Hugh Nelson

Who was Hugh Nelson?

Hugh Nelson was a Canadian parliamentarian and the fourth Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.

Born in his father's residence, Shire Cottage in Inagheramore, Larne, County Antrim, Ireland, the son of Robert Nelson, Esq. and Frances Quinn, he emigrated to California in 1854. He arrived in British Columbia in 1858, but unlike the horde of others who arrived in that year he had not come in pursuit of gold but to participate in the building of the colony as an English dominion. Eschewing the goldfields themselves, he founded the B.C. & Victoria Express Company, which had the dominant share of the freight and travel market between Victoria and New Westminster and Yale, with partner George Dietz, and also the lumbering firm Moody, Dietz and Nelson, the third partner of which was Sewell Moody, which was the operating name of Moodyville Sawmill Co. in what is now North Vancouver. The freighting firm was sold off early on to Frank Barnard Sr., whose B.C. Express Company then became the leading firm for shipments and travel to and from the Cariboo region

Although active in politics, he did not stand for office to the Legislative Council until 1870, by which time he had become one of the principal promoters of British Columbia's merger with the Confederation of Canada. He was a member of the Yale Convention, which ushered in BC's union with Canada, and was on the committee of that body charged with seeing the agreement come into effect. He was a member of the colonial Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, and in 1871 was one of the first Members of Parliament from British Columbia to the House of Commons, representing New Westminster District.