| The
Royal Engineers are Disbanded |
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While the Royal
Engineers were highly skilled and
valuable workers, their expertise
came at the steep price of 22,000
British Pounds a year, too
expensive for a fledgling young
colony. The services they
provided could be done by less
expensive civil servants, and
since the threat of American
annexation had cooled down they
were not needed as a military
force.
Therefore, in July of 1863, the
Royal Engineers were disbanded. |
This was not the end
of the Royal Engineers in British
Columbia. Any officer who wished
to remain in British Columbia was
granted 150 acres of land, an
option most of the officers chose
to take. They remained behind in
British Columbia to become some
of the Province's first settlers.
The officers contributed to the
young colony working in a variety
of occupations. They labored as
farmers, telegraph officers,
surveyors, engineers, saloon
operators, carpenters, and in a
number of other professions. |
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RICHARD
MOODY (PART 3)
Words and Music
.
On July the eighteenth, eighteen and
sixty-three
That was the day that old England
recalled
Her Royal Engineers
But besides the few officers,
Most would
leave their careers
To try out their hand with a parcel of
land,
Our colonial pioneers
With tales by the score of your heroes in
war
Or how daring adventurers have christened
new shores
Give me Victoria's stouthearted lads
For
they've served us well and truly
Here is a health to the Royal Engineers
And a cheer to Richard Moody
.
The legacy
of the Royal Engineers is also witnessed in the
material goods they left behind. The Royal
Columbian Hospital was founded from the furniture
and bedding donated from the Royal Engineer camp
hospital. The Royal Engineer's surgeon Dr. Sedall
also gave all of his medical instruments and
medicines to the new hospital. Their printing
press, maps, and drawings, were also all given to
the colony. Even their buildings were donated to
the colony, with Moody's private residence
becoming the Government House.
The Royal Engineers had a profound influence on
the territory they surveyed. Their names adorn
towns and landmarks all over the province of
British Columbia, and we drive upon the very
routes they mapped out a hundred and fifty years
ago. Perhaps most impressive is not their
material achievements but their dedication to
this land. They embraced it and made it their
home after their occupational duty had ended. |
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