Duncan Finlayson (ca 1796 – July 25, 1862) was a Scottish-born officer in the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

. He served as governor of

Assiniboia Assiniboia District refers to two historical districts of Canada's Northwest Territories. The name is taken from the Assiniboine First Nation. Historical usage ''For more information on the history of the provisional districts, see also Distri ...

, also known as the

Red River Colony The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assinboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hudson's Bay ...

, from 1839 to 1844.

Life

The son of John Finlayson, he was born in Dingwall, Scotland, and joined the

(HBC) as a "writer" in 1815. He was supervisor for the Peace River District from 1820 to 1821. He returned to England in 1825 for medical treatment after being accidentally shot. He served as clerk at Red River from 1826 to 1831. In 1828, he became chief trader and, in 1831,

chief factor A factor is a type of trader who receives and sells goods on commission, called factorage. A factor is a mercantile fiduciary transacting business in his own name and not disclosing his principal. A factor differs from a commission merchant in ...

. He travelled west to the Columbia River Department in 1831 expecting to succeed John McLoughlin as supervisor there; however, McLoughlin chose to continue as supervisor. Finlayson purchased the brig ''Lama'' in 1832. He founded

Fort McLoughlin Fort McLoughlin was a fur trading post established in 1833 by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) on Campbell Island in present-day British Columbia, Canada. At the time the Hudson's Bay Company performed quasi-governmental duties on behalf of the Br ...

Dowager Island Dowager Island is an island in the North Coast region of British Columbia. To its west is Finlayson Channel, to it east Mathieson Channel. Susan Island lies to its north and Lady Douglas Island to its south. James Johnstone, one of George Vanco ...

in 1833, made three trips to the

Sandwich Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Ku ...

and negotiated with the Russians to supply goods at

Sitka russian: Ситка , native_name_lang = tli , settlement_type = Consolidated city-borough , image_skyline = File:Sitka 84 Elev 135.jpg , image_caption = Downtown Sitka in 1984 , image_size ...

. He went on leave from 1834 to 1835 and left the region in 1937, returning to Scotland. In 1838, he married Isobel Graham Simpson, sister-in-law to George Simpson. In the spring of 1839, Finlayson became governor of

. He recruited settlers for a proposed HBC colony at

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

and sent 23 families to that area in 1841 in an unsuccessful attempt to counter American expansion in that area. In 1844, he moved to Lachine to supervisor the Montreal Department. He travelled to

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

in 1848 with George Simpson and Henry Hulse Berens to negotiate land claims on behalf of the HBC. Finlayson retired from service in June 1855 but was reappointed to the post in Lachine six months later. He retired to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1859. He died in London in 1862. His brother

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was a

with the HBC.

References

Year of birth uncertain 1862 deaths Hudson's Bay Company people Scottish emigrants to Canada {{Manitoba-politician-stub