Munro to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
1 Hardies Buildings
Inverness
17 Nov 1863
My Lord,
I beg respectfully to draw your attention to a paragraph
which appeared in the "Times" of the
24th Oct last,
stating that the body of a white man had been found lying
dead at the mouth of the
Bear River,
British Columbia, with
a tin cup lying by the side of the deceased on which were
scratched these words: "
Donald Munro, lost in the wood, is
from Inverness, Scotland, born
June 1825."
As the deceased is my son, I write to your Lordship to
inquire whether you have received any communication on the
subject from Her Majesty's representative at
Victoria and if
so what information it contains. If you
have have not received any
intelligence on the subject I would respectfully submit to your
Lordship that you would take such steps in the matter as may
appear best to ensure a thorough investigation into the facts
of the case, and that any effects belonging to the deceased may be
handed over to Her Majesty's representative to be forwarded
to me here.
The Right Honourable
The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
P.S. I enclose letter from the Editor of the "Times" on the
subject.
Minutes by CO staff
Mr Elliot
We have no official information on this subject. I
suppose that in such a case as this the Governor may be
requested to do what he can to obtain the information required?
Documents enclosed with the main document (transcribed)
The Mall, Clifton
Novr 1, 1863
Dear Sir
In answer to your letter requesting to be informed from what
source the enclosed paragraph was obtained, I have to state that
it was taken from the
Weekly Chronicle of
Septr 1st, a
newspaper published at
Victoria,
Vancouver's Island. Owing to my
papers having become mixed in returning to this place on Thursday,
I cannot at the moment lay my hand upon the paper, but I perfectly
recollect that it contained nothing more about the case than what
was printed in
The Times, with this exception—a very important
one if it is desired to make further enquiry about the matter—
that
the party by whom the information was brought from
Bear River
to the mouth of the
Quesnelle are called
"
Mr. Shively's party".
Other documents included in the file
Elliot to
Munro,
28 November 1863, advising that
Douglas had
been asked to furnish any information he could on the matter.
People in this document
Douglas, Sir James
Elliot, Thomas Frederick
Hentman, B.
Jadis, Vane
Layard, A. H.
Munro Junior, Donald
Munro, Henry
Munro, Henry [Donald]
Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes
Shively,
Places in this document
Bear River
British Columbia
Quesnel River
Vancouver Island
Victoria