Alfred Penderell Waddington (October 2, 1801 – February 26, 1872), during his later years, was actively involved in the Colony of Vancouver Island in what later became the province of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. From 1860 to 1861 he was a representative of the Victoria District in the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

of the Colony of Vancouver Island. He was also the first colonial Superintendent of Education from 1865 to 1867 and was an advocate of free

public education State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...

. Waddington is also remembered for planning the ill-fated Waddington's Road at Bute Inlet. The road was intended to be a shorter route to the Cariboo Gold Rush goldfields and was intended to run from the

Pacific Coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...

via Bute Inlet to

Fort Alexandria Alexandria or Fort Alexandria is a National Historic Site of Canada on the Fraser River in British Columbia, and was the end of the Old Cariboo Road and the Cariboo Wagon Road. It is located on Highway 97, north of 100 Mile House and south of Qu ...

, but instead resulted in the Chilcotin War.

Early years

Alfred Waddington completed his early education in England, attended a school in Paris and then attended the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

in Germany. In 1850, he moved to California and joined a partnership of wholesale grocers. In 1858, Waddington moved north to

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

. Although the

Fraser Canyon Gold Rush The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, (also Fraser Gold Rush and Fraser River Gold Rush) began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River a few miles upstream from the Thompson's c ...

was in full swing, Waddington was not interested in gold seeking. Instead, he wanted to encourage settlement in the colony and wrote ''Fraser Mines Vindicated'', the first book ever published in the Colony of Vancouver Island that was not from a government source. In 1860, he was elected to the House of Assembly on a platform of religious equality,

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

and small government. In 1861, he resigned from the House and in 1862, he helped draft the charter of the City of Victoria, but declined a nomination to be its first mayor.

Waddington's Road

In 1862, Waddington began lobbying the press and his political allies for support for a wagon road from Bute Inlet to Fort Alexandria where it would connect to the

Cariboo Road The Cariboo Road (also called the Cariboo Wagon Road, the Great North Road or the Queen's Highway) was a project initiated in 1860 by the Governor of the Colony of British Columbia, James Douglas. It involved a feat of engineering stretching fro ...

and continue on to the goldfields at Barkerville. He received approval for the construction early in 1863. In spring 1864, when members of the Tsilhqot'in (Chilcotin) First Nations learned of the plans to build the road through the Homathko River Valley, they feared both infringement on their territory and the increased threat of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

, which had already killed many of their people during the

1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic Year 186 ( CLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Glabrio (or, less frequently, year 939 ''Ab urbe con ...

. Eight Tsilhqot'in men, led by

Klatsassin Lhatŝ’aŝʔin (also known as Klatsassan or Klattasine; died 1864), a chief of the Chilcotin ( Tsilhqot'in) people, led a small group of warriors in attacks on road-building crews near Bute Inlet, British Columbia, in April and May 1864. The road ...

, attacked one of Waddington's work camps, killing fourteen road construction workers. Waddington's Road was never completed because of the war, but was examined in later years as one of the main possible routings for the mainline of the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

. However, the railway chose Burrard Inlet, which as a result became today's

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Superintendent of education

In 1865, Alfred Waddington was appointed Superintendent of Education for the colony Vancouver Island, but when the Island was annexed into British Columbia in 1866, the Board of Education no longer had any authority. He also served two terms as a member of the Vancouver Island Assembly. Waddington resigned in 1867 and the rest of the Board decided to close all of the schools on Vancouver Island. By 1868, ''all'' of the Board members had resigned to protest against the new government's attitudes towards free public schools. Meanwhile, Waddington had never forgotten his Bute Inlet route and began campaigning (against Walter Moberly) for a transcontinental railway to be built along that route, selling his rights to the federal government in 1871. He was in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

lobbying for this very purpose when he died of smallpox on February 26, 1872.

Places named after Alfred Waddington

Mount Waddington Mount Waddington, once known as Mystery Mountain, is the highest peak in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. Although it is lower than Mount Fairweather and Mount Quincy Adams, which straddle the United States border between Alaska ...

** Waddington Range (named after Mount Waddington) **

Mount Waddington Regional District The Regional District of Mount Waddington (RDMW) is a regional district in British Columbia. It takes in the lower Central Coast region centred on the Queen Charlotte Strait coast of northern Vancouver Island and the adjoining parts of mainland ...

(named after Mount Waddington) *

Waddington Canyon Waddington Canyon is a canyon on the Homathko River in the heart of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in British Columbia, Canada, located below the confluence of Mosley Creek. The canyon was named for Alfred Waddington, a gold rush-era ...

, on the Homathko River below Mosley Creek * Waddington Drive in

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...

* Waddington Alley in Victoria * Waddington Crescent in

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. As of the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census, it had a population of 99,863, and it is known as "The Harbour City." The city was previously known as the "H ...

* Waddington Channel, divides East and

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

Redonda Islands *

Waddington Harbour Waddington Harbour is a harbour at the head of Bute Inlet in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. Also issuing into the head of Bute Inlet and Waddington Harbour, just east of the mouth of the Homathko, is the Teaquahan River. ...

, at the mouth of the Homathko River, which was the basecamp for the road-building party, also known as Port Waddington

Notes

External links

Alfred Waddington biography

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waddington, Alfred English emigrants to pre-Confederation British Columbia 1801 births 1872 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island