The Colony of British Columbia was a
crown colony
A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by Kingdom of England, England, and then Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English overseas possessions, English and later British Empire. There was usua ...
in
British North America
British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...
from 1858 until 1866 that was founded by
Richard Clement Moody,
[Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Volume 90, Issue 1887, 1887, pp. 453-455, OBITUARY. MAJOR-GENERAL RICHARD CLEMENT MOODY, R.E., 1813-1887.] who was selected to 'found a second
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
on the shores of the Pacific',
who was Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works for British Columbia and the first
Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia. Prior to the arrival of Moody's
Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, the Colony's supreme authority was its Governor James Douglas, who was the Governor of the neighbouring colony of Vancouver Island.
This first colony of British Columbia did not originally include the
Colony of Vancouver Island, or the regions north of the
Nass and
Finlay rivers, or the regions east of the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...
, or any of the coastal islands, but it did include the
Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands, and was enlarged in 1863 in the north and northeast up to the
60th parallel and the
120th meridian by the (
26 & 27 Vict. c. 83). The colony was incorporated with the Colony of Vancouver Island in 1866 to create the new
Colony of British Columbia The Colony of British Columbia refers to one of two colonies of British North America, located on the Pacific coast of modern-day Canada:
* Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866)
* Colony of British Columbia (1866–1871)
See also
* History of ...
(1866–1871).
Background
The explorations of
James Cook
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...
and
George Vancouver
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain George Vancouver (; 22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for leading the Vancouver Expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern West Coast of the Uni ...
, and the
concessions of
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
in 1794 established British claims over the coastal area north of California. Similar claims were established inland via the explorations of such men as
John Finlay,
Sir Alexander Mackenzie
Sir Alexander Mackenzie ( – 12 March 1820) was a Scottish explorer and fur trader known for accomplishing the first crossing of North America north of Mexico by a European in 1793. The Mackenzie River and Mount Sir Alexander are named afte ...
,
Simon Fraser,
Samuel Black
Samuel Black (May 3, 1780 – February 8, 1841) was a Scottish fur trader and explorer, a clerk in the New North Nest Company (XYC) and Wintering Partner in the North West Company (NWC), and later clerk, chief trader, and chief factor in the Hu ...
, and
David Thompson, and by the subsequent establishment of
fur trading
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...
posts by the
North West Company
The North West Company was a Fur trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...
and the
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...
(HBC). However, until 1858, the region which now comprises the
mainland of the Province of British Columbia was an unorganised area of British North America comprising two fur trading districts:
New Caledonia
New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
, north of the
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 river ...
drainage; and the
Columbia District
The Columbia District was a fur-trading district in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, in both the United States and British North America in the 19th century. Much of its territory overlapped with the temporarily jointly occupi ...
, located south of the Thompson and throughout the basin of the
Columbia River
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...
.

With the signing of the
Treaty of Washington in 1846, which established the US border along the
49th parallel, the HBC moved the headquarters of its western operations from
Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver was a 19th-century fur trading post built in the winter of 1824–1825. It was the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department, located in the Pacific Northwest. Named for Captain George Vancouver, the fort was ...
on the Columbia River (present day
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver ( ) is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, located in Clark County, Washington, Clark County. Founded in 1825 and incorporated in 1857, Vancouver had a population of 190, ...
) to the newly established
Fort Victoria, on the southern tip of
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...
. Vancouver Island and the surrounding
Gulf Islands
The Gulf Islands is a group of islands in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia Coast, mainland coast of British Columbia.
Etymology
The name "Gulf Islands" comes from "Gulf of Georgia", the original term used by Geor ...
in the
Strait of Georgia
The Strait of Georgia () or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada, and the extreme northwestern mainland coast of Washington, United Stat ...
were organized as a crown colony in 1849. Meanwhile, the mainland continued to function under the ''de facto'' administration of the HBC, whose chief executive,
James Douglas, was also governor of Vancouver Island. The non-Indigenous mainland population during this time never exceeded about 150 at Fort Victoria, mostly HBC employees and their families.
