Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Register of chronometer readings
General material designation
- textual record
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Title statements of responsibility
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- Source of title proper: Title based on the contents of the series.
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Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1851-1858 (Creation)
- Creator
- Hudson's Bay Company
Physical description area
Physical description
2 cm of textual records
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Administrative history
The Hudson’s Bay Company was founded by charter on 2 May 1670 and is the oldest incorporated joint-stock merchandising company in the English-speaking world. It was originally headquartered in London, England before eventually relocating its head offices to Toronto, Ontario. The Company evolved as a joint-stock company with a centralized bureaucracy. Governors were appointed to act on behalf of the Company, and each factory or trading post was headed by a chief factor and his council.
The Company was founded after Frenchmen Radisson and des Groseilliers approached the English king for support in founding a fur trading company. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Company traded widely with Aboriginal peoples, who trapped and brought pelts to Company forts in exchange for goods and foodstuffs.
In 1821, the Hudson’s Bay Company merged with its rival, the North West Company, a move which resulted in administrative changes. British North America was divided into trading departments which were further subdivided into districts. District managers routinely attended annual council meetings whereby each member had an equal vote, although decisions could still be overruled by the London governor and head office. In 1849, the Company was granted the colony of Vancouver Island, and the trading post of Fort Victoria was established in 1843. In 1863 the International Financial Society bought controlling interest in the Company, with the result that the Company’s general outlook shifted from fur trading to real-estate speculation. During the twentieth century, the Company expanded into retail interests and natural resource development. In 1913 new retail stores were constructed and in 1926 it founded Hudson’s Bay Oil and Gas. The Company’s retail ventures were originally confined to Western Canada, although retail stores were opened in Eastern Canada in the 1960s.
In the late 1970s, Kenneth Thomson purchased a 75% stake in the company, but by 1997 the family sold most of its remaining shares.
Custodial history
The records in this series were transferred in about 1975 to the BC Archives from a temporary government records warehouse on Herald Street. They were accessioned with GR-1069 in 1982.
Scope and content
The series consists of registers of chronometer readings made at Fort Victoria. The series includes records probably created by or for the Colonial Surveyor for the Hudson's Bay Company (1851-1858). Arranged chronologically.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
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There are no access restrictions.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
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Associated materials
Accruals
General note
Joseph Despard Pemberton was the Colonial Surveyor for the Hudson's Bay Company (1851-1859) prior to becoming the Colonial Surveyor and then Surveyor General for the Colony of Vancouver Island.
General note
Archives code(s): Call numbers and dates of records in this fonds are:
GR-1069.I.159 [textual records] 1851-1856
GR-1069.I.17 [textual records] 1857-1858
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number area
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Hudson's Bay Company (Subject)