Lord SeLkirk: A Life Selkirk_approved_jk.indd 1 03/03/10 10:45 AM Selkirk_approved_jk.indd 2 03/03/10 10:45 AM L o r d S e L k i r k A L i f e J.M. BUMSted University of Manitoba Press Selkirk_approved_jk.indd 3 03/03/10 10:45 AM © 2008 J.M. Bumsted University of Manitoba Press Winnipeg Manitoba R3T 2M5 Canada www.umanitoba.ca/uofmpress Printed in Canada. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means or stored in a database and retrieval system without the prior written permission of University of Manitoba Press, or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from ACCESS COPYRIGHT (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, 6 Adelaide Street East, Suite 900, Toronto, Ontario M5C 1H6 www.accesscopyright.ca) Interior design: Relish Design Cover design: Doowah Design Maps: Weldon Hiebert Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Bumsted, J. M., 1938- Lord Selkirk : a life / J.M. Bumsted. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-88755-184-0 1. Selkirk, Thomas Douglas, Earl of, 1771-1820. 2. Red River Settlement. 3. Fur trade--Canada--History--19th century. 4. Enlightenment--Scotland. 5. Frontier and pioneer life--Manitoba. 6. Hudson’s Bay Company--History. 7. Métis--History--19th century. 8. Manitoba--Emigration and History--19th century. 9. Great Britain--Emigration and immigration-- immigration--History--19th century. 10. Hudson’s Bay Company-- Biography. 11. Manitoba--Biography. I. Title. FC3212.41.S44B84 2008 971.27’01092 C2008-902254-8 Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication The University of Manitoba Press gratefully acknowledges the financial support for its publication program provided by the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP), the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council, and the Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Sport. Selkirk_approved_jk.indd 4 03/03/10 10:45 AM to my youngest grandchildren oliver and Joenna Selkirk_approved_jk.indd 5 03/03/10 10:45 AM Selkirk_approved_jk.indd 6 03/03/10 10:45 AM contentS preface ....................................................................................................xi chapter one Dunbar ......................................................................................................3 chapter two Apprenticing ............................................................................................21 chapter three Paris, The Continent, And The Shadow Of Daer .....................................39 chapter four Finding A Role In Life .............................................................................57 chapter five Towards Prince Edward Island ................................................................75 chapter six Selkirk And The Island ............................................................................93 chapter seven Touring North America .........................................................................109 chapter eight Observations On The Present State Of The Highlands .........................131 chapter nine Joining The Establishment .....................................................................151 chapter ten Settling Down ........................................................................................167 chapter eleven Taking Over The Hudson’s Bay Company ............................................181 chapter twelve Starting Up Red River ...........................................................................203 Selkirk_approved_jk.indd 7 03/03/10 10:45 AM chapter thirteen The Highland Regiment And The Kildonan Immigrants .......................219 chapter fourteen The Pemmican Proclamation .................................................................235 chapter fifteen The Settlement Dispersed ......................................................................255 chapter sixteen Trying To Gain Control .........................................................................277 chapter seventeen Seven Oaks And Fort William, 1816 .....................................................303 chapter eighteen More Overstepping Of Legality ............................................................317 chapter ninteen On The Defensive, 1817 ........................................................................331 chapter twenty Campaigning At Law, January To June 1818 ........................................359 chapter twenty-one Further Campaigning At Law, June To November 1818 .......................383 chapter twenty-two Returning To Europe, 1818–1820 .........................................................399 chapter twenty-three To The Death .........................................................................................421 chapter twenty-four Coda ......................................................................................................431 notes .....................................................................................................439 bibliography .......................................................................................483 index .....................................................................................................501 illustrations follow page 254 Selkirk_approved_jk.indd 8 03/03/10 10:45 AM “the best-laid schemes o’ mice an ‘men Gang aft aglay, An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, for promis’d joy!” —Robert Burns, “to a Mouse, on turning Her Up in Her nest With the Plough,” 1785 Selkirk_approved_jk.indd 9 03/03/10 10:45 AM