Clegg, Thomas
d. 1863
William Armitage and an accomplice murdered Thomas Clegg near Williams Lake in 1863.1 The details are somewhat murky, but it is supposed that Clegg worked for E.T. Dodge & CO., and was sent to Barkersville to collect money that was owed to the company in the form of gold dust. Clegg and the man he was riding with, Joe Taylor, were held up by William Armitage and his accomplice. Armitage had heard that Clegg was riding with a large sum of money but unbeknownst to him, the gold dust had been switched to Taylor’s saddlebag. Taylor escaped but Armitage shot and killed Clegg. Clegg is buried near the 141 Mile Post.2
  • 1. Douglas to Newcastle, 14 September 1863, 10454, CO 60/16, p. 152.
  • 2. Irene Stangoe, Cariboo-Chilcotin: Pioneer, People, and Places (Toronto: Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd., 1994) 88-89.
Mentions of this person in the documents
People in this document

Armitage, William

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Barkerville

Williams Lake

The Colonial Despatches Team. Clegg, Thomas. 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/clegg_t.html.

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