Eden Colvile

Who was Eden Colvile?

Eden Colvile was born at Langley Farm, part of the Langley Park Estate, near Beckenham, Kent, England, son of Andrew Colvile and Mary Louisa Eden. His father was a merchant and member of the Hudson's Bay Company's Board of Governors. Colvile was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. After graduating from Cambridge in 1841, he travelled overseas to Lower Canada to manage the seigneury of Beauharnois for the North American Colonial Association of Ireland, of which his father was deputy governor. He served one year in the Legislative Assembly for Beauharnois in 1844.

His relationship with the Hudson's Bay Company began in 1848 when he accompanied George Simpson to Rupert's Land, travelling as far as the Red River Colony. After his return to England, he was soon appointed Governor of Rupert's Land, relieving Simpson of his obligations inland. After seeing the troubles which rocked the Red River Colony in the late 1840s with the Guilleume Sayer trial, the Foss-Pelly slander trial and the difficulties between the Presbyterian Scots and the Anglicans, the Company needed someone like Colvile who would wield a firm hand in the Settlement. He spent his first winter on the Pacific coast, sorting out the affairs of the troubled Pugets Sound Agricultural Company.