Lt.-Colonel The Hon. Benjamin Joseph Frobisher (March 26, 1782 – March 18, 1821), M.P., J.P. was a

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

r and political figure in

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

Career

He was born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, the son of Joseph Frobisher, and studied in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. In 1799, he joined the

North West Company The North West Company was a Fur trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...

and travelled west, becoming clerk in the English River department. He later worked as a clerk for a merchant in the

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

. Frobisher represented Montreal County in the

Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The lower house consisted of e ...

from 1804 to 1808. He was named a justice of the peace for Trois-Rivières district in 1805. He served in the local militia, later becoming lieutenant-colonel. In 1815, he was named provincial aide-de-camp for colonial administrator Sir

Gordon Drummond General Sir Gordon Drummond, GCB (27 September 1772 – 10 October 1854) was a Canadian-born British Army officer and the first official to command the military and the civil government of Canada. As Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, Drum ...

and, in 1816, for Governor Sir John Coape Sherbrooke. In 1817, he led an attack by the North West Company against a

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

fort at Île-à-la-Crosse, located in what is now

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. In 1819, he was taken prisoner by the HBC and detained at

York Factory York Factory was a settlement and Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) factory (trading post) on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Hayes River, approximately south-southeast of Churchill. York ...

. He later escaped and returned to Quebec.

Family

In 1804, he married Isabella Grant, daughter of James Grant and Susannah Coffin. Mrs Frobisher was a niece of both The Rt. Hon. Sir William Grant and General Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe. After the death of her father, her mother had remarried The Hon. John Craigie. Benjamin Frobisher died at

in 1821. After his death his widow and their only son went to live in

at Barton House,

Dawlish Dawlish is a seaside resort town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Teignbridge district in Devon, England. It is located on the south coast of England at a distance of from the city of Exeter and a similar distance from the to ...

, the home of her aunt, the widow of Admiral John Schank, and two of Mrs Frobisher's uncles, Sir William Grant, of Beldorney Castle, and Major John Grant (1766-1837). The Frobishers were the parents of one son, *Rev. James Joseph Frobisher (1805-1843), was educated at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. He was presented to the living of Halse, Somerset by his mother in 1839. In 1841, at Ringwood, he married Mary A. Catherine Willis, daughter of George J.B.J. Willis, of Sopley Park,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

.The Gentleman's Magazine, 1841
/ref> They were the parents of one daughter, Mary Isabella Frobisher (1842-1854), who died aged twelve at Clifton.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frobisher, Benjamin Joseph 1782 births 1821 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada Canadian fur traders North West Company people