Colonial Despatches

Thomas James Skinner was an early settler and politician on Vancouver Island. Born in Essex, England, he travelled abroad with the East India Company before joining the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, a subsidiary of the Hudson's Bay Company, in 1852.1 After his arrival at Esquimalt aboard the Norman Morison on 17 January 1853, he was placed in charge of nearby Constance Farm, which eventually became known as Skinner's Farm.2 On 29 March 1853 he was appointed magistrate and justice of the peace in the Peninsula district by Governor James Douglas.3 He represented the Esquimalt District in the House of Assembly of Vancouver Island from 1856 until his narrow defeat in the election of 11 January 1860.4 Skinner's daughter, Constance, married future British Columbia premier A. E. B. Davie in 1874.5 Thomas Skinner died on 1 June 1889.6

• 1. Died, Daily Colonist (Victoria), 2 June 1889, 4. http://n2t.net/ark:/13960/t5v71f26w; John T. Walbran, British Columbia Coast Names […] (Ottawa, Government Printing Bureau, 1909), 460. http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0221858
• 2. Death of Mr. T. J. Skinner, Daily Colonist (Victoria), 2 June 1889, 4. http://n2t.net/ark:/13960/t5v71f26w; Walbran, British Columbia Coast Names, 460.
• 3. Minutes of the Council of Vancouver Island [Memoir No. II] (Victoria: King's Printer, 1918), 18. http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0347572; Douglas to Newcastle, 11 April 1853, CO 305:4, no. 6979, 20. V53005.html
• 4. Minutes of the House of Assembly of Vancouver Island [Memoir No. III] (Victoria: King's Printer, 1918), 11. http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0347561; Esquimalt and Metchosin District, British Colonist (Victoria), 12 January 1860, 2. http://n2t.net/ark:/13960/t4rj6d30t
• 5. Hon. Mr. Davie Dead, Daily Colonist (Victoria), 1 August 1889, 1. http://n2t.net/ark:/13960/t3710296w
• 6. Death of Mr. T. J. Skinner, Daily Colonist (Victoria), 2 June 1889, 4. http://n2t.net/ark:/13960/t5v71f26w; Died, Daily Colonist (Victoria), 2 June 1889, 4. http://n2t.net/ark:/13960/t5v71f26w