Gosset, Captain William Driscoll
b. 1822
d. 1899
Captain William Driscoll Gosset became a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1840, was promoted captain in November 1850, and appointed surveyor general of Ceylon [Sri Lanka] in September 1855. Accepting the position of colonial treasurer of British Columbia in November 1858, Gosset arrived in Esquimalt on Christmas Day, along with R. C. Moody.
He was treasurer and postmaster for the colony until 1860, when he relinquished the job of postmaster and became treasurer of Vancouver Island. Gosset proved to be a difficult and at times exasperating colleague, especially to James Douglas who pronounced him faithless and unprincipled. Gosset returned to England on sick leave in 1862 and resigned from the Royal Engineers in 1863.
See Woodward, The Influence of the Royal Engineers. See also Dorothy Blakey Smith, The Journal of Arthur Thomas Bushby, 1858-1859, BCHQ 21, (1957-58): 177-78, and Colonial Office List 1864, p. 179. Douglas to Newcastle, 18 February 1863, CO 60.BCDES 22.4.
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Douglas, Sir James

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British Columbia

Esquimalt

Vancouver Island

The Colonial Despatches Team. Gosset, Captain William Driscoll. 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/gosset_wd.html.

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