Sir James Douglas Governor of British Columbia

1803 - 2nd Aug 1877


Biography

Governor of Vancouver Island 1851-1864 and British Columbia 1858-1864. Probably the son of John Douglas (q.v.), a Scottish merchant in British Guiana, and Martha Ann Ritchie later Telfer (q.v.), a free woman of colour. He has an entry in the ODNB as 'governor in Canada', a memorial in Victoria, British Columbia and a statue in Mahaica, Guyana.


Sources

Charlotte S.M. Girard, 'Sir James Douglas' Mother and Grandmother', B.C. Studies No. 44 Winter 1979-80 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/1036/1074Adele [accessed 20/04/2011]; Adele Perry, 'James Douglas, Canada and Guyana' Stabroek News 04/04/2011 http://www.stabroeknews.com/2011/features/in-the-diaspora/04/04/james-douglas-canada-and-guyana/ [accessed 20/04/2011]; Adele Perry, '"Is your Garden in England, Sir?": James Douglas's Archive and the Politics of Home' , History Workshop Journal 70 (1) (Autumn, 2010) pp. 67-85; J. M. McCarthy, ‘Douglas, Sir James (1803–1877)’, rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/37367, accessed 14 July 2017]

We are grateful to Sally Jennings for her assistance with compiling this entry.


Further Information

Absentee?
Transatlantic?
Spouse
Amelia Connolly
Children
11 children including James William Douglas (1851-1883)
Occupation
Politician and landowner
Oxford DNB Entry

Legacies Summary

Imperial (1)

Canada: British Columbia including Vancouver Island 
notes →
Initially Governor of Vancouver Island, became Governor of British Columbia as well in...

Physical (2)

Monument
Monument to Sir James Douglas, BC Legislature, Victoria, BC [Built] 
description →
Granite obelisk erected in memory of Sir James Douglas in 1881 outside British Columbia's legislative buildings ...
notes →
Adele Perry, Colonial Relations: the Douglas-Connolly Family in the Nineteenth-Century Imperial World (Cambridge, 2015) pp....
Public memorial
Statue of James Douglas [Built] 
description →
Statue of James Douglas erected in 2008 in Mahican...
notes →
Adele Perry, Colonial Relations: the Douglas-Connolly Family in the Nineteenth-Century Imperial World (Cambridge, 2015)...

Relationships (3)

Natural Son → Father
Grandson → Grandmother
Natural Son → Mother

Addresses (2)

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada