Company, Crown and colony: The Hudson's Bay Company and territorial endeavour in Western Canada

316 Pages·2011·53.574 MB·English

by  Royle, Stephen

Stephen Royle is Professor of Island Geography and Director of the
Centre of Canadian Studies at Queen’s University Belfast. A Member of
the Royal Irish Academy, he is the author of a number of books
including The Company's Island (I.B.Tauris, 2007).

Company, Crown
and Colony

The Hudson’s Bay Company and
Territorial Endeavour in Western Canada

S R
TEPHEN OYLE
Published in 2011 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd
6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
www.ibtauris.com

Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave
Macmillan
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010

Copyright © 2011 Stephen Royle

The right of Stephen Royle to be identified as the author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or
any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher.

ISBN 978 1 84885 132 0

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available

Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Anthony Rowe, Chippenham
from camera-ready copy edited and supplied by the author
Contents

List of Figures vii
List of Tables ix
Acknowledgements xi

1. Companies, Colonialism and Frontiers in the New World 1
2. Settlement and Society of Vancouver Island Colony 15
3. Indigenous Peoples and the Hudson’s Bay Company on
Vancouver Island 61
4. The Economy of Vancouver Island Colony 123
5. Company, Crown and Governors 149
6. The Hudson’s Bay Company Governance of Vancouver Island 171
7. Vancouver Island, Western Canada and the Outside World 195
8. Conclusion: Company, Colony, Island and Frontier 225

Appendix 1. Archives: ‘Yours to Explore’ 237
Appendix 2. Abbreviations 239
Appendix 3. Dramatis Personae 240
Appendix 4. Tables 246
Appendix 5. First Nation Names 254

Notes 255
Index 297

Figures

1.1 Roderick Finlayson’s journey to Fort Vancouver, 1839 7
Maura Pringle, Senior Cartographic Technician, School of
Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen’s Univer-
sity Belfast
2.1 Northwest North America, places mentioned in the text 16
Maura Pringle
2.2 Vancouver Island, places mentioned in the text 17
Maura Pringle
2.3 The voyage of Norman Morrison, 1849–50 29
Maura Pringle
2.4 Age–sex pyramid, European population, Vancouver Island,
1855 38
Maura Pringle
2.5 Victoria, 1854 57
Image A–04104 courtesy of Royal BC Museum, BC Archives
2.6 Victoria, 1858 57
© The British Library Board (10470.P.2)
4.1 The Hudson’s Bay Company chimney at Fort Rupert 134
Stephen Royle
5.1 Governor Richard Blanshard 150
Image A-01112 courtesy of Royal BC Museum, BC Archives
5.2 Richard Blanshard’s journey to Vancouver Island, 1849–50 151
Maura Pringle
5.3 Governor James Douglas 161
Image A–01227 courtesy of Royal BC Museum, BC Archives
6.1 Members of the Vancouver Island Assembly, 1856 177
Image B–06678 courtesy of Royal BC Museum, BC Archives

Tables

2.1 Items supplied to surveying party, Vancouver Island, 1852 246
2.2 Migrants to Vancouver Island, 1848–52 246
2.3 Fare-paying passengers taken by the Hudson’s Bay Company to
Vancouver Island, 1848–54 247
2.4 Passengers for three voyages to Vancouver Island, 1850–52 247
2.5 Lands sold in Vancouver Island before 1858 248
2.6 Agricultural holdings in Vancouver Island Colony sold in 1858 252
4.1 Exports from Vancouver Island, 1853 252
4.2 Vancouver Island financial statistics, 1864–65 253
6.1 Puget Sound Agricultural Company holdings, Vancouver Island,
1853 253