Article

William Fraser Tolmie

Published Online February 7, 2006

Last Edited December 15, 2013

Tolmie, William Fraser, surgeon, fur trader, politician (b at Inverness, Scot 3 Feb 1812; d at Victoria 8 Dec 1886). Tolmie came to the NorthWest in 1833 in the service of the HBC.

Tolmie, William Fraser

Tolmie, William Fraser, surgeon, fur trader, politician (b at Inverness, Scot 3 Feb 1812; d at Victoria 8 Dec 1886). Tolmie came to the NorthWest in 1833 in the service of the HBC. After serving at posts on the northern coast, he was given charge of trading and farming operations at Fort Nisqually on Puget Sound, 1843-57. His fair dealing won the Indigenous peoples' respect but aroused the suspicions of American immigrants. In 1859 he moved to Victoria and was on the board of management of the HBC 1861-70. He was a member of the House of Assembly of Vancouver Island 1860-66 and of the Legislative Assembly of BC 1874-78. His works include Comparative Vocabularies of the Indian Tribes of British Columbia (1884). For his diaries 1830-43, see The Journals of William Fraser Tolmie (1963).