Andrew Bannatyne

Who was Andrew Bannatyne?

Andrew Graham Ballenden Bannatyne was a Canadian politician, fur trader and leading citizen of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Bannatyne was born on the island of South Ronaldshay, Orkney in Scotland and was three years old when his father, a British government fisheries official in Stromness, died. He joined the Hudson's Bay Company as a 14 year old apprentice clerk and set sail for Canada. His family had had a long association with the Company. Bannatyne's great grandfather was governor of a Hudson's Bay Company district in Rupert's Land, his grandfather had been governor of York Factory and his uncle was Chief Factor of the Company. He was assigned to Sault Ste. Marie for two years, joining his uncle, and was then transferred to Fort Garry.

From 1846, Bannatyne was stationed at Norway House, Red River Colony, Rupert's Land in what is now Manitoba as a junior clerk at the trading post. He quit the company when his contract expired in 1851 in order to get married and go into business for himself in the Red River Colony where he was arrested by the Hudson's Bay Company for illegal trading, which was a violation of the company's monopoly over the fur trade.