Frederick Seymour

Frederick Seymour

Frederick Seymour (born September 6, 1820 in Belfast , † June 10, 1869 in Bella Coola , British Columbia ) was a British colonial administrator. From 1864 to 1866 he was the second governor of the colony of British Columbia , then the first governor of the United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia until his death .

biography

Father Henry Augustus was the illegitimate son of Francis Seymour-Conway, 2nd Marquess of Hertford . After his death in 1822 he was forced to give up his post as a civil servant, leave Ireland and move to Brussels with his family . Frederick Seymour got a job in the colonial administration in 1842 from Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , who was friends with his older brother. During the next 20 years he served in various positions in the British colonies of Van Diemens Land , Antigua , Nevis , British Honduras and the Bay Islands .

The climax of Seymour's career followed in 1864 with his appointment as governor of the colony of British Columbia in western British North America . From his predecessor James Douglas he took over a highly indebted colony, the British colonists demanded the introduction of self-government. Seymour continued Douglas' costly road construction from the coast to the gold mining areas in the Cariboo region. The suppression of an uprising by the Homalco Indians on Bute Inlet shortly after his arrival in April 1864 ( Chilcotin War ) caused additional high costs .

Seymour initially resisted public pressure to merge the colony of British Columbia with the colony of Vancouver Island , despite the prospect of consolidating both colonies' incomes and reducing administrative costs. In 1866 he stayed in London for several months for deliberations, where he finally gave in to the demands. The Colonial Ministry proclaimed the merger on August 6, 1866 and appointed Seymour as governor of the united colony . Against his will, the Legislative Council of the colony decided in March 1867 to declare Victoria and not New Westminster, which it favored, the capital.

In the summer of 1867 Seymour embarked on a journey of several months inland to settle various minor conflicts. After the founding of Canada in the same year, the population demanded more and more energetically for the colony to join the new state. Seymour built the public school system, improved the judiciary and was able to reduce the deficit. However, he was seriously ill, so that he had to be replaced as soon as possible; In late 1869, Anthony Musgrave was to succeed him. In the spring of 1869 Seymour went to the Nass River to mediate between Indian tribes. On his return he developed dysentery and died in the village of Bella Coola .

Web links

• Frederick Seymour ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
• Frederick Seymour . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).