Reverend James Gammage was one of two Anglican missionaries sent to the colony of
British Columbia in
1858 by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
1 Born in
London, England on
11 October 1822, he trained as a teacher at St. Mark’s College before he joined the priesthood.
2 He entered St. Bees College in
1855, was made a deacon in
1857, Curate of St. Mary’s
later that year, and priested in
1858.
3 The Society assigned Gammage to be minister to
the gold hunters at Frazer's River and elsewhere on the main land [sic].
4
Gammage and his wife
Mariane left England in
autumn 1858 and arrived at
Esquimalt on
11 April 1859.
5 They were provided free passage on board the
Thames City through the kindness of her Majesty's Government.
6 Gammage established a mission at
Douglas on
Harrison Lake in the interior, raising enough funds to build a church by
1862. The mission was not successful, however, as most inhabitants of the small community
were single men who were not interested in religion. When the completion of the
Cariboo Road through the
Fraser Canyon provided an alternative transportation route, the mission was closed.
7 Gammage and his wife returned to England in
1863.
8 He held a number of positions in the Church between
1864 and 1890.9 He was 71 years old when he died in
1893.
10