate 27 (1969): 76-77.
            • 5. G. P. V. Akrigg and Helen B. Akrigg, British Columbia Cronicle, 1847-1871: Gold & Colonists (Vancouver, B.C. : Discovery Press, 1977) 341.
            • 6. . Watts, The Country Court of British Columbia, Advocate 27 (1969): 76-77.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Ball, John (1818-08-201889-10-21)
            John Ball was parliamentary under-secretary of state from 1855 to 1857.
            Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Ballantyne
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Ballenden, John (18121856-07-12)
            HBC officer John Ballenden was chief factor of the Columbia District from 1851-1853.1 Pelly mentions him in this letter, which describes great excitement among the American population of that quarter at the discovery of gold in Haida Gwaii.
            Born in Stromness, Scotland, Ballenden was recruited by the HBC in 1829 and, after serving at York Factory and Red River, he was promoted to accountant at Upper Fort Garry in 1836.2 That December he married Sarah McLeod, the part-Indigenous daughter of Chief Trader Alexander Roderick McLeod, which was seen as a significant social event given the recent arrival of British wives in fur-trade settlements.3
            In 1840, Ballenden moved his family to Sault Ste. Marie and took charge of its HBC depot, assuming additional responsibility for the Lake Huron district in 1844.4 Ballenden helped develop Sault Ste. Marie, serving as its first postmaster from 1846 to 1848, and justice of the peace for the Western District of Upper Canada from April 1844.5 He also invested in the Montreal Mining Company, and the Montreal and Lachine Railroad.6
            He was promoted to chief factor in 1848 and placed in charge of the Lower Red River District, but during the move he suffered a stroke that lead to partial paralysis.7 In his weakened condition he struggled to control the HBC trade monopoly, along with the social scandal that engulfed his marriage when malicious settlers circulated rumours about his wife.8 Although she was cleared in a trial, the rumours persisted, and Ballenden was transferred to Fort Vancouver without his family, where his health continued to deteriorate.9
            The family was reunited briefly in Scotland in the fall of 1853, before Sarah's death in December.10 After a failed placement back in Red River, Ballenden retired on June 1, 1856, and died in Edinburgh on December 7, leaving the five youngest children in their aunt's care.11
            • 1. Sylvia van Kirk Ballenden, John, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
            • 2. Ibid.
            • 3. Ibid.
            • 4. Ibid.
            • 5. Ibid.
            • 6. Ibid.
            • 7. Ibid.
            • 8. Sylvia van Kirk McLeod, Sarah, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
            • 9. Sylvia van Kirk Ballenden, John, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
            • 10. Ibid.
            • 11. Ibid.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Balthasar, André
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bandon, Francis (18101877)
            Titles and roles:
            • Lord
            Lord Francis Bandon, the third earl, was born on 3 January 1810. He was a representative peer of Ireland and lord-lieutenant for the county of Cork, and also served as honorary colonel of the Royal Cork city militia artillery. Bandon died on 17 February 1877 and was succeeded by his son James Francis.
            Sir Bernard Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage (London: Harrison and Sons, 1885).
            Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Banfield, William “Eddy” (d. 1862)
            Banfield came to Victoria in 1849 and traded with Nuu-chah-nulth nations on the west coast of Vancouver Island from 1854 to 1858, becoming familiar with the daily activities and languages of these Indigenous communities.1 Publishing his ethnographic writings in the Daily Victoria Gazette, academics and politicians at that time regarded Banfield a foremost authority on the cultures and territories of the [Indigenous] people.2 For those reason, Sir James Douglas selected Banfield as the idea candidate for Indian Agent for the southwest coast of Vancouver Island in 1859, shortly after the “Swiss Boy affair”—in which the merchant brig was “plundered” by the Huu-ay-aht and Tseshaht peoples in Barkley Sound—had damaged relations between the British and the Huu-ay-aht.3
            Banfield was tasked with securing an agreement for land use in Barkley Sound, where colonial investors wanted to build and operate a forestry mill and settle on the productive land.4 In 1859, Chiefs Tliishin and Howeesem “assented” to Banfield's land purchase agreement by affixing strips of sacred cedar bark to the document; however, considering the conventions of Huu-ay-aht law, Tliishin likely considered Banfield's payments as rent or homage rather than purchase.5 As one scholar argues, Banfield effectively prepared the ground for and managed the arrival of colonists in Barkley Sound, using violence, and threats thereof, when “necessary.”6
            The cause of Banfield's death, in October 1862, remains uncertain. His body was found in the water near his home in Grapper Inlet, sparking accusations of foul play involving Chief Tliishin.7 After threatening violence against the Huu-ay-aht community, the British arrested three men who were supposedly involved in the death of Banfield, but who were all acquitted before a judge on account of weak evidence.8
            Today, Bamfield, a community in Barkley Sound, takes the name (albeit misspelled) of the colonial Indian Agent. In response to a land agreement made in 2016, to purchase land and property near Bamfield, the Huu-ay-aht elected Chief Councillor Robert Dennis Sr. recalled Banfield's land purchase in 1859, saying: It's good to be getting the land back, but we had to pay a lot more for it than the blankets and beads in those days.9
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Banister, Thomas
            Banister was one of the opposers of Cameron's appointment to Chief Justice of the Peace in 1856.1 Banister, in a letter to Clarendon, believed that the conflict with First Nations and Americans in Oregon could spread to Vancouver Island if the HBC provided weapons to the First Nation forces.2 In 1857, Banister suggested that a railway should span from Vancouver Island to the Hudson's Bay.4
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Barclay, Archibaldus (17851855-11-05)
            Titles and roles:
            • Doctor
            Archibald Barclay, from Shetland Islands, became secretary to the governor and committee, the London board of directors of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1843, and served until 1855. He opposed the HBC venture on Vancouver Island. In 1848, he wrote to George Simpson that It is the last place in the globe to which (were I going to emigrate) I should select as an abode (Galbraith, 285).
            • 1. Hartwell Bowsfield, ed., Fort Victoria Letters 1846-1851 (Winnipeg: Hudson's Bay Record Society, 1979).
            • 2. J. S. Galbraith, The Hudson's Bay Company as an Imperial Factor, 1821–1869 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976).
            • 3. Hudson's Bay Company Archives (HBCA), Barclay, Archibaldus [PDF], HBCA.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Baring
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Baring, Alexander (1773-10-271848-05-12)
            Titles and roles:
            • Baron Ashburton
            As British ambassador, he negotiated the Webster-Ashburton treaty of 1842, which resolved disputes concerning the boundary between the British North American colonies and the United States from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.1
            Alexander Baring was born in London in 1773 and travelled to the United States at 22 as the representative of his father's merchant house.2 He played a key role as financier in the American Louisiana Purchase of 1803.3
            In the decade that followed, he became the dominant senior partner in the Baring Brothers firm.4 After being elected to the House of Commons in 1806, he moved from the Whigs to the Tories.5
            For his service as an officer in Peel's ministry from 1834-35, he was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Ashburton.6
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Baring, J. C.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Baring, Thomas George
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Barker, F.
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Barkley, Charles William (17591832-05-16)
            Titles and roles:
            • Captain
            Captain Charles William Barkley was a sailor and trader who began his career at 11 when he sailed under his father's command on an East India Company voyage.1 By 1786, Barkley sailed from Ostend, Belgium, in the Imperial Eagle, bound for the Pacific Northwest.2 Just prior to the departure, Barkley married Frances Hornby Trevor who joined him on the sojourn.3 They reached Nootka Sound in June of 1787, where Barkley was fortunate to encounter John Mackay, who shared his geographic knowledge of Vancouver Island, and his experiences with the Nuu-chah-nulth people, with whom Barkley wanted to trade.4 Barkley traded successfully in the area, particularly in Nootka Sound, Clayoquot Sound, and Barkley Sound, which Barkley named after himself.5
            Despite Captain Cook's claims that the then unnamed Straight of Juan de Fuca did not exist, Barkley sailed through it in July of 1787, titling it on his charts after its original discoverer.6 Eventually, and through a series of unfortunate events, Barkley was betrayed by his partners, who sold Imperial Eagle and gave his charts to John Meares, a fur trader who later claimed credit for much of Barkley's work.7
            Barkley went on to captain several other ships, but without much documented success.8 He died in England in 1832.9 Frances Barkley is believed to be the first European woman to see British Columbia,10 and the first to sail around the world openly as a woman.11 She was also the first woman to write about what would become British Columbia; her life experiences, Reminiscences, were published, over a century after her death, in The Remarkable World of Frances Barkley: 1769–1845.12
            • 1. Barry M. Gough, Barkley, Charles William, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
            • 2. Ibid.
