View source for Roderick Finlayson

{{Short description|Canadian Hudson's Bay Company officer, farmer, businessman and politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{About||the New Zealand architectural draughtsman|Roderick David Finlayson|the Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland|Roderick A. Finlayson}}

{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Roderick Finlayson
| image               = Roderick Finlayson.jpg
| caption             = 
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1818|03|16}}
| birth_place         = [[Loch Alsh]] ([[Kyle of Lochalsh]]), [[Scotland]]
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1892|01|20|1818|03|16}}
| death_place         = [[Victoria, British Columbia|Victoria]], [[British Columbia]]
| occupation          = Fur trader, farmer, businessman and politicians
| office              = Mayor of Victoria
| order               = 12th
| term_start          = 1877
| term_end            = 1879
| predecessor         = [[Montague Tyrwhitt-Drake]]
| successor           = [[John Herbert Turner]]
| spouse              = Sarah Work (m. 1849)
| children            = 11
| resting_place       = [[Ross Bay Cemetery]]
}}
'''Roderick Finlayson''' (March 16, 1818 &ndash; January 20, 1892) was a Canadian [[Hudson's Bay Company]] officer, farmer, businessman, and politician.

Born in [[Loch Alsh]] ([[Kyle of Lochalsh]]), [[Scotland]], Finlayson came to North America in 1837. He moved to [[Lower Canada]] into an apprentice clerk position with the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] (HBC).

As an HBC clerk, Finlayson worked under Charles Ross in the building of [[Fort Victoria (British Columbia)|Fort Victoria]] in 1843–1844. Upon Ross's death, which he mentions with sympathy in his autobiography, Finlayson was promoted to command of the HBC's Fort Victoria in 1844.<ref name="dcb">{{Cite DCB |last=Stardom |first=Eleanor |title=Finlayson, Roderick  |volume=12 |url=https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/finlayson_roderick_12E.html}}</ref>  After [[Chief Factor]] [[James Douglas (governor)|James Douglas]] arrived from [[Fort Vancouver]] in 1849, Finlayson was reassigned to second in command. Also in 1849 he married Sarah Work, one of [[John Work (fur trader)|John Work]]'s Metis daughters. 

In 1850 Finlayson was promoted to the rank of Chief Trader, and in 1859 to [[Chief Factor]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Watson |first= Bruce McIntyre |title= Lives Lived West of the Divide: A Biographical Dictionary of Fur Traders Working West of the Rockies, 1793-1858 |year= 2010 |publisher= University of British Columbia, Okanagen |location= Kelowna, BC |isbn= 978-0-9810212-7-0 |pages= 357, 1075}}</ref>  Finlayson retired from the HBC in 1872.<ref name = "FP">{{BCGNIS|12737|Finlayson Point}}</ref>  In 1878 he was elected mayor of Victoria.<ref name="dcb"/>

Finlayson was one of the few to see [[Victoria, British Columbia|Victoria]] grow from bare ground to the Capital of [[British Columbia]].  He was called the "father of Victoria" by chronicler of BC history, [[John Thomas Walbran | John Walbran]].<ref name = "FP"/>  

Finlayson Arm,<ref>{{BCGNIS|12732|Finlayson Arm}}</ref> Finlayson Point,<ref name = "FP"/> [[Mount Finlayson]]<ref>{{BCGNIS|12734|Mount Finlayson}}</ref> and [[Roderick Island]]<ref name="bcgnis">{{BCGNIS|30754|Roderick Island}}</ref> are named for Roderick Finlayson.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Find a Grave|10930}}
* {{DictCanbio|ID=6099}}

{{Mayors of Victoria, British Columbia}}
{{Columbia Department}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finlayson, Roderick}}
[[Category:1818 births]]
[[Category:1892 deaths]]
[[Category:Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec]]
[[Category:Settlers of Canada]]
[[Category:Pre-Confederation British Columbia people]]
[[Category:Hudson's Bay Company people]]
[[Category:Canadian fur traders]]
[[Category:Mayors of Victoria, British Columbia]]
[[Category:Immigrants to Lower Canada]]
[[Category:Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation British Columbia]]
[[Category:19th-century mayors of places in British Columbia]]