Acheson Gosford Irvine,

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(December 7, 1837 – January 8, 1916) served as Commissioner of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) from November 1, 1880, to March 31, 1886. Irvine was born in

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

in 1837, the son of John George Irvine, a captain in the Royal Quebec volunteers. Acheson became Assistant Commissioner of the North-West Mounted Police in 1876, and was promoted to commissioner in 1880. Irvine was involved with the events of the North-West Rebellion of 1885. On March 17, 1885, Irvine received a telegraph from Superintendent Leif Crozier that there was trouble near

Fort Carlton Fort Carlton was a Hudson's Bay Company fur trading post from 1795 until 1885. It was located along the North Saskatchewan River not far from Duck Lake. It is in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and was rebuilt by the government of Sas ...

and reinforcements were required. On March 18, Irvine left Regina, Assiniboia, with 100 men, arriving in

Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada, after Saskatoon and Regina. It is situated near the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway to the North" because ...

, on March 25. On March 26, Irvine set out for Fort Carlton with 83 police and 25 civilian volunteers. Shortly before his arrival there, a skirmish took place at Duck Lake, outside Batoche, between the existing NWMP forces, led by Crozier, and a group of Métis and Indians led by Gabriel Dumont, with the NWMP coming off worst. On March 27, the day after his arrival, Irvine concluded that Fort Carlton was indefensible and pulled the troops out, returning to Prince Albert. The troops returned to Prince Albert unharmed, but Fort Carlton burnt to the ground during the evacuation. Irvine was publicly censured by General Middleton for not attacking Batoche. Acheson Irvine also served as a member of the executive council of the North-West Territories from 1882 to 1886. Following his retirement in 1886, he became warden of the

Stony Mountain Penitentiary Stony Mountain Institution is a federal multi-security complex located in the Rural Municipality of Rockwood immediately adjacent to the community of Stony Mountain, Manitoba, about from Winnipeg. The Institution (medium-security) began opera ...

in Manitoba. He was awarded the Imperial Service Order in 1902. In 1945, an RCMP Commissioner-Class ship was named after him. The patrol vessel ''Irvine'' (originally named HMCS ''Noranda'') had started off life as a Bangor-class

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

in the Royal Canadian Navy. In 1962 the RCMP sold the ship, which was converted to a yacht, the ''Miriana''; she sank at Montego Bay, Jamaica in May 1971.

References

''Manitoba Historical Society - Acheson Gosford Irvine''

''The Canadian Encyclopedia - Acheson Gosford Irvine''Archived
at the Wayback Machine. {{DEFAULTSORT:Irvine, Acheson Gosford 1837 births 1916 deaths Canadian Companions of the Imperial Service Order Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories Royal Canadian Mounted Police commissioners People of the North-West Rebellion