| Honorific prefix | The Honourable |
|---|---|
| Order | 14th |
| Office | Premier of British Columbia |
| Predecessor | Joseph Martin |
| Successor | Edward Gawler Prior |
| Monarch | Victoria Edward VII |
| Lieutenant governor | Thomas Robert McInnes Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière |
| Term start | June 15, 1900 |
| Term end | November 21, 1902 |
| Order 2 | 8th |
| Office 2 | Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia |
| Predecessor 2 | Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière |
| Successor 2 | Thomas Wilson Paterson |
| Term start 2 | May 11, 1906 |
| Term end 2 | December 3, 1909 |
| Monarch 2 | Edward VII |
| Governor general 2 | The Earl Grey |
| Premier 2 | Richard McBride |
| Office 3 | MLA for Comox |
| Term start 3 | July 9, 1898 |
| Term end 3 | June 9, 1900 |
| Predecessor 3 | Joseph Hunter |
| Successor 3 | Lewis Alfred Mounce |
| Office 4 | MLA for South Nanaimo |
| Term start 4 | June 9, 1900 |
| Term end 4 | October 3, 1903 |
| Predecessor 4 | Ralph Smith |
| Successor 4 | district abolished |
| Birth date | July 8, 1851 |
| Birth place | Fort Vancouver, Washington |
| Death date | June 6, 1920 (aged 68) |
| Death place | Cowichan Bay, British Columbia |
| Spouse | Laura Miller Surles (m. 1876) |
| Party | No party affiliation |
| Father | Robert Dunsmuir |
| Alma mater | Virginia Tech |
| Occupation | Industrialist and politician |
James Dunsmuir (July 8, 1851 – June 6, 1920) was a Canadian industrialist and politician in British Columbia. He served as the 14th premier of British Columbia from 1900 to 1902 and the eighth lieutenant governor of British Columbia from 1906 to 1909.
Early life and business career
Son of Robert Dunsmuir, he was heir to his family's coal fortune. The Dunsmuir family dominated the province's economy in the late nineteenth century and was a leading force in opposing organized labour. Dunsmuir managed his family's coal business from 1876 until 1910, increasing profits and violently putting down efforts to unionize.
In 1905, he sold his Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway to the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1910, he sold his coal mining companies, Union Colliery of British Columbia and R. Dunsmuir & Sons, to Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir) Ltd (CCD).
Opposition to organized labour
In the 42 years that the Dunsmuirs owned the collieries, they never recognized their employees' attempts to unionize or create better working conditions. Dunsmuir used threats, spies, blacklists and scab labour to break strikes. When he could not break a strike with scab labour, he used his influence to have the provincial government call in the militia.[1] Dunsmuir stated to a royal commission, "I object to all unions...They simply take the management of the mine...I want the management of my own works, and if I recognize the union, I cannot have that."[2]
Dunsmuir provoked further rage when he ordered workers to relocate their homes at a new pit.[1] Workers also resented low wages and the dangerous conditions that Dunsmuir imposed upon them.[2] Mine owners at the time regularly ignored safety and sanitary conditions, and provincial inspectors were slow to bring them to justice.[3]
Dunsmuir contributed to the mines of British Columbia being among the most dangerous in the world. Between 1889 and 1908, twenty-three men were killed in the production of every million tons of BC coal; the average for North America as a whole was six deaths per million tons.[2] In 1901, while serving as Premier, many men perished in his collieries.[4]
Political career
Dunsmuir entered provincial politics in 1898, winning a seat in the provincial legislature, and he became the 14th Premier in 1900. His government attempted to resist popular pressure to curtail Asian labour and immigration, not for humanitarian reasons, but to ensure a cheap labour pool for business. It also promoted railway construction and accomplished a redistribution of seats to better represent population distribution in the province.
Dunsmuir visited England and the United States in 1902,[5] but disliked politics after his return and resigned as Premier in November 1902. In 1906, he became the province's eighth Lieutenant Governor. He retired in 1909 and lived out his remaining years at the baronial mansion that he had constructed at Hatley Park.[6]
Legacy
Dunsmuir founded the town of Ladysmith, British Columbia. Hatley Castle, the Edwardian mansion and gardens where he spent his last years is now a Classified Federal Heritage Building[7] on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.[6][8]
One of his daughters, Jessie Muriel, married, as her first husband, the couturier Edward Molyneux. His second-born son, James A. Dunsmuir Jr., died in the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in 1915. His last child, Dola Dunsmuir, married Lieutenant-Commander Henry Cavendish and was rumored to be Tallulah Bankhead's lover.[9]
He is interred in the Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria, British Columbia.
References
- ^ McCormack, A. Ross (1977). Reformers, Rebels, and Revolutionaries: The Western Canadian Radical Movement 1899-1919. Canada: University of Toronto Press. pp. 6–7. ISBN 0-8020-5385-8.
- ^ McCormack, A. Ross (1977). Reformers, Rebels and Revolutionaries: The Western Canadian Radical Movement 1899-1919. Canada: University of Toronto. p. 9. ISBN 0-8020-5385-8.
- ^ McCormack, A.Ross (1977). Reformers, Rebels and Revolutionaries: The Western Canadian Radical Movement 1899-1919. Canada: University of Toronto Press. p. 8. ISBN 0-8020-5385-8.
- ^ McCormack, A.Ross (1977). Reformers, Rebels and Revolutionaries: The Western Canadian Radical Movement 1899-1919. Canada: University of Toronto Press. p. 27. ISBN 0-8020-5385-8.
- ^ "Court Circular". No. 36890. 4 October 1902. p. 6.
- ^ "Hatley Park: History". Hatley Park. hatleycastle.com. 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
- ^ "Hatley Castle". Federal Heritage Buildings. Parks Canada. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
- ^ "Hatley Park / Former Royal Roads Military College National Historic Site of Canada". Canada's Historic Places. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
- ^ "From the Archives: Dola Frances Dunsmuir". Royal Roads University. Archived from the original on 15 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
- Reksten, Terry (1991). The Dunsmuir Saga. Vancouver:Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN 0-88894-742-9.