Churchill, James D.
James D. Churchill served as Alfred Waddington’s attorney during the disputes surrounding the construction of a road between mining facilities near the mouth of the Quesnel River and the Bute Inlet that resulted in the “Chilcotin War” of 1864. 1
Waddington began construction of a road from Bute Inlet with the intention of transporting gold to Vancouver Island by boat. 2 Operations came to a halt when a group of Tsilhqot’in attacked Waddington’s work party killing 19 of his men. 3 Frederick Seymour, the governor of British Columbia at the time, set out to have those responsible apprehended, with five men ultimately being executed. 4
After the incident, Waddington quickly ran out of funds to complete the project and ultimately abandoned it. 5 The despatches outline the communications between Churchill and Seymour’s representatives as Waddington tried in vain to raise the funds necessary to save the project.
  • 1. Churchill to Cardwell, 20 September 1865, National Archives of the UK, 9137, CO 60/23, p.253.
  • 2. W. Kaye Lamb, Waddington, Alfred Penderell, Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
  • 3. W. Kaye Lamb, Waddington, Alfred Penderell, Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
  • 4. W. Kaye Lamb, Waddington, Alfred Penderell, Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
  • 5. W. Kaye Lamb, Waddington, Alfred Penderell, Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
Mentions of this person in the documents
The Colonial Despatches Team. Churchill, James D.. The Colonial Despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871, Edition 2.0, ed. The Colonial Despatches Team. Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria. https://bcgenesis.uvic.ca/churchill.html.

Last modified: 2020-03-30 13:22:16 -0700 (Mon, 30 Mar 2020) (SVN revision: 4193)