Charles Constantine (13 November 1846 – 5 May 1912) was a Canadian

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian paramilitary police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory to ...

officer and superintendent, from

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. Following his service in the

Canadian militia The Canadian Militia is a historical title for military units raised for the defence of Canada. The term has been used to describe sedentary militia units raised from local communities in Canada; as well as the regular army for the Province of Ca ...

during the

Red River Rebellion The Red River Rebellion (), also known as the Red River Resistance, Red River uprising, or First Riel Rebellion, was the sequence of events that led up to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by Métis leader Louis Riel and his f ...

(1870) and the

North-West Rebellion The North-West Rebellion (), was an armed rebellion of Métis under Louis Riel and an associated uprising of Cree and Assiniboine mostly in the District of Saskatchewan, against the Government of Canada, Canadian government. Important events i ...

(1885), he was commissioned as an inspector in the North-West Mounted Police in 1886. After serving in Banff and Regina, he was sent to examine conditions in the

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

district in 1894 as the government was concerned about the influx of American miners and the liquor trade. He forecast that a gold rush was imminent and reported that there was an urgent need for a police force. In the following year, he went back to the Yukon with a force of 20 men who were in place when the Klondike Gold Rush started in 1897. Constantine's efforts ensured that law was maintained during the gold rush, that Canadian sovereignty was assured and helped create the Mounties' international reputation. He left the Yukon in 1898, replaced by

Sam Steele Major-general Sir Samuel Benfield Steele (5 January 1848 – 30 January 1919) was a Canadian soldier and policeman. He was an officer of the North-West Mounted Police, head of the Yukon detachment during the Klondike Gold Rush, and commandin ...

and returned to the prairies after being promoted to Superintendent. In 1902, he returned to the north to establish forts at

Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories Fort McPherson (Gwich’in language, Gwich'in: ''Teetł'it Zheh'' , ''at the head of the waters'') is a Hamlet (place)#Canada, hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is located on the east bank of the Peel R ...

and

Herschel Island Herschel Island (; Inuvialuktun: ) is an island in the Beaufort Sea (part of the Arctic Ocean), which lies off the coast of Yukon in Canada, of which it is administratively a part. Part of the Arctic Archipelago, it is Yukon's only large of ...

off the Yukon

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

coast. This was the first foray by the NWMP north of the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...

. After returning to the Athabasca District in 1905, Constantine was responsible for building a trail from

Fort St. John, British Columbia Fort St. John is a city located in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The most populous municipality in the Peace River Regional District, the city encompasses a total area of about with 21,465 residents recorded in the 2021 Census. Located ...

Teslin Lake Teslin Lake is a large lake spanning the border between British Columbia and Yukon, Canada. It is one of a group of large lakes in the region of far northwestern BC, east of the upper Alaska Panhandle, which are the southern extremity of the bas ...

in the Yukon, although work on the trail was abandoned in 1908. He died in 1912 in California following an operation.

Family

In 1873, Constantine married Henrietta Anne Armstrong. One of his sons, Charles Francis Constantine, became the XI Commandant at RMC, Kingston.

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Constantine, Charles 1846 births 1912 deaths History of Yukon People of the Klondike Gold Rush People from the Northwest Territories Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers People from Montérégie English emigrants to Canada Anglophone Quebec people Canadian Militia officers Military personnel from Bradford 19th-century Canadian military personnel

Family

See also

External links