Clement Francis Cornwall (June 18, 1836 – February 15, 1910) was a

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parliamentarian and the third

Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia The lieutenant governor of British Columbia () is the viceregal representative of the , in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The office of lieutenant governor is an office of the Crown and serves as a representative of the monarchy in ...

. Cornwall was born at Ashcroft House, in Newington Bagpath, near

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in 1836, son of the Reverend Alan Gardner Cornwall, the Anglican

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of Owlpen and Newington Bagpath, and Caroline Kingscote, of

Kingscote, Gloucestershire Kingscote is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, set on the uplands near the south western edge of the Cotswold hills. It is situated about two miles (3 km) east of Uley, five miles (8 km) e ...

. Both Cornwall's parents, though untitled, were able to trace their family lineages in England back as far as the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...

of 1066. After childhood education in

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s, Cornwall went to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

but transferred to

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, graduating in 1858 with a Bachelor of Arts. He was called to the bar by the Society of the Inner Temple,

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in 1862, but that same year he departed for and arrived in British Columbia. Unlike nearly all others newly arrived in the colony, and despite touring the mining districts, Cornwall made no effort to pursue mining, choosing instead to focus on stock-raising and the legal profession. He spent time at his seasonal practice as lawyer at Wild Horse Creek, French Creek and in the Big Bend. In 1864 Cornwall was elected to represent the Hope-Yale-Lytton riding for the newly created colonial Legislative Assembly , and was also a member of the same body in 1871 during the period in which British Columbia joined

Canadian confederation Canadian Confederation (french: Confédération canadienne, link=no) was the process by which three British North American provinces, the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, were united into one federation called the Dominion ...

. Immediately after the new province entered Confederation, Cornwall was appointed to the Canadian senate and served in that capacity for ten years until accepting the invitation in 1881 to serve as

Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia The lieutenant governor of British Columbia () is the viceregal representative of the , in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The office of lieutenant governor is an office of the Crown and serves as a representative of the monarchy in ...

. He had been appointed a provincial Justice of the Peace in 1864 and continued in that capacity until April, 1885; he retired from the office of Lieutenant-Governor in 1887 . He was engaged in "rural pursuits" – the life of a gentleman rancher – from the time of his retirement until September 17, 1889, when he was appointed to the bench as Judge of the County Court of Cariboo, also receiving the title of Stipendiary Magistrate in the same year. He continued in that position until retiring to Victoria in 1906. Cornwall was a member of many agricultural and pioneer societies, including the Dominion Council of Agriculture. In partnership with his brother Henry P. Cornwall, he managed a ranching operation which for many years was the province's largest supplier of livestock. Their cattle ranch near the confluence of the Bonaparte and

Thompson River The Thompson River is the largest tributary of the Fraser River, flowing through the south-central portion of British Columbia, Canada. The Thompson River has two main branches, the South Thompson River and the North Thompson River. The ri ...

s was named for Cornwall's birthplace as Ashcroft Manor; the township as Ashcroft. The ranch also operated a gristmill, a sawmill, and a roadhouse. Both Cornwalls were avid proponents of "gentlemen's sports", especially horse-racing and fox-hunting. The Ashcroft Manor Ranch was memorable for its hunting parties, with Cornwall's select group of foxhounds, from the Duke of Beaufort's celebrated kennels, put in hot pursuit of the local coyotes instead of foxes, and lavish social entertainments for any guests visiting during the hunt. Ashcroft became one of the main horse-racing venues in the province at a time when that was the number-one sport, and Cornwall took a prominent part in their organization. In due course he became president of the British Columbia Jockey Club. The

Cornwall Hills The Cornwall Hills are a range of mountainous hills in the Thompson Country of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada. They are located west and southwest of the communities of Cache Creek and Ashcroft and form the divide between the basin of ...

and

Cornwall Creek Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

, in the vicinity of the ranch, which was also known as the Cornwall Ranch, derive their name from the Cornwall brothers. Cornwall, who was a member of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

, was married to Charlotte Pemberton, daughter of the Reverend A.G. Pemberton of Kensal Green, London. Charlotte was also cousin to

Joseph Despard Pemberton Joseph Despard Pemberton (July 23, 1821 – November 11, 1893) was a surveyor for the Hudson's Bay Company, Surveyor General for the Colony of Vancouver Island, a pre-Confederation politician, a businessman and a farmer. He was born in 1821 i ...

and sister-in-law of Benjamin Pearse.

References

*
Profile on BC Government House website
*

External links

Fonds PR-1324 - Clement Francis Cornwall fonds
at

British Columbia Archives The British Columbia Provincial Archives are located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The BC Archives merged with the Royal BC Museum in 2003. The BC Archives contain the archives of the British Columbia government, and are valuable for bot ...

Item A-01193 - Clement Francis Cornwall and family; Lieutenant Governor 1881 to 1887
digitised photo at British Columbia Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Cornwall, Clement Francis 1836 births 1910 deaths Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) senators English emigrants to pre-Confederation British Columbia Lieutenant Governors of British Columbia Canadian senators from British Columbia Members of the Colonial Assembly of British Columbia Canadian ranchers Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Lawyers in British Columbia Members of the Legislative Council of British Columbia Colony of British Columbia (1866–1871) judges 19th-century English lawyers