Governorship of James Douglas
By 1857, Americans and British were beginning to respond to rumors of gold in the Thompson River area. Almost overnight, some ten to twenty thousand men moved into the region around present-day
Yale, British Columbia, sparking the
Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. Governor Douglas - who had no legal authority over New Caledonia – stationed a gunboat at the entrance of the
Fraser River
The Fraser River () is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain (Canada), Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of V ...
to exert such authority by collecting licences from
prospectors attempting to make their way upstream. To normalize its jurisdiction, and undercut any HBC claims to the resource wealth of the mainland, the district was converted to a Crown colony on 2 August 1858 by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and given the name British Columbia. Douglas was offered the governorship of the new colony by the British colonial secretary,
Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, provided that he sever his employment by the Hudson's Bay Company, that Douglas accepted to do, and received a knighthood.
The numerous immigration into the new colony obliged Douglas to act quickly to define regulations and to create infrastructure.
Magistrate
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...
s and
constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...
s were hired, mining regulations drawn up, and town sites surveyed at Yale,
Hope
Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's own life, or the world at large.
As a verb, Merriam-Webster defines ''hope'' as "to expect with confid ...
and
Fort Langley to discourage
squatting
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...
on
crown land
Crown land, also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in Commonwealth realm ...
. In addition, roads were constructed into the areas of greatest mining exploration around
Lillooet
Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road abo ...
and
Lytton. The colony, however, was not immediately granted a
representative colonial assembly, because of uncertainty as to whether the gold rush would yield a stable, settled population. Douglas, who had conflicted with the assembly on Vancouver Island, was relieved.

The rush indeed was short lived, and the exodus of miners, speculators, and merchants was already underway by the time the
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...
had laid out the colony's new capital at
New Westminster
New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the cap ...
. Prospecting continued, however, and additional finds farther inland in the
Cariboo
The Cariboo is an intermontane region of British Columbia, Canada, centered on a plateau stretching from Fraser Canyon to the Cariboo Mountains. The name is a reference to the Caribou (North America), caribou that were once abundant in the reg ...
region in 1860 signalled an impending second gold rush. Provisioning was already proving to be an acute problem, and with more distant finds it became clear that
wagon train
''Wagon Train'' is an American Western television series that aired for eight seasons, first on the NBC television network (1957–1962) and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and reached the top of the ...
s would have to replace pack horses, necessitating new infrastructure.
Throughout his tenure in British Columbia, Douglas feuded with
Richard Clement Moody, who was the first
Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, and the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works for British Columbia,
whose jurisdiction overlapped with that of Douglas. Moody's offices of Chief Commissioner and Lieutenant-Governor were of 'higher prestige
ndlesser authority' than that of Douglas, whom The British Government had selected Moody to 'out manoeuvre the old Hudson's Bay Factor
overnor Douglas.
Foundation by Richard Clement Moody
Selection
When news of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush reached London,
Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Secretary of State for the Colonies, requested that the War Office recommend a field officer who was "a man of good judgement possessing a knowledge of mankind" to lead a Corps of 150 (later increased to 172) Royal Engineers who had been selected for their "superior discipline and intelligence".
The War Office chose Moody: and Lord Lytton, who described Moody as his "distinguished friend",
accepted their nomination, as a consequence of Moody's military record, his success as Governor of the Falkland Islands, and the distinguished record of his father, Colonel
Thomas Moody, at the Colonial Office.
Moody was charged to establish British order and to transform the new Colony of British Columbia into the British Empire's "bulwark in the farthest west" and "found a second England on the shores of the Pacific".
Lytton desired to send to the colony "representatives of the best of British culture, not just a police force": men who possessed "courtesy, high breeding and urbane knowledge of the world" such as Moody, whom the Government considered to be the archetypal "English gentleman and British Officer" to command the
Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment. Moody's brother, Colonel
Hampden Clement Blamire Moody, had already served with the Royal Engineers in Canada (mainly at
Fort Garry), from 1840 to 1848,
to such success that he was subsequently granted command of the regiment across the entirety of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
.
