Colonial Despatches

Captain William Driscoll Gosset became a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1840, was promoted captain in November 1850, and appointed surveyor general of Ceylon [Sri Lanka] in September 1855. Accepting the position of colonial treasurer of British Columbia in November 1858, Gosset arrived in Esquimalt on Christmas Day, along with R. C. Moody.1

He was treasurer and postmaster for the colony until 1860, when he relinquished the job of postmaster and became treasurer of Vancouver Island.2 Gosset proved to be a difficult and at times exasperating colleague, especially to James Douglas who pronounced him faithless and unprincipled.3 Gosset returned to England on sick leave in 1862 and resigned from the Royal Engineers in 1863.4

• 1. Frances M. Woodward, The Influence of the Royal Engineers on the Development of British Columbia, BC Studies, no. 24 (Winter 1974-75), 22. http://doi.org/10.14288/bcs.v0i24.817
• 2. Moody to Carnarvon, 9 April 1859, 5435, CO 60/6, 593.
• 3. Woodward, The Influence of the Royal Engineers, 22.
• 4. Cardwell to Seymour, 10 June 1864, NAC, 155.