Colonial Despatches

Dugald Mactavish was born in Argyllshire, Scotland, on 10 August 1817. He joined the Hudson's Bay Company as an apprentice clerk on 2 January 1833, travelling first to Moose Factory, then to Michipicoten on Lake Superior in 1835, and to Lachine in 1838.

In June 1839, he was posted to Fort Vancouver and became a clerk first class in June 1841. He regularly travelled east with the annual express brigades from the Columbia Department. Mactavish was promoted to chief trader on 1 June 1846 and placed in charge of the company's agency in Hawaii. Promoted to chief factor in 1851, he returned to Fort Vancouver in September 1853 to manage the company's new Oregon Department, remaining there until June 1858, when he moved to Fort Victoria and replaced Douglas, who resigned to accept the governorship of British Columbia.

While there he and John Work prepared a report on Hudson's Bay Company claims to land in British Columbia. Mactavish returned to England on sick leave in February 1859, returning to British Columbia in June 1860; he returned to England in November 1863. On 28 October 1864, Mactavish left London for Washington, DC, to present the Hudson's Bay Company's claims to the joint Anglo-American commission to settle HBC claims in Oregon. He returned to London when the commission's work was completed in 1867, only to be called back to Montreal to fill the position vacated by Chief Factor Donald A. Smith. Mactavish died in Montreal on 24 May 1871.

Biographical information for this person is not yet complete.