            • 3. Ibid.
            • 4. Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 59.
            • 5. Barry M. Gough, Barkley, Charles William, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
            • 6. Ibid.
            • 7. Ibid.
            • 8. Ibid.
            • 9. Ibid.
            • 10. Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 59.
            • 11. Beth Hill and Cathy Converse, eds., The Remarkable World of Frances Barkley, 1769-1845 (Surrey, BC: Heritage, 2003), 6.
            • 12. Alan Twigg, First Invaders: The Literary Origins of British Columbia, Vol. 1 (Vancouver, BC: Ronsdale Press, 2004), 150-155.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Barkly, H.
            Titles and roles:
            • Sir
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Barnard, Edward
            Edward Barnard is listed as the agent general for crown colonies in 1858, with offices at 5, Cannon Row, London. Sometime during the year he entered into a partnership with Penrose Goodchild Julyan. In 1863, the agency name was changed to that of Crown Agents for the Colonies, which function the firm of Barnard and Julyan continued to serve until 1876.
            Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Barnes, Sherriff
            Titles and roles:
            • Sherriff
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Barr, Robert
            In this despatch, dated 14 July 1858, Barr writes to Lytton from Briggate, Leeds.1 The purpose of his correspondence was to seek appointment in the colony of New Caledonia. Barr had recently returned to England from Vancouver Island, where he lived for five years; during his time there he held several public offices. Barr also points out that his family is well-known to the Honourable Members for Leeds and that his uncle was clerk to the Leeds Justices for over twenty years.2 The copy of testimonials included with his application state that he was previously a clerk for the House of Assembly in Victoria.3
            An earlier despatch on 24 October 1853, indicates that Barr had also held the position of superintendent of the District School of Victoria while living on Vancouver Island. According to Sir James Douglas, the school had opened earlier that same month and had thirty-three pupils attending.4
            In 1855, Douglas nominated Barr for the position of registrar to the Vice Admiralty Court of Vancouver Island. He was among three other men, nominated for other positions, that Douglas considered as gentlemen who bear a high character in the Colony, for general intelligence and integrity.5
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Barrow, George (1806-10-221876-02-27)
            Titles and roles:
            • Sir
            Born in 1806, the eldest son of a baronet, George Barrow was educated at Charterhouse School.1 He obtained a position of clerk in the Colonial Office in 1825 through his father's influence.2 Ponderous and unimaginative as a civil servant, Barrow showed little interest in suggesting resolutions to the problems in the documents that crossed his desk.3 He was eventually promoted to senior clerk of the Mediterranean Department.4 He succeeded to the baronetcy in 1848, became chief clerk in 1870, and retired in 1872.5
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Barrowitz
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bartholomensy
            A Clerk in the Department of the Surveyor General.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bartlett, Columbus
            Editor of the Victoria Gazette.
            Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Barton, F. W.
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Batchelor, Frederick Shum (d. 1892)
            Titles and roles:
            • Reverend
            Reverend Frederick Shum Batchelor was an Anglican priest who spent much of his career working in both the British and Van Diemen's Land prison systems.1 He was born in Keynsham, Somerset and educated at Cambridge.2 In November 1842, he was appointed chaplain of the convict settlement of Port Arthur, Van Diemen's Land, arriving there with his wife on 19 July 1843. The Lord Bishop of Tasmania ordained him deacon shortly after his arrival, and he was priested the same year.3 He returned to England in 1852 and served as assistant chaplain at Dartmoor and Chatham Prisons.4 After unsuccessfully applying for the position of Colonial Chaplain to British Columbia in 1858, he continued to work in the English prison system until 1886.5 He died at the age of seventy-four in 1892.6
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bates, H. W.
