Edward Umfreville
| Edward Umfreville | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1755 |
| Occupation | Fur trader, author |
Edward Umfreville (c. 1755 – date and place of death unknown) was a fur trader who served successively with the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company, and was the author of a significant early account of the Hudson Bay trade.[1]
Career with the Hudson's Bay Company
Umfreville entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1771 as a writer, stationed initially at York Factory in present-day Manitoba. He was subsequently posted to Severn House (Fort Severn, Ontario), where the master Andrew Graham praised him in 1772–73 as "a very pretty accountant" who performed well at that post.[1] Graham and Umfreville collaborated on detailed loading-tables for inland posts, and both advocated for the use of Canadian servants and birch-bark canoes in the interior trade.[1]
In 1774, Samuel Hearne visited Severn to consult on requirements for a proposed post at Pine Island Lake (present-day Cumberland Lake, Saskatchewan).[1] The following year Umfreville transferred back to York Factory, serving under Humphrey Marten. Marten's assessments of Umfreville were mixed: in 1778 he described him as diligent and sober but possessed of a violent temper, and in 1779 he banished Umfreville from the officers' table for insolence.[1] Despite this friction, Umfreville eventually commanded the post. In 1782, York Factory was captured by the French naval commander Comte de Lapérouse; the officers, including Umfreville, were taken prisoner and transported to France.[1]
After the Treaty of Paris ended the war, Umfreville returned to London. Salary disputes with the HBC followed, and he is believed to have authored a series of critical letters published in the Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser in April 1783 concerning the fall of York Factory. He sailed for Quebec in April 1783, arriving in June.[1]
North West Company and Lake Superior explorations
By May 1784, Umfreville had joined the North West Company. American claims to territory around Grand Portage (Minnesota) following the Treaty of Paris had prompted the Nor'Westers to seek an alternate route between Lake Superior and Lake Winnipeg. Umfreville was tasked with exploring such a route, and he successfully identified one travelling through Lake Nipigon (Ontario), though the NWC continued to use the Grand Portage corridor for the time being.[1][2]
From 1784 to 1787, Umfreville commanded the North West Company's westernmost post on the North Saskatchewan River, situated in the region near present-day Frenchman Butte, Saskatchewan. In 1785 he wrote to Edward Jarvis at Albany (Fort Albany, Ontario), emphasizing the competitive advantage the NWC derived from provisions sourced from the territory north of Kaministikwia — the Thunder Bay region — which he referred to as the "Fire Country."[1] John Kipling, master of Gloucester House at Washi Lake (Ontario), confirmed the effectiveness of Umfreville's trading operations in 1786.[1]
Return to London and published work
By 1788, Umfreville had resolved to rejoin the Hudson's Bay Company. He departed his Saskatchewan post in May 1788 and travelled by way of Lake Superior, Montreal, and New York to London, where he submitted proposals to the Company dated 23 January and 22 April 1789. William Tomison, the HBC's chief inland officer, wrote to the Company in July 1788 recommending Umfreville as hardy, sober, and thoroughly knowledgeable of the Canadian trade. Despite this endorsement, terms could not be agreed upon and Umfreville did not return to HBC service.[1]
Before the negotiations concluded, Umfreville had completed the manuscript that was published in 1790 as The present state of Hudson's Bay.[3] The work offered a firsthand account of the country and the fur trade, but drew heavily — without attribution — from the writings of Andrew Graham, and contained pointed attacks on HBC officers and the company's management. Samuel Hearne attributed the hostility in the book to Umfreville's frustration at failing to secure a senior command position with the HBC.[1]
Umfreville's movements after the publication of his book are unknown; neither the date nor the place of his death has been established.[1]
In the 1924 Papers
- A. J. McComber's paper says he explored the country west of Lake Nipigon in 1784 and found a practicable route.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 E. E. Rich."E. E. Rich, "UMFREVILLE, EDWARD," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 4."[website].Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 4 (University of Toronto/Université Laval).1979.University of Toronto/Université Laval.Link.(Rights: copyrighted | Access: open)
- ↑ Robert Douglas (ed.)."Nipigon to Winnipeg: a canoe voyage through western Ontario by Edward Umfreville in 1784, with extracts from the writings of other early travellers through the region."[book].1929.Ottawa.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ Edward Umfreville."The present state of Hudson's Bay."[book].1790.London; new ed. ed. W. S. Wallace, Toronto, 1954.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ A. J. McComber, "Some Early History of Thunder Bay and District", Papers of the Thunder Bay Historical Society, 1924 (Thunder Bay Historical Society, Fifteenth Annual Report), pp. 13–22 (scan pp. 79–88). archive.org.