Richard Clement Moody and his wife Mary Moody (of the
Hawks industrial dynasty and of the Boyd
merchant banking family) and their four children left England, for British Columbia, in October 1858, and arrived in British Columbia in December 1858,
with the 172 Royal Engineers of the Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, and his secretary the
freemason
Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
Robert Burnaby (after whom he subsequently named
Burnaby Lake), under his command.
The original Columbia Detachment consisted of 150 Royal Engineers, both sappers and officers, before it was increased to 172. Moody had three captains:
Robert Mann Parsons,
John Marshall Grant, and
Henry Reynolds Luard. The contingent included two lieutenants, both of British
landed gentry
The landed gentry, or the gentry (sometimes collectively known as the squirearchy), is a largely historical Irish and British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. It is t ...
, namely Lieutenant
Arthur Reid Lempriere (of Diélament, Jersey) and Lieutenant
Henry Spencer Palmer, and Doctor
John Vernon Seddall, and Captain
William Driscoll Gosset (who was to be Colonial Treasurer and Commissary Officer), and
John Sheepshanks (who was to be Chaplain of the Columbia Detachment).
Moody was sworn in as the first
lieutenant-governor of British Columbia and appointed Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works for British Columbia.
Ned McGowan's War
Moody had hoped to begin immediately the foundation of a capital city, but on his arrival at Fort Langley, he learned of an insurrection, at the settlement of Hill's Bar, by a notorious outlaw, Ned McGowan, and some restive gold miners.
Moody repressed the rebellion, which became popularly known as '
Ned McGowan's War', without loss of life.
Moody described the incident: ''The notorious Ned McGowan, of Californian celebrity at the head of a band of
Yankee Rowdies defying the law! Every peaceable citizen frightened out of his wits!—Summons & warrants laughed to scorn! A Magistrate seized while on the Bench, & brought to the Rebel's camp, tried, condemned, & heavily fined! A man shot dead shortly before! Such a tale to welcome me at the close of a day of great enjoyment.'' Moody described the response to his success: 'They gave me a Salute, firing off their loaded Revolvers over my head—Pleasant—Balls whistling over one's head! as a compliment! Suppose a hand had dropped by accident! I stood up, & raised my cap & thanked them in the Queen's name for their loyal reception of me'.
The Foundation of British Columbia
In British Columbia, Moody 'wanted to build a city of beauty in the wilderness' and planned his city as an iconic visual metaphor for British dominance, 'styled and located with the objective of reinforcing the authority of the Crown and of the robe'. Subsequent to the enactment of the Pre-emption Act of 1860, Moody settled the
Lower Mainland
The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05million people as of the 2021 ...
. He founded the new capital city,
New Westminster
New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the cap ...
,
at a site of dense forest of Douglas pine
that he selected for its strategic excellence including the quality of its port. He, in his letter to his friend Arthur Blackwood of the Colonial Office that is dated 1 February 1859, described the majestic beauty of the site:
''"The entrance to the Frazer is very striking--Extending miles to the right & left are low marsh lands (apparently of very rich qualities) & yet
fr the Background of Superb Mountains- Swiss in outline, dark in woods, grandly towering into the clouds there is a sublimity that deeply impresses you. Everything is large and magnificent, worthy of the entrance to the Queen of England's dominions on the Pacific mainland.
..My imagination converted the silent marshes into
Cuyp-like pictures of horses and cattle lazily fattening in rich meadows in a glowing sunset.
..The water of the deep clear Frazer was of a glassy stillness, not a ripple before us, except when a fish rose to the surface or broods of wild ducks fluttered away"''.
Moody designed the roads and the settlements of New Westminster,
and his Royal Engineers, under Captain John Marshall Grant,
built an extensive road network, including that which became
Kingsway, which connected New Westminster to
False Creek
False Creek () is a short narrow inlet in the heart of Vancouver, separating the Downtown Vancouver, Downtown and West End, Vancouver, West End list of neighbourhoods in Vancouver, neighbourhoods from the rest of the city. It is one of the four ...
