Sir James Douglas (August 15, 1803 – August 2, 1877), was a British Columbian fur trader and politician who became the first Governor of the Colony of British Columbia.
- James Douglas (governor)He is often credited as "The Father of British Columbia".
- James Douglas (governor)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.
- Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866)The Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866) was subsequently founded by Richard Clement Moody, and by the Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, in response to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush.
- British ColumbiaRichard 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 Robert Burnaby (after whom he subsequently named Burnaby Lake), under his command.
- Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866)Lord Lytton "forgot the practicalities of paying for clearing and developing the site and the town" and the efforts of Moody's engineers were continuously hampered by insufficient funds, which, together with the continuous opposition of Governor James Douglas, "made it impossible for Moody's design to be fulfilled".
- British Columbia9 related topics with Alpha
Richard Clement Moody
4 linksBritish governor, engineer, architect, and soldier.
British governor, engineer, architect, and soldier.
He is best known for being the founder and the first Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia; and for being Commanding Executive Officer of Malta during the Crimean War; and for being the first British Governor of the Falkland Islands.
Moody, who is considered to be the founding father of British Columbia, founded the Colony of British Columbia, when he was selected to 'found a second England on the shores of the Pacific' by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who desired to send to the nascent Colony 'representatives of the best of British culture' who had 'courtesy, high breeding, and urbane knowledge of the world'.
Throughout his tenure in British Columbia, Moody feuded with Sir James Douglas Governor of Vancouver Island, whose jurisdiction overlapped with his own.
Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment
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The Columbia Detachment of the Royal Engineers was a contingent of the Royal Engineers of the British Army that was responsible for the foundation of British Columbia as the Colony of British Columbia (1858–66).
Throughout his tenure in British Columbia, Moody feuded with Sir James Douglas Governor of Vancouver Island, whose jurisdiction overlapped with his own.
Colony of Vancouver Island
4 linksCrown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with the mainland to form the Colony of British Columbia.
Crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with the mainland to form the Colony of British Columbia.
Chief Factor James Douglas was relocated from Fort Vancouver to Fort Victoria to oversee the company's operations west of the Rockies.
To exert its legal authority, and undercut any HBC claims to the resource wealth of the mainland, the district was converted to a Crown colony on 2 August 1858, and given the name British Columbia.
Victoria was named the capital of the province of British Columbia.
New Westminster
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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 capital of the new-born Colony of British Columbia in 1858, and continued in that role until the Mainland and Island Colonies were merged in 1866.
Governor James Douglas proclaimed the new capital with this name on February 14, 1859.
Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia
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The lieutenant governor of British Columbia is the viceregal representative of the, in the province of British Columbia, Canada.
This position coexisted with the office of governor of British Columbia served by James Douglas during that time.
The first British settlement in the area was the Colony of British Columbia (1858–66), of which the first lieutenant governor, from 1858 to 1863, was Richard Clement Moody, who had previously served as the first governor of the Falkland Islands.
Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
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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 confluence with the Fraser River at present-day Lytton.
It was the catalyst for the founding of the Colony of British Columbia, the building of early road infrastructure, and the founding of many towns.
Although the area had been mined for a few years, news of the strike spread to San Francisco when the governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island, James Douglas, sent a shipment of ore to that city's mint.
New Caledonia (Canada)
2 linksNew Caledonia was a fur-trading district of the Hudson's Bay Company that comprised the territory of the north-central portions of present-day British Columbia, Canada.
New Caledonia continued over the next few years to be administered by the HBC, whose regional chief executive, James Douglas, also happened to be governor of Vancouver Island.
The name given the new entity was the Colony of British Columbia, and a new capital, New Westminster was established on the southern reaches of the Fraser River.
Vancouver Island
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Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Following the brief governorship of Richard Blanshard, James Douglas, Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay post, assumed the role in 1851.
The economic situation of the colony declined following the Cariboo Gold Rush of 1861–1862, and pressure grew for amalgamation of the colony with the mainland colony of British Columbia (which had been established in 1858).
Columbia District
1 linksFur trading district in the Pacific Northwest region of British North America in the 19th century.
Fur trading district in the Pacific Northwest region of British North America in the 19th century.
North and west of the Thompson was the New Caledonia fur district, in what is now north-central British Columbia.
The administrative headquarters of fur operations, and of the Columbia Department, then shifted to Fort Victoria, which had been founded by James Douglas in 1843 as a fall back position in preparation for the "worst case" scenario settlement of the dispute, in the face of manifest destiny.
With the creation of the Crown Colony on the British mainland north of the then-Washington Territory in 1858, Queen Victoria chose to use Columbia District as the basis for the name Colony of British Columbia, i.e. the remaining British portion of the former Columbia District.