James Patrick Howley (born 7 July 1847 near St. John's,

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

and died 1 January 1918 at St. John's) was a naturalist and geologist, one of the first Newfoundlanders of European descent to visit the interior of the island of

at the Bay du Nord River system.

Biography

Howley, son of Richard Howley and Eliza Burke was educated at

Saint Bonaventure's College St. Bonaventure's College (commonly called St. Bon's) is an independent kindergarten to grade 12 Roman Catholic Church, Catholic School in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is located in the St. John's Ecclesiastical District, adj ...

, St. John's, Newfoundland. For a time he worked in the office of the colonial secretary, but his fame came when he participated in the geographical and topographical survey of the

colony of Newfoundland Newfoundland was an English overseas possessions, English, and later British, colony established in 1610 on the Newfoundland (island), island of Newfoundland. That followed decades of sporadic English settlement on the island, which was at first ...

. In the course of his surveying he met John Peyton, Jr., who along with his father had captured the

Beothuk The Beothuk ( or ; also spelled Beothuck) were a group of Indigenous peoples in Canada, Indigenous people of Canada who lived on the island of Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland. The Beothuk culture formed around 1500 CE. This may have been ...

woman

Demasduit Demasduit ( 1796 – January 8, 1820) was a Beothuk woman, one of the last of her people on Newfoundland. Biography Demasduit was born around 1796, near the end of the 18th century. It was once believed that the Beothuk population had been dec ...

. Peyton related to Howley many stories of the Beothuk. This started a life long fascination with the indigenous people of the island of Newfoundland, and Howley began collecting artifacts, oral history and documents which related to the Beothuk. His collection culminated in the publication of ''The Beothucks or Red Indians'', which was published by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

in 1915. The book remains an important source on the Beothuk. Howley was also a founding director of the Newfoundland Museum.

Legacy

In 2016, he was named a National Historic Person. His son

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

served in the

Newfoundland House of Assembly The Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly () is the Unicameralism, unicameral deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It meets in the Confederation Bu ...

. In May 2009 W.J. Kirwin and P.A. O'Flaherty published an edited version of Howley's ''Reminiscences of Forty-two Years of Exploration in and about Newfoundland.''

References

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howley, James Patrick 1847 births 1918 deaths Newfoundland Colony people Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)

Biography

Legacy

See also

References

External links