            Titles and roles:
            • Asst. Secretary R.G.S.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bates, R. W.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bathurst, William Lennox (1791-02-141878-02-24)
            Titles and roles:
            • 5th Earl
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Batineau, Buzie
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bauerman, Hilary (1835-03-161909-12-05)
            Hilary Bauerman was the geologist with the British boundary commission.1
            • 1. T. K. Rose, rev. Anita McConnell, Bauerman, Hilary, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
            Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Baxter, W. E.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bayley
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Baynes, Robert Lambert (17961869)
            Titles and roles:
            • Rear Admiral
            Robert Lambert Baynes was rear admiral and commander in chief of the Pacific Station, with headquarters in Valparaiso, Chile.1 He entered the Royal Navy in 1810, served with distinction in the Mediterranean and was appointed rear admiral on 7 February 1855, while serving in the Baltic.2 Appointed commander in chief of the Pacific Station on 8 July 1857, Baynes was ordered north on 28 June 1858 to help maintain order during the Fraser River gold rush, arriving in his flagship, the Ganges, in time to attend the inauguration of the government of British Columbia at Fort Langley on 19 November.3
            He then returned to Valparaiso and returned to Esquimalt again in August 1859 at the height of the San Juan Island dispute, rejecting James Douglas's request to land marines on the island to oust the Americans.4 The San Juan boundary dispute, combined with the events of the gold rush, prompted Baynes to press the Admiralty to transfer the headquarters of the Pacific Station from Valparaiso to Esquimalt, which was done in 1862.5 Baynes was knighted for services on 18 April 1860, departed Esquimalt in the Ganges in September 1860, and arrived in England in April 1861.6 He was promoted to vice-admiral in 1861 and to admiral in 1865, by which time he had retired from active service.7 He died on 7 September 1869 in London.8
            • 1. Barry M. Gough, Baynes, Sir Robert Lambert, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
            • 2. Ibid.
            • 3. Ibid.
            • 4. Ibid.
            • 5. Ibid.
            • 6. Ibid.
            • 7. Ibid.
            • 8. Ibid.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bazalgette, George (d. 1885-08)
            Titles and roles:
            • Captain
            In 1860, Bazalgette was sent to command the British camp on San Juan Island.1 Bazalgette landed in Garrison Bay, San Juan, on March 21, 1860.3 At this time Bazalgette was a thirteen-year-veteran after serving in both the China Campaigns and Crimean War.4
            Bazalgette was born in Nova Scotia and came over to British Columbia to serve alongside the Royal Engineers.5 His family was greatly involved with the British Colonies, his brother Evelyn died in the Indian Mutiny, and his cousin Joseph engineered the London sewage system.6 Bazalgette, during his time on San Juan Island, worked closely with American Captain George Pickett, and was described as a merry fellow of rather affected manner with a genial nature.7
            On the north end of San Juan Island, Bazalgette built and maintained a very clean and comfortable British camp.8 Considering both Bazalgette and his American counterpart, Pickett, were career professionals from a middle class background, they became fast friends and their relationship had a significant impact on the Island.9
            Bazalgette worked on San Juan Island for six years, from 1860-1866. On July 24, he was relieved of his duties and sent to work in Plymouth until 1870. Two years later he was listed for retirement and appointed to Major. He lived until August 1885 and is buried in London.10
            • 1. Douglas to Newcastle, 27 March 1860, No. 15, Military, 4818, CO 305/14, 116.
            • 2. Wodehouse to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary), 27 June 1860, 6479, CO 305/15, 200; Romaine to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary), 29 August 1861, 7861, CO 305/18, 48.
            • 3. Michael Vouri, The Pig War: Standoff at Griffin Bay. (Friday Harbour, WA.: Griffin Bay Bookstore, 1999), 190.
            • 4. Ibid.
            • 5. E. C. Coleman, The Pig War: The Most Perfect War in History. (Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press, 2009), 131-132.
            • 6. Ibid.
            • 7. E. C. Coleman, The Pig War: The Most Perfect War in History. (Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press, 2009), 200; Michael Vouri, The Pig War: Standoff at Griffin Bay. (Friday Harbour, WA.: Griffin Bay Bookstore, 1999), 162.
            • 8. E. C. Coleman, The Pig War: The Most Perfect War in History. (Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press, 2009), 137.
            • 9. Michael Vouri, The Pig War: Standoff at Griffin Bay. (Friday Harbour, WA.: Griffin Bay Bookstore, 1999), 200-203; E. C. Coleman, The Pig War: The Most Perfect War in History. (Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press, 2009), 176.
