Gooch, Lieutenant Thomas Sherlock
b. 1831-10-17
d. 1897-02-16
Thomas Sherlock Gooch served as second lieutenant on the HMS Satellite under Captain James Prevost during its time in British Columbia from 1857 to 1860.1 He accompanied Pemberton in 1857 to survey the land between Nitinat and Cowichan Harbour. Pemberton said Gooch joined as an amateur, but was afterwards of much service in every emergency.2 In 1860, Gooch, Prevost, and a crew from the Satellite marched into BC’s interior to overawe certain miners who were causing anxiety to the Government.3
Gooch joined the Royal Navy in March, 1845, and became a lieutenant in January, 1854. In July, 1864, after his time in British Columbia, he was promoted to Commander. He became a Retired Captain in October, 1873.4 In 1879, Gooch was made the lieutenant commanding in charge of the Bristol Brigade of the Royal Navy Artillery Volunteers.5
Gooch showed an interest in military history and writing; in 1890, he published an article in The Illustrated Naval and Military Magazine about the French admiral Albin Reine Roussin.6
Gooch married Catherine Lydia Mackenzie James on 10 April 1861 and together they had three children: Anne Georgina Sherlock Gooch, Katharine Marion Sherlock Gooch, and Major John Sherlock Gooch.7
Gooch Island, named after Gooch, is located in the Haro Strait and connected to Rum Island by a gravel beach. Though Rum Island is a part of the Gulf Island National Park Reserve, Gooch Island is private property.8
  • 1. G.P.V. Akrigg and Helen B. Akrigg, British Columbia Place Names (Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, 1997), 95.
  • 2. J. Despard Pemberton, Facts and figures relating to Vancouver Island and British Columbia (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1860), 149.
  • 3. William Laird Clowes, The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to 1900 (London: Chatham Publishing, 1997), 137.
  • 4. C.E. Warren, R.N., Royal Navy List (London: Witherby & CO., 1880), 94.
  • 5. Hurst and Blackett, Promotions and Appointments, Colburn’s United Service Magazine and Naval and Military Journal (Volume 150, Part II, 1879), 118.
  • 6. Captain T. Sherlock Gooch, R.N., Two French Admirals, The Illustrated Naval and Military Magazine (Volume 4, 1890), 400.
  • 7. Darryl Lundy, Person Page, The Peerage.
  • 8. Parks Canada, Rum Island, Gulf Islands National Park Reserve.
Mentions of this person in the documents
The Colonial Despatches Team. Gooch, Lieutenant Thomas Sherlock. 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/gooch.html.

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