; and the North Road between
Port Moody
Port Moody is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It envelops the east end of Burrard Inlet and is the smallest of the Tri-Cities, bordered by Coquitlam on the east and south ...
and New Westminster; and the Pacific terminus, at Burrard's Inlet, of Port Moody, of the Canadian and Pacific Railway (which subsequently was extended to the mouth of the Inlet and terminates now at Vancouver);
and the
Cariboo Road; and
Stanley Park
Stanley Park is a public park in British Columbia, Canada, that makes up the northwestern half of Vancouver's Downtown Vancouver, Downtown peninsula, surrounded by waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay, Vancouver, English Bay. The park bor ...
, which was an important strategic area for the anticipated invasion by the United States. He named
Burnaby Lake after his secretary Robert Burnaby, and he named Port Coquitlam's 400-foot 'Mary Hill' after his wife Mary Hawks. Moody designed the first
Coat of arms of British Columbia.
Richard Clement Moody established
Port Moody
Port Moody is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It envelops the east end of Burrard Inlet and is the smallest of the Tri-Cities, bordered by Coquitlam on the east and south ...
, which was subsequently named after him, at the end of the trail that connected New Westminster with Burrard Inlet, to defend New Westminster from potential attack from the United States.
Moody also established a town at Hastings which was later incorporated into Vancouver.
The British designated multiple tracts as government reserves. The Pre-emption Act did not specify conditions for the distribution of the land, and, consequently, large areas were bought by speculators.
Moody requisitioned 3,750 acres (sc. 1,517 hectares) for himself,
and, on this land, he subsequently built for himself, and owned, Mayfield, a model farm near New Westminster.
Moody was criticised by journalists for
land grabbing
Land grabbing is the large-scale acquisition of land through buying or leasing of large pieces of land by domestic and Multinational corporation, transnational companies, governments, and individuals.
While used broadly throughout history, land g ...
,
but his requisitions were ordered by the Colonial Office,
and Moody throughout his tenure in British Columbia received the approbation of the British authorities in London,
and was in British Columbia described as 'the real father of New Westminster'.
However, Lord Lytton, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, 'forgot the practicalities of paying for clearing and developing the site and the town' and the effort of Moody's Engineers was continually impeded by insufficient funds, which, together with the continuous opposition of Governor Douglas, whom Sir
Thomas Frederick Elliot (1808 - 1880) described as 'like any other fraud', 'made it impossible for
oody'sdesign to be fulfilled'.
Throughout his tenure in British Columbia, Moody feuded with
Sir James Douglas, Governor of Vancouver Island, whose jurisdiction overlapped with his own. Moody's offices of Chief Commissioner and Lieutenant-Governor were of 'higher prestige
ndlesser authority' than that of Douglas, despite Moody's superior social position in the judgement of the Royal Engineers and of the British Government which had selected Moody to 'out manoeuvre the old Hudson's Bay Factor
overnor Douglas.
Moody had been selected by Lord Lytton for his qualities of the archetypal 'English gentleman and British Officer', and because his family was 'eminently respectable': he was the son of
Colonel Thomas Moody, Kt., who owned land in the islands in which Douglas's father owned less land and from which Douglas's 'a half-breed' mother originated. Governor Douglas's ethnicity was 'an affront to Victorian society', whereas Mary Moody was a member of the
Hawks industrial dynasty and of the Boyd
merchant banking family.
Mary Moody wrote, on 4 August 1859, 'it is not pleasant to serve under a Hudson's Bay Factor', and that the 'Governor and Richard can never get on'. John Robson, who was the editor of the ''British Columbian'', wanted Richard Clement Moody's office to include that of Governor of British Columbia, and to thereby make obsolete Douglas.
In letter to the Colonial Office of 27 December 1858, Richard Clement Moody states that he has 'entirely disarmed
ouglasof all jealously'. Douglas repeatedly insulted the Royal Engineers by attempting to assume their command and refusing to acknowledge their contribution to the nascent colony.
Margaret A. Ormsby, who was the author of the Dictionary of Canadian Biography entry for Moody (2002), unpopularly censures Moody for the abortive development of the New Westminster.
However, most significant historians commend Moody's contribution and exonerate Moody from culpability for the abortive development of New Westminster, especially with regard to the perpetual insufficiency of funds and of the personally motivated opposition by Douglas that continually retarded the development of British Columbia.
