James Douglas (governor)
Sir James Douglas KCB (August 15, 1803 – August 2, 1877) was a company fur-trader and a British colonial governor on Vancouver Island in northwestern North America, particularly in what is now British Columbia. Douglas worked for the North West Company, and later for the Hudson's Bay Company becoming a high-ranking company officer. From 1851 to 1864, he was Governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island. In 1858 he also became the first Governor of the Colony of British Columbia, in order to assert British authority during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, which had the potential to turn the B.C. Mainland into an American state. He remained governor of both Vancouver Island and British Columbia until his retirement in 1864. He is often credited as "The Father of British Columbia".
Read more about James Douglas (governor): Early Life and Fur Trader, Years in Fort Vancouver and Fort Victoria, Governor of The Colony of Vancouver Island, The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, Governor of Two Colonies, Retirement and Death, Places Named For Douglas
Famous quotes containing the words james and/or douglas:
“To treat a “big” subject in the intensely summarized fashion demanded by an evening’s traffic of the stage when the evening, freely clipped at each end, is reduced to two hours and a half, is a feat of which the difficulty looms large.”
—Henry James (1843–1916)
“Annie Laurie
Gie’d me her promise true;
Gie’d me her promise true,
Which ne’er forgot will be;
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I’d lay me doune and dee.”
—William Douglas (1672?–1748)