James Dunsmuir

James Dunsmuir
James Dunsmuir (1914)
14th Premier of British Columbia
In office June 15, 1900 – November 21, 1902
Monarch	Victoria Edward VII
Lieutenant Governor	Thomas Robert McInnes Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière
Preceded by	Joseph Martin
Succeeded by	Edward Gawler Prior
8th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia
In office May 11, 1906 – December 3, 1909
Monarch	Edward VII
Governor General	The Earl Grey
Premier	Richard McBride
Preceded by	Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière
Succeeded by	Thomas Wilson Paterson
Personal details
Born	(1851-07-08)July 8, 1851 Fort Vancouver
Died	June 6, 1920(1920-06-06) (aged 68) Cowichan Bay, British Columbia
Nationality	Canadian
Political party	No party affiliation
Relations	Robert Dunsmuir, father
Alma mater	Virginia Agricultural & Mechanical College, now Virginia Tech
Occupation	industrialist and politician

Hatley Castle circa 2006

Grave monument of James Dunsmuir at Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria, British Columbia

Grave monument of James Dunsmuir at Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria, British Columbia

James Dunsmuir (July 8, 1851 – June 6, 1920) was a British Columbian industrialist and politician. Son of Robert Dunsmuir, he was heir to his family's coal fortune. The Dunsmuir family dominated the province's economy in the late nineteenth century and were a leading force in opposing organized labour. Dunsmuir managed his family's coal business from 1876 until 1910 increasing profits and resisting efforts to unionize. In 1905 he sold his Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway to the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1910 he sold his coal mining company, Union Colliery of British Columbia and R. Dunsmuir and Sons to Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir) Ltd (CCD).

Dunsmuir entered provincial politics in 1898 winning a seat in the provincial legislature and became the 14th Premier in 1900. His government attempted to resist popular pressure to curtail Asian labour and immigration not for humanitarian reasons but to ensure a cheap labour pool for business. It also promoted railway construction and accomplished a redistribution of seats to better represent population distribution in the province. Dunsmuir disliked politics and resigned as Premier in 1902. In 1906 he became the province's eighth Lieutenant Governor but retired in 1909 and lived out his years at the baronial mansion he had constructed at Hatley Park. James Dunsmuir founded the town of Ladysmith, British Columbia. He is interred in the Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria, British Columbia.

One of his eight daughters, Jessie Muriel, married, as her first husband, the couturier Edward Molyneux. His second-born son, James A. Dunsmuir, Jr., died in the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in 1915.

References

• Reksten, Terry (1991). The Dunsmuir Saga. Vancouver:Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN 0-88894-742-9. 

External links

• "James Dunsmuir". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2005.  Check date values in: |date= (help)

v t e Premiers of British Columbia McCreight De Cosmos Walkem Elliott Walkem Beaven Smithe A.E.B. Davie Robson T.E. Davie Turner Semlin Martin Dunsmuir Prior McBride Bowser Brewster Oliver MacLean Tolmie Pattullo Hart Johnson W.A.C. Bennett Barrett B. Bennett Vander Zalm Johnston Harcourt G. Clark Miller Dosanjh Campbell C. Clark

v t e Lieutenant Governors of British Columbia Trutch Richards Cornwall Nelson Dewdney McInnes de Lotbinière Dunsmuir Paterson Barnard Prior Nichol Bruce Johnson Hamber Woodward Banks Wallace Ross Pearkes Nicholson Owen Bell-Irving Rogers Lam Gardom Campagnolo Point Guichon