Andrew Graham

Andrew Graham

Andrew Graham, fur trader (b probably near Edinburgh, Scot c 1733; d at Prestonpans, Scot 8 Sept 1815). Graham worked for the Hudson's Bay Company at Churchill, York Factory and Ft Severn (1749-75). One fish and 4 birds sent by him from Ft Severn in 1771 were immortalized as "type specimens" when given Latin names by Johann Reinhold Forster in England. At York Factory in 1771-72, closely associated with surgeon Thomas Hutchins, Graham wrote important accounts of the Indigenous peoples, birds and mammals of Hudson Bay, including the first description of the "plunge-holes" made by the great gray owl, in catching mice beneath deep snow. Graham described 111 bird species and Hutchins added another 12. The contributions of the 2 men were sorted out nearly 200 years later by Glyndwr Williams and published in 1979 as Andrew Graham's Observations on Hudson Bay, 1767-1791.