Gilbert Malcolm Sproat

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Gilbert Sproat

Gilbert Malcolm Sproat (born April 19, 1834 - † June 4, 1913 ) was a Canadian entrepreneur, government official and author from Scotland .

biography

Sproat was born at Brighouse Farm Borgue near Kirkcudbright , Scotland. He went to Vancouver Island in 1860 , where he worked for the Anderson Company in building the first sawmill in Port Alberni , British Columbia . On 24 July 1863 he was justice of the peace (official title: "justice of the peace") for the colony of Vancouver Iceland . When the sawmill burned down in 1865, he returned to England. His interest in the affairs of the colony, which was united with the mainland in 1866, remained. Sproats fascination with the members of the First Nations , which was inflamed on Vancouver Island, led him to write his book "The Nootka: Scenes and studies of savage life", which appeared in 1868. In 1870 he wrote the work "Education of the Rural Poor", in which he pleaded for the expansion of basic schooling for all, which also included the farm workers. After British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation in 1871 , Sproat became the new provincial director general in London , a position he held from 1872 until his return to the province in 1876. From 1876 he was the representative of the joint provincial government in the "Indian Reserve Commission", in which he advocated that the First Nations should be allocated sufficient land to be able to remain self-sufficient. This attitude proved unpopular with the colonists and led to much controversy and finally, in 1880, Sproat's resignation from the committee. In 1883, Sproat began to travel inland from British Columbia, particularly to the Kootenai area , where he held several regional offices. After 1898 Sproat returned to Victoria , where he worked as a writer for most of his stay. He died there on June 4, 1913. Sproat Lake and Sproat Lake Provincial Park on Vancouver Island are named after him at the instigation of Robert Brown. So the name of the Sproat Narrows goes back to him.

Fonts (selection)

  • The West coast Indians in Vancouver Island . In: Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London - New series . tape 5 , no. 1867 . Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 1999, ISBN 0-659-98173-4 , pp. 243-254 , JSTOR : 3014233 (first edition: 1867).
  • The Nootka. Scenes and studies of savage . Ed .: Charles Lillard. Sono Nis Press, Victoria, BC 1987, ISBN 0-919203-63-9 ( archive.org - original title: Scenes and studies of savage life . London 1868.).
  • Education of the rural poor. With a full discussion of the principles and requirements of remedial legislation thereon . RJ Bush, London 1870, OCLC 905312601 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sproat Lake . In: BC Geographical Names (English)
  2. ↑ Sproat Narrow . In: BC Geographical Names (English)
personal data
SURNAME Sproat, Gilbert Malcolm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian entrepreneur, government official, and author
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1834
DATE OF DEATH June 4, 1913