Robert Burnaby observed that Douglas proceeded with 'muddling
oody'swork and doubling his expenditure'
and with employing administrators to 'work a crooked policy against Moody' to 'retard British Columbia and build up... the stronghold of
Hudson's Bay interests' and their own 'landed stake'.
Therefore, Robert Edgar Cail, Don W. Thomson, Ishiguro, and Scott commended Moody for his contribution, and Scott accused Ormsby of being 'adamant in her dislike of Colonel Moody' despite the majority of evidence, and almost all other biographies of Moody, including that by the Institution of Civil Engineers, and that by the Royal Engineers, and that by the British Columbia Historical Association, commend Moody's achievements in British Columbia.
The
Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment was disbanded in July 1863. The Moody family (which now consisted of Moody, and his wife, and seven legitimate children)
and the 22 Royal Engineers who wished to return to England, who had 8 wives between them, departed for England.
130 of the original Columbia Detachment decided to remain in British Columbia.
Scott contends that the dissolution of the Columbia Detachment, and the consequent departure of Moody, 'doomed' the development of the settlement and the realisation of Lord Lytton's dream. A vast congregation of New Westminster citizens gathered at the dock to bid farewell to Moody as his boat departed for England. Moody wanted to return to British Columbia, but he died before he was able to do so. Moody left his library behind, in New Westminster, to become the public library of New Westminster.
In April 1863, the Councillors of New Westminster decreed that 20 acres should be reserved and named Moody Square after Richard Clement Moody. The area around Moody Square that was completed only in 1889 has also been named Moody Park after Moody. Numerous developments occurred in and around Moody Park, including Century House, which was opened by
Princess Margaret
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II.
...
on 23 July 1958. In 1984, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of New Westminster, a monument of Richard Clement Moody, at the entrance of the park, was unveiled by Mayor Tom Baker. For Moody's achievements in the Falkland Islands and in British Columbia,
British diplomat David Tatham CMG, who served as Governor of the Falkland Islands, described Moody as an 'Empire builder'.
In January 2014, with the support of the Friends of the British Columbia Archives and of the Royal British Columbia Museum Foundation, The Royal British Columbia Museum purchased a photograph album that had belonged to Richard Clement Moody. The album contains over 100 photographs of the early settlement of British Columbia, including some of the earliest known photographs of First Nations peoples.
Governorship of Frederick Seymour
Douglas's successor was
Frederick Seymour, who came to the colony with twenty years of colonial experience in
Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania during the European exploration of Australia, European exploration and colonisation of Australia in the 19th century. The Aboriginal Tasmanians, Aboriginal-inhabited island wa ...
, the
British West Indies
The British West Indies (BWI) were the territories in the West Indies under British Empire, British rule, including Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Antigua and Barb ...
, and
British Honduras
British Honduras was a Crown colony on the east coast of Central America — specifically located on the southern edge of the Yucatan Peninsula from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony — renamed Belize from June 1973 . The creation of an assembly and Seymour's appointment in April 1864 signalled a new era for the colony, now out of the shadow of Vancouver Island and free of a governor suspicious of sharing power with elected representatives. Douglas's wagon road project was still underway, presenting huge engineering challenges, as it made its way up the narrow Fraser Canyon. Successive loans authorised by Seymour's predecessor, largely for the purpose of completing the road, had put the colony £200,000 in debt; and the
Chilcotin War of 1864 cost an additional £18,000 to suppress. Seymour himself made the difficult journey through the
Great Canyon of the Homathko and
Rainbow Range as a show of force and participation in the hunt for
Klatsassin, the
Tsilhqot'in war leader, but the armed expedition reached a denouement when Klatsassin surrendered on terms of amnesty in times of war, only to be tried and hanged for murder, as Seymour had not endorsed the terms.
