Colonial Despatches

William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam was a traveller, author and politician who travelled extensively through British North America.1 In the despatches, he appears in his capacity as a British member of parliament in a reference to documents to be tabled in the British House of Commons pertaining to an alleged threat of invasion of waters in the British dominion on the coast of the Pacific.

Wentworth-Fitzwilliam made his first trip to British North America in 1860 when he visited the Red River Settlement.2 This inspired a series of trips, with his trek through the Rocky Mountains in 1863 proving the most influential.3

Upon his return to Britain in 1865, Wentworth-Fitzwilliam co-wrote a book about the journey with his travel companion, Dr. Walter Butler Cheadle, which they called The north-west passage by land.4 Their book made information about the prospects of the prairies more accessible to the British and Canadian publics, aiding in the push towards confederation and the inclusion of the west in the Canadian colonization project.5

In 1865, Wentworth-Fitzwilliam was elected as member of parliament for Yorkshire.6 As a member of parliament, he advocated for a number of liberal issues and the development of the Canadian west. 7 During his time in parliament, he published a book entitled A History of the San Juan Water Boundary Question, as Affecting the Division of Territory Between Great Britain and the United States, which continues to be used as a resource on the subject.8

• 1. V. G. Hopwood, Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, William, Viscount Milton, Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
• 2. Ibid.
• 3. Ibid.
• 4. Ibid.
• 5. Ibid.
• 6. Ibid.
• 7. Ibid.
• 8. Ibid.