Colonial Despatches

William Henry Ladner, businessman, was born in Cornwall, England, in October 1825. Coming to North America in 1848, he settled in Wisconsin with his father and, later, his younger brother. Ladner travelled to California in 1852, arriving in British Columbia in May 1858. In 1859, he began running pack trains from the interior to the coast, joining in a partnership with Robert T. Smith in 1865.1

Ladner had turned to cattle breeding by 1870, and he settled at the site of Ladner near the mouth of the Fraser. He became reeve of Ladner in 1880 and served as an MLA from 1885 to 1890. Ladner died on 1 November 1907.2

• 1. Jacqueline Gresko, Ladner, William Henry, Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
• 2. Ibid.