Eden Colvile

Colvile, Eden

Eden Colvile, governor of Rupert's Land (b 1819; d in Devonshire, Eng 2 Apr 1893), son of the deputy governor of the Hudson's Bay Co. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was sent in 1844 by the London Land Co to manage the seigneury of Beauharnois, Lower Canada, apparently without much success. He also represented Beauharnois in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada 1844-47. A pleasant enough patrician with business aspirations, he was made associate governor of Rupert's Land on 3 January 1849. Arriving at the Red River Colony on 11 August 1850, he provided a steadying influence in the settlement in a period of increasing racial, social and religious tension. After his departure in the fall of 1852 his connection with the HBC continued, and in the 1860s when new interests took over he was one of the few that remained on its London Committee. In 1872 he became deputy governor and was governor from 1880 to 1889.