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 |
| MLA for Comox | |
|
In office July 9, 1898 – June 9, 1900 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph Hunter |
| Succeeded by | Lewis Alfred Mounce |
| MLA for South Nanaimo | |
|
In office June 9, 1900 – October 3, 1903 | |
| Preceded by | Ralph Smith |
| Succeeded by | district abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
July 8, 1851 Fort Vancouver |
| Died |
June 6, 1920 (aged 68) Cowichan Bay, British Columbia |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Political party | No party affiliation |
| Spouse(s) | Laura Miller Surles (m. 1876) |
| Relations | Robert Dunsmuir, father |
| Children | 3 sons and 9 daughters |
| Alma mater | Virginia Tech |
| Occupation | machinist, entrepreneur, industrialist |
| Profession | politician |
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 violently putting down 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
- Works by or about James Dunsmuir at Internet Archive
- "James Dunsmuir". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.
