b. medium1811(?)
d. 1897
Donald Fraser was born in Inverness, Scotland, where he was a schoolmate of
Alexander Grant Dallas, who in 1860 succeeded
Sir George Simpson as governor of
Rupert's Land for the Hudson's Bay Company, and Robertson, who later became the managing editor
of the
London Times. Fraser evidently obtained a legal education before becoming a journalist for the
Times, in which capacity he travelled to California in 1849 to cover the gold rush. In
1858 he came to
Victoria from California on a similar assignment, and the glowing reports he sent back of
the prospects of the new colony became one of the most significant sources of information
to the popular mind.
Fraser quickly became an intimate advisor to
James Douglas, who appointed him to the Council of
Vancouver Island in November 1858, invested heavily in
Victoria real estate, and quickly became one of the the island's biggest boosters. After returing
to
London in 1862, he combined forces with
Dallas, Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, and others to mount a formidable lobby to maintain the supremacy
of the island colony over that of the mainland. Fraser paid a last visit to
Vancouver Island in 1865.
British Colonist, 7 October 1897, p. 8. John Emmerson included a chapter on Donald Fraser, entitled
Mr. Fraser and the Cariboo Gold Mines, in British Columbia and Vancouver Island: Voyages, Travels & Adventures (Durham, England: W.Ainsley, 1865), pp. 92-104.BCDES 7.2.