On Seymour's return overland, he made a tour of the Cariboo minefields, and along the Fraser Canyon, which made him increasingly convinced of the colony's future prosperity. On returning to the capital, however, fiscal reality set in as it became clear that British Columbia's indebtedness was getting worse. Even as the colonial administration took drastic measures to augment revenues and improve the road system to attract prospectors and settlers, the economic situation grew increasingly dire, and agitation grew for an amalgamation of the two colonies. Seymour opposed this proposal, but with pressure from various quarters of the colonial government, he eventually relented, recommending that British Columbia be the dominant partner, and (unsuccessfully) that the capital be located at New Westminster. The two colonies were united by an Act of the British Parliament, and proclaimed on 6 August 1866 (see
Colony of British Columbia (1866-1871)).
Governors
*
Sir James Douglas, 1858–1864
*
Frederick Seymour, 1864–1866
Colonial Assembly
Members 1863–1864
*
Arthur Nonus Birch, Colonial Secretary and Presiding Member
*
Henry Pering Pellew Crease, Attorney General
*
Wymond Ogilvy Hamley, Collector of Customs
*
Chartres Brew, Magistrate. New Westminster
*
Peter O'Reilly, Magistrate Cariboo East
* E.H. Sanders, Magistrate, Yale
*
Henry Maynard Ball, Magistrate, Lytton
*
Philip Henry Nind, Magistrate, Douglas
*
Joshua Homer, New Westminster District
*
Robert Thompson Smith, Yale and Lytton District
*
Henry Holbrook, Douglas and Lillooet District
*
James Orr, Cariboo East District
*
Walter Shaw Black, Cariboo West District
Members 1864–1865
*
Arthur Nonus Birch, Colonial Secretary and Presiding Member
*
Henry Pering Pellew Crease, Attorney General
*
Charles William Franks, Treasurer
*
Wymond Ogilvy Hamley, Collector of Customs
*
Chartres Brew, Magistrate. New Westminster
*
Peter O'Reilly, Magistrate Cariboo
*
Henry Maynard Ball, Magistrate, Lytton
*
Andrew Charles Elliott, Magistrate, Lillooet
*
John Carmichael Haynes, Magistrate, Osoyoos and Kootenay
*
Joshua Homer, New Westminster District
*
Clement Francis Cornwall, Hope, Yale and Lytton District
*
Henry Holbrook, Douglas and Lillooet District
*
George Anthony Walkem, Cariboo East and Quesnel Forks District
*
Walter Moberly, Cariboo West and Quesnelmouth District
Members 1866
*
Henry Maynard Ball, Acting Colonial Secretary and Presiding Member
*
Henry Pering Pellew Crease, Attorney General
*
Charles William Franks, Treasurer
*
Joseph Trutch Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works and Surveyor General
*
Wymond Ogilvy Hamley, Collector of Customs
*
Chartres Brew, Magistrate. New Westminster
*
Peter O'Reilly, Magistrate Kootenay
*
Andrew Charles Elliott, Magistrate, Lillooet
*
John Carmichael Haynes, Magistrate, Osoyoos and Kootenay
*
Joshua Homer, New Westminster District
*
Clement Francis Cornwall, Hope, Yale and Lytton District
*
Henry Holbrook, Douglas and Lillooet District
*
George Anthony Walkem, Cariboo East and Quesnel Forks District
* Robert Smith, Cariboo West and Quesnelmouth District
Supreme Court
In 1858 the British Government sent over
Matthew Baillie Begbie
Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie (9 May 1819 – 11 June 1894) was a British lawyer, politician, and judge. In 1858, Begbie became the first Chief Justice of the Crown Colony of British Columbia in colonial times and in the first decades after Br ...
as Chief Justice for the colony. Although trained at
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...
he had never practised law, but soon published a Rules of Court and a timetable of sittings. He held the post, under consecutive administrative regimes, until his death in 1894.
See also
*
Former colonies and territories in Canada
*
Territorial evolution of Canada after 1867
*
List of governors of Vancouver Island and British Columbia
*
Alaska boundary dispute
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
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Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:British Columbia, Colony of, (1858-1866)
1866 disestablishments in North America
Colony of British Columbia (1858-1866)
British North America
British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...
Former British colonies and protectorates in the Americas
States and territories established in 1858
1858 establishments in the British Empire
Former colonies in North America
1866 disestablishments in the British Empire
1858 establishments in North America
States and territories disestablished in 1866