John Peter Pruden

Who was John Peter Pruden?

John Peter Pruden, christened on May 31, 1778 at All Saints Parish Church in Edmonton, Middlesex, England, was an early pioneer of western Canada which at the time was known as Rupert's Land. During his many years of employment as a fur-trader with the Hudson's Bay Company, he had extensive interactions with such First Nations as the Cree and Blackfoot. He was known to have spoken Cree fluently, a fact which was confirmed by HBC administrator Sir George Simpson in his famous but "sometimes erratic" 1832 Character Book.

It is unknown exactly how Pruden came to join the Company however, atypical amongst HBC "servants", it may have been through a possible link to Sir James Winter Lake, 3rd Baronet, whose family controlled the Company during most of the eighteenth century, and whose estate at "The Firs" was near Tanner's End, near the junction of the New and Salmon Rivers, in Edmonton. No other boys from Edmonton ever appear to have been taken into the Company's service. Pruden's apprenticeship with the HBC was purchased for him through the good auspices of his local parish.