Joseph Despard Pemberton
Encyclopedia
Joseph Despard Pemberton (July 23, 1821 – November 11, 1893) was a surveyor for the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

, Surveyor General
Surveyor General
The Surveyor General is an official responsible for government surveying in a specific country or territory. Originally this would often have been a military appointment, but is now more likely to be a civilian post....

 for the Colony of Vancouver Island
Colony of Vancouver Island
The Colony of Vancouver Island , was a crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with British Columbia. The united colony joined the Dominion of Canada through Confederation in 1871...

, a pre-Confederation politician, a businessman and a farmer. He was born in 1821 in Dublin, Ireland and died in 1893 in Oak Bay
Oak Bay, British Columbia
Oak Bay is a municipality located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian Province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Capital Regional District, it is a community east of and adjacent to the City of Victoria...

, British Columbia. Joseph Pemberton laid out Victoria's
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

 town site, southern Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

 and townsites along the Fraser River
Fraser River
The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...

. He married Teresa Jane Grautoff and they are the parents of Canadian painter Sophie Pemberton
Sophie Pemberton
Sophie Pemberton was a Canadian painter.Born in Victoria, British Columbia, she was the daughter of Teresa Jane Grautoff and Joseph Despard Pemberton...

. The town of Pemberton
Pemberton, British Columbia
Pemberton is a village north of Whistler in the Pemberton Valley of British Columbia in Canada, with a population of 2,192. Until the 1960s the village could be accessed only by train but that changed when Highway 99 was built through Whistler and Pemberton.-Climate:The climate of Pemberton is...

 was named after him.

Career

After some study and teaching experience in engineering and surveying in his native Ireland and employment in the booming railway industry there, Pemberton took employment with the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

 as the surveyor and engineer of the Colony
Colony of Vancouver Island
The Colony of Vancouver Island , was a crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with British Columbia. The united colony joined the Dominion of Canada through Confederation in 1871...

 which, at the time, was the main settlement area of present British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. He arrived at Fort Victoria June 25, 1851. During the first three year term of his contract, he laid out the land survey of the Victoria district including the urban and rural areas. His role included development of the settlement by setting sales policy for the lands in addition to survey layout. After completing his work for the Victoria district, he surveyed the coastline of Vancouver Island between Victoria and Nanaimo. Additional duties included supervision of road and bridge construction. He designed the first school and the church in the colony.

In 1857 as Surveyor-General for the Colony of Vancouver Island
Colony of Vancouver Island
The Colony of Vancouver Island , was a crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with British Columbia. The united colony joined the Dominion of Canada through Confederation in 1871...

, Pemberton successfully explored from Cowichan Bay to Nitinat returning by boat down the coast from the Alberni Inlet.

In 1858 and 1859, he laid out the town sites of Fort Yale
Yale, British Columbia
Yale is an unincorporated town in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was founded in 1848 by the Hudson's Bay Company as Fort Yale by Ovid Allard, the appointed manager of the new post, who named it after his superior, James Murray Yale, then Chief Factor of the Columbia District...

, Fort Hope
Hope, British Columbia
Hope is a district municipality located at the confluence of the Fraser and Coquihalla rivers in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Hope is at the eastern end of both the Fraser Valley and the Lower Mainland region, and is at the southern end of the Fraser Canyon...

, Port Douglas
Port Douglas, British Columbia
Port Douglas, sometimes referred to simply as Douglas, is a remote community in British Columbia, Canada at the head of Harrison Lake, which is the head of river navigation from the Strait of Georgia...

 and Derby (Fort Langley
Fort Langley, British Columbia
Fort Langley is a village with a population of 2,700 and forms part of the Township of Langley. It is the home of Fort Langley National Historic Site, a former fur trade post of the Hudson's Bay Company.-History:...

) (the proposed capital for the newly created Colony of British Columbia
Colony of British Columbia
The Colony of British Columbia was a crown colony in British North America from 1858 until 1866. At its creation, it physically constituted approximately half the present day Canadian province of British Columbia, since it did not include the Colony of Vancouver Island, the vast and still largely...

) as the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River. This was a few miles upstream from the Thompson's confluence with the Fraser River at present-day Lytton...

 in 1858 caused the arrival of settlers in what became the Colony of British Columbia
Colony of British Columbia
The Colony of British Columbia was a crown colony in British North America from 1858 until 1866. At its creation, it physically constituted approximately half the present day Canadian province of British Columbia, since it did not include the Colony of Vancouver Island, the vast and still largely...

.

In 1859 he left the HBC and was appointed Surveyor General
Surveyor General
The Surveyor General is an official responsible for government surveying in a specific country or territory. Originally this would often have been a military appointment, but is now more likely to be a civilian post....

 of the Colony of Vancouver Island
Colony of Vancouver Island
The Colony of Vancouver Island , was a crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with British Columbia. The united colony joined the Dominion of Canada through Confederation in 1871...

 a post he held until October 1864. He supervised the development of agricultural land from Salt Spring Island to Comox
Comox
Comox is a name from the Kwak'wala language, meaning "plenty" and "riches". The Kwakwaka'wakw people of British Columbia, Canada applied it as a metonym to the Salish people living in the area of the present-day town of the same name...

. He framed the pre-emption law of 1860 which permitted settlers to occupy unsurveyed land up to 160 acre (0.6474976 km²). This law was a departure from the policy he had earlier been required to follow.

Pemberton, who owned the Gonzales estate, a large farm near Victoria, came to be regarded as part of the HBC’s landowning élite, and was dubbed one of the “family-company compact” by reformer Amor De Cosmos
Amor De Cosmos
Amor De Cosmos was a Canadian journalist, publisher and politician. He served as the second Premier of British Columbia.-Early life:...

. He had been involved in politics from his arrival at the Colony. He was a member of the legislative assembly of the colony from it first election August 4, 1856 until December 1859. He was a member of the legislative council and the executive council of Vancouver Island from 1864 for Victoria District. He retired from politics in 1868.

From his retirement he carried on his farm and worked as a justice of the peace. In 1887 he and his son Frederick Bernard Pemberton formed J.D. Pemberton and Son, Surveyors, Civil Engineers and Financial Agents, a business which formed the root of a continuing real estate company in Victoria and an investment company in Vancouver. He also imported and bred horses.

Pemberton is interred in Ross Bay Cemetery
Ross Bay Cemetery
Ross Bay Cemetery is located at 1516 Fairfield Road in Victoria, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island, Canada.-History:The cemetery was opened in 1873. The 27.5 acre cemetery is part of a public park and its south side faces Ross Bay on the Pacific Ocean...

 in Oak Bay, British Columbia
Oak Bay, British Columbia
Oak Bay is a municipality located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian Province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Capital Regional District, it is a community east of and adjacent to the City of Victoria...

.

External links

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