            • 10. Ibid.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Beam, Adam M.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bean, George
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Beardmore, Owen Charles
            Owen Charles Beardmore had a short-lived career with the Hudson's Bay Company as a service clerk.1 After being stationed in Montreal in 1846, he was transferred to Temiskaming and eventually to Fort Rupert where he stayed until his dismissal in 1851.2
            Beardmore was to be second in command to George Blenkinsop at Fort Rupert while Captain W. H. McNeill was away, but ran into difficulties with his superiors because of his penchant for finding faults in others and comparing his education with them.3
            Perhaps his most noteworthy experience was his involvement in the investigation of a murder of three sailors who deserted near the Fort: apparently, Blenkinsop ordered a group of local Indigenous men, likely from the Kwaguʼł Tribe, to return the men dead or alive.4 This incident would evolve into a complex and dramatic court-case in which Beardmore would give testimony, which Pelly mentions in this letter to Grey.
            Beardmore was dismissed from HBC service in 1851 and moved to Australia, where he successfully owned and ran a sheep ranch.5
            • 1. BC Metis Mapping Resarch Project, HBC employee 1848-1851, Metis Nation British Columbia, 172.
            • 2. Ibid.
            • 3. Ibid.
            • 4. Hubert Howe Bancroft, The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, vol. 32, History of British Columbia 1792-1887 (San Francisco: The History Company, 1887), 273.
            • 5. J. S. Helmcken, ed. D. B. Smith, The Reminiscence of Doctor John Sebastian Helmcken (UBC Press, 1975), 319.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Beeby, James
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Beeton
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Begbie, Matthew Baillie (18191894)
            Matthew Baillie Begbie is said to have been born on May 9th, 1819 on a ship in the Cape of Good Hope.1 He attended the University of Cambridge and was called to the bar in 1844.2 In 1858, Begbie's name was put forward for the position of the Judge of British Columbia.3 Upon his acceptance, he arrived in Victoria on November 16th 1858, and was appointed to the Executive Council of British Columbia in 1859.4
            Governor James Douglas worked closely with Begbie, and consulted him on matters of policy and administration—their relationship nearly resembling that of proconsul and consul than that of judge and governor.5 Begbie was appointed as the first Chief Justice of the province of British Columbia in 1871.6
            In court, Judge Begbie was described as an autocrat of autocrats, hard, irascible, and given to handing down the most extraordinary judgements.7 Posthumously, he became known as “The Hanging Judge,” but popular opinion is divided on this title.8 Biographer David R. Williams argues that Begbie was stern, but the criminal law of the time was also stern and Begbie could do little to soften its rigours, and he asserts that Begbie from his earliest days in British Columbia admired Indians as a race and liked them as individuals.9 However, Begbie's inflexible application of English Law on Indigenous communities resulted in a disproportionate number of executions of Indigenous Peoples: 22 out of the 27 people he sentenced to death were Indigenous.10
            Begbie was known to act as a law unto himself, and as there was no Court of Appeal nearer than London, he generally got his way.11 One example of this is Bebgie's sentences following the Chilcotin War, in which a group of Tŝilhqot'in individuals killed men who were working on the Bute road in 1864.12 Although the Tŝilhqot'in were protecting their territory from encroachment, Judge Begbie sentenced six Tŝilhqot'in Chiefs to death.13 In a conversation with James Douglas, Begbie revealed his approach to sentencing practices: My idea is that, if a man insists upon behaving like a brute, after fair warning, and won't quit the Colony, beat him like a brute and flog him.14 Begbie established a British law in Canada that prioritized justice for European settlers but not for Indigenous Peoples. This disproportionate incarceration of Indigenous Peoples continues today.15
            Begbie spent the last 15 years of his life working on litigation, criminal, and civil cases; he died in Victoria on June 11th, 1894.16
            • 1. David Ricardo Williams, Begbie, Sir Matthew Baillie, Dictionary of Canadian Biography 12, 2003.
            • 2. Welcome, Nobody Knows Him: Lhatŝ'aŝʔin and the Chilcotin War; David R. Williams, Chancery Barrister, '…Then Man for a New Country': Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie (Sidney: Grays Publishing), 1977, 17-18.
