John Pritchard

For the person of this name in the North West Company men's lists, 1805 (Masson Papers) (Lake Nipigon, 1805), see John Pritchard (Lake Nipigon, 1805).

John Pritchard
Born	1777-01-01 Shrewsbury, England
Died	1855-10-14 Red River settlement, Manitoba
Occupation	Fur trader, politician, farmer, teacher, businessman
Father	Samuel Pritchard
Mother	Mary Harris
Partner	Catherine McGilvray Marie

John Pritchard ((1777-01-01)1 January 1777 – 14 October 1855(1855-10-14) (aged 78)) was an English-born fur trader, farmer, teacher, and politician who played a notable role in the early settlement of the Red River Colony and served for many years on the Council of Assiniboia.

Early life and arrival in Canada

Pritchard was born on 1 January 1777 in Shrewsbury, England, the son of Samuel Pritchard, a hatter, and Mary Harris. He arrived in Canada in 1800 and on 20 February 1801 signed a five-year clerkship with Forsyth, Richardson and Company to serve the New North West Company (also known as the XY Company), stationed near Lake Winnipeg.

Following the merger of the XY Company with the North West Company in 1804, Pritchard continued as an NWC clerk on the Souris River in 1805. That June he became separated from his party on the prairies of southwestern Manitoba and southeastern Saskatchewan, surviving for approximately 40 days without a gun, knife, provisions, or clothing before being rescued by Indigenous people. John McKay of the Hudson's Bay Company assisted in his recovery.

Nipigon and the fur trade

By late 1805, Pritchard was assigned to the Nipigon district on the north shore of Lake Superior, where he remained for approximately four years before returning to the Red River country. His time at Nipigon placed him within the heart of the North West Company's Lake Superior trade network, operating out of Fort William.

In the spring of 1814, Pritchard offered only limited resistance when Miles Macdonell's men seized pemmican at Fort La Souris for the Red River settlers. His NWC superiors, likely Duncan Cameron, characterized his conduct as cowardly.

Red River Colony and the Seven Oaks crisis

Pritchard left Montreal on 17 October 1814, traveling with three American axemen by way of Moose Factory, York Factory, and Norway House on snowshoes. During this journey, Lord Selkirk appointed him to the Council of Assiniboia. He reached the colony in April 1815, arriving to witness the arrest of Governor Miles Macdonell and the dispersal of settlers orchestrated by the NWC under Alexander Greenfield Macdonell.

Working alongside Colin Robertson, Pritchard persuaded many of the fleeing colonists to return to their farms. During the Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816, Métis forces under Cuthbert Grant took him prisoner. He was subsequently compelled to carry messages to Fort Douglas demanding its surrender, after which the fort was evacuated.

Fort William and legal proceedings

After the battle, Pritchard was taken to Fort William, where he was released following Lord Selkirk's arrival. He presented a petition from thirteen settlers documenting the plundering of the colony and the inadequate protection they had received. Traveling toward Montreal, he was threatened by NWC men at Rainy Lake and forced to redirect his journey. He arrived in Montreal in time to testify at Colin Robertson's trial in May 1818 and at the York assizes in October 1818 regarding the murder of Robert Semple.

London and the Buffalo Wool Company

In December 1818, Pritchard made arrangements to travel to London, arriving by 8 May 1819. The following month he petitioned Parliament for better protection of the Red River settlement. That year a London publication appeared containing accounts by Pritchard, Pierre-Chrysologue Pambrun, and Frederick Damien Heurter documenting aggressions committed by the North West Company against the colony.

While in London, Pritchard also laid the groundwork for the Buffalo Wool Company, an HBC-backed enterprise financed by 100 shares at £20 each, with Pritchard serving as general manager. The scheme aimed to manufacture goods from buffalo wool and tanned hides near buffalo ranges at Pembina. He was unable to recruit a schoolmaster for the colony during this visit but returned via York Factory in 1820 and erected the necessary buildings at Pembina in 1821.

Governor George Simpson acknowledged the project's feasibility yet wrote to Andrew Colvile in 1821 describing Pritchard as "a wild visionary speculative creature without a particle of solidity." The company struggled for five years; the major Red River flood of 1826 destroyed its remaining inventory, and the HBC absorbed approximately £4,500 in debt.

Later life in Red River

After the collapse of the Buffalo Wool Company, Pritchard settled permanently at Red River and became a respected figure in the community. By 1825, his farm was producing nearly enough for his family's maintenance and clothing. He taught Sunday school and founded day-schools at Middlechurch and East Kildonan, opening them to children regardless of their families' ability to pay; the HBC provided him £25 annually for this work.

He remained a member of the Council of Assiniboia until 1848, serving on its economy and finance committees. In 1832 he participated in a Red River tallow company, though it too proved financially unsuccessful.

Pritchard had entered into a country-marriage with a woman named Marie, with whom he had at least one son, William, and possibly another child. On 11 May 1815 he married Catherine McGilvray, widow of Hector McLean, with whom he had at least nine children. Catherine died on 20 October 1854, less than a year before her husband.

Death

Pritchard died on 14 October 1855 at the Red River settlement in what is now Manitoba.

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography