Forbes George Vernon (21 August 1843 – 20 January 1911), Lieutenant (ret.)

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

, was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British Nort ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

from 1875 to 1882, and from 1886 to 1894, representing the riding of

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. He ran for the constituency of

Yale-East Yale-East was a provincial electoral district in the British Columbia legislature that appeared only in the 1894, 1898 and 1900 elections. It and its sister ridings Yale-West and Yale-North were created from the older three-member Yale (provinc ...

in 1894 following a redistribution, but was defeated by Donald Graham. Forbes George was the third of five sons born to John Edward Venables Vernon of

Clontarf Castle Clontarf Castle ( ga, Caisleán Chluain Tarbh) is a much-modernised castle, dating to 1837, in Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland, an area famous as a key location of the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. There has been a castle on the site since 1172. In m ...

in the north of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, by his first wife Louisa Catherine Bowles. On 4 March 1863 Vernon wrote to the Colonial Office enquiring about land regulations in British Columbia, where free grants of up to were available to military settlers with at least the rank of captain. He arrived in British Columbia the following September, with his elder brother Charles Albert Vernon (1840–1906) and their friend

Charles Frederick Houghton Charles Frederick Houghton (27 April 1839 – 13 August 1898) was a Canadian rancher, justice of the peace, politician and soldier. Military career Born in County Kilkenny, Ireland, Charles Houghton was commissioned into the 57th Foot wi ...

. Vernon's original homestead of , near the city which bears his name, grew to become the 13,000 acre (53 km²) Coldstream Ranch, which he sold in 1891 to

Lord Aberdeen George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, (28 January 178414 December 1860), styled Lord Haddo from 1791 to 1801, was a British statesman, diplomat and landowner, successively a Tory, Conservative and Peelite politician and specialist in ...

. In 1876, he was named Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works in the provincial cabinet and served until 1878. He later served in the same cabinet post from 1887 to 1894. After retiring from politics, Vernon served as Agent General for the province of British Columbia in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

from 1895 to 1899. He was married at Victoria 11 September 1877 to Katie Alma Branks of California; she died 31 March 1885 and was buried at Victoria. They had two daughters: Gladys Louise (1878–1892); and Beatrice Alma Ashley (1881–????), who went on to marry Captain Montague Furber."Vernon of Coldstream". ''Burke's Colonial Gentry'', 1891; "Vernon of Clontarf". ''Landed Gentry of Ireland'', 1912. Vernon died in London in 1911. The northern

Okanagan The Okanagan ( ), also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is pa ...

city of Vernon was named after him.

References

External links

Biographical note at British Columbia Archival Information Network
* 1843 births 1911 deaths Politicians from County Dublin Vernon, British Columbia Members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia Canadian ranchers Irish emigrants to pre-Confederation British Columbia 19th-century Anglo-Irish people {{BritishColumbia-MLA-stub