            • 3. David R. Williams, Chancery Barrister, '…The Man for a New Country': Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie (Sidney: Grays Publishing), 1977, 27.
            • 4. David Ricardo Williams, Begbie, Sir Matthew Baillie, Dictionary of Canadian Biography 12, 2003.
            • 5. David R. Williams, The Early Years, '…The Man for a New Country': Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie (Sidney: Grays Publishing), 1977, 17-18.
            • 6. David R. Williams, Legislator and Politician, '…The Man for a New Country': Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie, (Sidney: Grays Publishing), 1977, 162.
            • 7. Sydney George Pettit, Matthew Baillie Begbie, (Victoria: publisher not identified), 1948, 3.
            • 8. David R. Williams, 'The Hanging Judge,' '…The Man for a New Country': Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie (Sidney: Grays Publishing), 1977, 129-130.
            • 9. David Ricardo Williams, Begbie, Sir Matthew Baillie, Dictionary of Canadian Biography 12, 2003; David R. Williams, Begbie and the Indians, '…The Man for a New Country': Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie (Sidney: Grays Publishing), 1977, 100.
            • 10. David R. Williams, 'The Hanging Judge,' '…The Man for a New Country': Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie (Sidney: Grays Publishing), 1977, 141.
            • 11. Sydney George Pettit, Matthew Baillie Begbie (Victoria: publisher not identified), 1948, 2.
            • 12. Welcome, Nobody Knows Him: Lhatŝ'aŝʔin and the Chilcotin War.
            • 13. Ibid.
            • 14. David R. Williams, 'The Hanging Judge,' '…The Man for a New Country': Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie (Sidney: Grays Publishing), 1977, 141.
            • 15. Government of Canada, Indigenous People in the Federal Correctional System, 5.
            • 16. David R. Williams, The Last Circuit, '…The Man for a New Country': Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie (Sidney: Grays Publishing), 1977, 273.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Begbie, Thomas Stirling
            Thomas Stirling Begbie Jr. was the younger brother of Matthew Baillie Begbie. He worked in London as an iron-merchant and shipowner, and on at least one occasion attempted to promote road development in British Columbia. When Matthew died in 1894, Thomas travelled to Victoria for the funeral.1
            Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bell, A. D.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bell, James C.
            According to this despatch, James C. Bell wrote to the Secretary of State on February 19, 1862, to inquire whether Government offers to approvable Emigrants free passages to British Columbia. At the time of his enquiry, he was living on Blackness Farm in Dundee, Scotland. In reply, Bell was informed that the government did not provide free passage for approvable emigrants.
            Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Belleau, N. T.
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bennett, Thomas
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bennison, George
            Titles and roles:
            • Captain
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bennison, R. S.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Benson, Doctor
            Titles and roles:
            • Doctor
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Benson, Robert
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Benthall, W. A.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bentley, William
            Titles and roles:
            • William
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bentson, General
            Titles and roles:
            • General
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bere, M.
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Berens, Henry Hulse
            Henry Hulse Berens was the 20th governor of Hudson's Bay Company from 1858 to 1863. He died in Kent in 1883.
            Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Beresford, William Marcus Joseph ( 1883)
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bernstoff, Count
            Titles and roles:
            • Count
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Besant, C.
