Colonial Despatches

Alexander Watson of Scotland came to Victoria in 1859 and became the Colonial Treasurer of Vancouver Island from 1861-1866.1 When Watson came to Victoria he was the accountant for the Bank of British North America, but upon the dismissal of Colonial Treasurer George Tomline Gordon, Watson was appointed as his replacement.2 His a salary was £500 per year — later increased to £600.3 Edgar Fawcett described Watson as clever but not very popular.4 Newcastle was initially displeased by the appointment of Watson as three others appointed by Douglas had proved defaulters, but as Watson had already quit his job at the bank to take the position, Newcastle let him remain as Treasurer so as not to bring any hardship upon him.5 Watson's services were terminated with the union of Vancouver Island and British Columbia in November 1866.6 He later became the general inspector of the Bank of British Columbia.7

Watson married Jessie McKenzie, daughter of Kenneth McKenzie of the Hudson's Bay Company's Craigflower Farm, in 1863. They later lived in California.8

• 1. Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names: A Complete Reference to Coastal British Columbia (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 634; Alan Pritchard, ed., The Vancouver Island Letters of Edmund Hope Verney, 1862-65 (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1996), 271.
• 2. Douglas to Newcastle, 28 December 1861, 2193, CO 305/17, 563.
• 3. Douglas to Newcastle, 28 December 1861, 2193, CO 305/17, 563; Kennedy to Newcastle, 20 May 1864, 3933, CO 305/22, 232.
• 4. Edgar Fawcett, Some Reminiscences of Old Victoria (Toronto: William Briggs, 1912), 70.
• 5. Newcastle to Douglas, 15 March 1862, NAC, RG7, G8C/3, 44.
• 6. Robert Louis Smith,The Hankin Appointment, 1868, BC Studies no. 22 (Summer 1974): 26.
• 7. Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names: A Complete Reference to Coastal British Columbia (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 634.
• 8. Daughters Married, The Daily Colonist, 30 May 1948.