| The
Founding of a Colony |
|
When the colony of
British Columbia was formed in
the summer of 1858 it was in a
precarious position. The Gold
Rush had brought 30,000 Gold
Miners into the territory, most
of them American and ambivalent
to British authority. This large
contingent of Americans on
British soil caused the American
authorities to feel they might be
entitled to the land instead of
the British.
Furthermore, the new colony was
still primarily an untamed
wilderness and needed to be
properly prepared for settlement. |
The British
Government was not blind to the
challenges facing British
Columbia. The British Colonial
Secretary, Sir Edward Bulwer
Lytton, sent a contingent of Her
Majesty's Royal Engineers to the
area. 
The Royal Engineers were a
specialized regiment of the
British Military, possessing a
wide variety of skills. They were
exactly what was needed to
complete all the tasks required
to establish the new colony,
uphold British law, and provide
military force against the
Americans if necessary. |
|
 |
RICHARD
MOODY (PART 1)
.
In the year of our lord,
eighteen-and-fifty-eight
The cream of Lord Lytton's Royal
Engineers
arrived at Esquimalt Quay
With officers handy these men of esteem
Had come here to harness the virgin
frontier,
for Colony & Queen
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
.
“He is a man of all work of the Army and the
public-astronomer, geologist, surveyor, draughtsman, artist,
architect, traveler, explorer, antiquary, mechanic, diver,
soldier and sailor; ready to do anything or go anywhere; in
short, he is a Sapper.”
Derek Boyd in Royal Engineers, quoted in Beth Hill’s Sappers:
The Royal Engineers in British Columbia |
|
|