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Best, Edie
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bethell, Richard (1800-06-301873)
            Titles and roles:
            • Sir
            Richard Bethell was born on 30 June 1800 in Bradford-On-Avon, Wiltshire. Academically gifted from a young age, Bethell entered Wadham College, Oxford University at age 14 to study law. Bethell was admitted to Middle Temple in 1820, and finished his studies by 1823. Bethell would continue to practice law as a solicitor and judge, as well as take part in politics as a Liberal representative.1
            In 1840, Bethell was appointed to the Queen's Counsel by Lord Cottenham.2 Bethell then entered the British House of Commons as the representative from Aylesbury in 1851, and was named the Vice-Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. The following year, Bethell was made Solicitor General and received a knighthood. In 1856, Bethell was promoted to Attorney General.3
            Bethell was consulted on various legal issues regarding the colony of British Columbia. In 1854, Bethell wrote to Sir George Grey about the legality of establishing a Supreme Court of Civil Justice on Vancouver Island, as had been proposed by Governor James Douglas.4 Bethell deemed that the Ordinance or Act establishing a Supreme Court on the island could not be properly assented to by the Crown nor could it have the force of law.5 In 1856, Bethell wrote Permanent Under Secratery Merivale discussing the legal limits of the Governor's power on Vancouver Island.6 The same year, Bethell was involved in the discussion about which offices would be the benefactors of the revenue from the purchase of the Hudson's Bay land on Vancouver Island by the British government. Also, the Hudson's Bay Company wanted to know if they had any claim to land on British Columbia, as their trading rights there predated the terms set by the Treaty of Oregon of 1846. Bethell responded that they had no claim to land in British Columbia.7
            Bethell took the title of 1st Baron of Westbury and assumed the role of Lord Chancellor of Great Britain in 1861. Bethell resigned from this role in 1865, but maintained a political profile in the House of Lords until his death in 1873.8
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bevis, William Henry (18301879-08-05)
            William Henry Bevis was born in England and came to Vancouver Island in 1858. He had previously been a purser on steamships travelling between Panama, Lima, and Callao.1 Bevis was appointed revenue officer of Fort Langley in July 1858.2 In 1860 he was part of the Victoria Police Force for a short time.
            He was appointed the first lighthouse keeper at Fisgard Lighthouse, Esquimalt, in 1861,3 and remained in that office until his death. In 1873 he compiled a meteorological report for 1872, which demonstrated Victoria's excellent climate.4 He died after a prolonged illness in August 1879, aged approximately 50.5
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bew, Robert
             
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bidwell, Charles Toll
            British vice-consul at Panama under Consul Charles Henderson, 1860-68. He acted as consul from 8 June 1858 to 31 December 1860 and again from 3 July 1863 to 1 March 1864, and also as superintending agent of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company and agent for the BritishPost Office in Panama. In 1865, Bidwell published The Isthmus of Panama (London, 1865).
            Tracy Robinson, Fifty Years at Panama (New York: The Trow Press, 1907), p. 210.) Foreign Office Lists, 1862-87. BCPO 92.2.
            Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bijou, Laurent
            In this despatch illustrating the wealth of gold being acquired in the colony at the time, Douglas refers to several miners in the Cariboo region, including Laurent Bijou. Douglas writes that Bijou is a native of France that left Cariboo on 1 August 1861.1 He had spent about a month mining in Cariboo and in that time acquired $4500 worth of gold dust. According to Bijou, he was not so fortunate, as others were making as much as $1000 a day. Bijou had mined in California before, but never saw a Gold-field so rich as Cariboo.2
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Bingley, Jane
            Biographical information is not yet available for this person.
            Mentions of this person in the documents
            Birch, Arthur Nonus (18361914)
            Arthur Nonus Birch was born in 1836 in Yoxford, Suffolk. In 1855, Birch was appointed to the position of Private Secretary to Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, and subsequently to the Duke of Newcastle and Chichester Fortescue.1 Birch travelled with newly appointed Governor Frederick Seymour to British Columbia as his personal secretary in 1863.2 In 1864, he was promoted to the position of resident colonial secretary of British Columbia.3 Then, from 1866 to 1867, Birch was made acting Governor of British Columbia in Frederick Seymour's absence. However, Birch was unable to deal effectively with the economic issues the colony faced, and by some accounts aggravated them.4 Birch then held a position on the Executive Council of Victoria until 1871.5 Birch then relocated to Penang where he became Lieutenant Governor in 1871. Finally, in 1873 he was made colonial secretary of Ceylon colony.6
            Birch married Josephine Watts-Russell, and received a knighthood before his political retirement in 1876. And by 1891, Birch had moved to the private sector where he worked for the Bank of England.7 Birch died in 1914.
            • 1. J.F. Bosher, Imperial Vancouver Island: Who Was Who?, (Victoria: Writersworld, 2012.), 145.
            • 2. Margaret A. Ormsby. Seymour, Frederick, Dictionary Of Canadian Biography.
            • 3. Newcastle to Douglas, 19 December 1863, No. 61, NAC, RG7, G8C/10, 648.
            • 4. Ormsby, Seymour.
            • 5. Bosher, Imperial Vancouver Island.
            • 6. Ibid.
            • 7. Ibid.
            Mentions of this person in the documents