Fonds PR-0319 - Rithet family fonds

Robert Paterson Rithet was born in Applegarth, Scotland on 22 April 1844. After training in a merchant's office in Liverpool he emigrated and arrived in Victoria in 1862, where he established a wholesale grocery business. R.P. Rithet and Company, importers and commission merchants, was founded in September 1871. Rithet's shipping and commercial interests resulted in the formation of the Victoria Wharf and Warehouse Company for the purpose of constructing the Outer Docks. Rithet and Company had extensive insurance and business connections, including Welch and Company of San Francisco, and California and Hawaii Sugar Refining Company. Rithet himself was a principal promoter of the British Pacific Railway Company, a shareholder in Canadian Pacific Navigation Company, and maintained large farms in Victoria and Delta. He was also an active president of the Victoria Board of Trade, Mayor of Victoria (1885-1886), and member of the legislative assembly representing Victoria (1894-1898).

In 1875 Rithet married Elizabeth Jane Hannah Munro, daughter of Alexander Munro, an accountant and employee of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, and later manager of the Hudson's Bay Company in British Columbia. His son, William John Munro, was a teamster. R.P. Rithet died in 1919. His wife, Elizabeth Rithet, died in 1952.