James Douglas was born in Guyana in 1803. His father was Scottish and his mother was “free coloured.” Douglas was Chief Factor for the Hudson’s Bay Company operating from Fort Victoria. In 1851 he was appointed Governor of the Crown Colony of Vancouver Island, succeeding Richard Blanshard. Meanwhile, the mainland colony functioned under the defacto administration of the Hudson’s Bay Company with Douglas as its chief executive. In 1858, the mainland colony became the Colony of British Columbia, and Douglas was named as its governor. He concurrently continued as Governor of Vancouver Island, which remained a separate colony until 1866. Queen Victoria knighted Douglas in 1863. Read more
You may also like
Through songs and narrative, Lonnie Glass related the story of Lincoln’s journey from his pre-Presidential career through the Civil War to his […]
According to the U.S. National Archives on Black Soldiers in the U.S. Military, roughly 179,000 Black men (10% of the Union Army) […]
The total population of the province in 1871 was 36,427. That number included 8,576 (23.7%) British/Continental European, 1,548 (4.3%) Asian, and an […]
Designation Date: April 20,2009 “Our government is proud to honor a man who worked tirelessly for the local Black Community as a […]