Thomas Douglas, the 5th earl of Selkirk, is responsible for establishing the Red River Settlement (which was located in what is now modern-day Winnipeg), the first permanent European settlement in the West.
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"Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk (20 June 1771 — 8 April 1820) was a Scottish peer. He was born at Saint Mary's Isle, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. He was noteworthy as a Scottish philanthropist who sponsored immigrant settlements in Canada at the Red River Colony.
Early background
Douglas was the seventh son of Dunbar Douglas, 4th Earl of Selkirk, and his wife Helen Hamilton (1738-1802). . . . As he had not expected to inherit the family estate, he went to the University of Edinburgh to study to become a lawyer. While there, he noticed poor Scottish crofters who were being displaced by their landlords. Seeing their plight, he investigated ways he could help them find new land in the then British colonies. After his father's death in 1799, Douglas, the last surviving son . . . became the 5th Earl of Selkirk. He established the Red River Colony in 1811 and brought dozens of families from the highlands of Scotland to transform the land at Red River into a farming colony.
Involvement in Canada
When Thomas unexpectedly inherited the estate, he used his money and political connections to purchase land and settle poor Scottish farmers in Belfast, Prince Edward Island in 1803 and Baldoon, Upper Canada in 1804. He traveled extensively in North America . . ..
Landing of the Selkirk Settlers, Red River, 1812
In order to continue his work re-settling Scottish farmers, Selkirk asked the British government for a land grant in the Red River Valley, a part of Rupert's Land. The government refused, as the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) had been granted a fur trading monopoly on that land. However, Selkirk was very determined, and together with Sir Alexander Mackenzie bought enough shares in HBC to let them gain control of the land. This . . . allowed him to acquire a land grant called Assiniboia to serve as an agricultural settlement for the company. . . ." [end]
This statue of Lord Selkirk shows him dressed in the fine period clothes of the nobleman that he was. He wears knee-high leather boots, a flowing coat and a short-cropped jacket over a buttoned-up vest. His shirt has a high-collar. A ruffled cravat obscures the top of his vest.
Lord Selkirk is seated, looking into the distance, perhaps at a representative from a possible settler family. he holds in his left hand a partially-unrolled scroll, which could be a map, or could be a roster of families to be settled on Lord Selkirk's Red River land grant.
His right arm is extended downwards with an open hand, possibly as an invitation to sign the settlement roster or to see the land that would afford another of the destitute displaced Scottish families, the folks that Lord Selkirk always wanted to help, an opportunity to make a new successful life in what would become the province of Manitoba, Canada.
The statue is made of stone on a local Tyndall limestone pedestal. It was made by the Piccarilli Brothers, who also made the companion statue of La Verendye on the other side of the east portico. Source: (
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The statue of Lord Selkirk looks about two times life-size to Blasterz (who admittedly have no idea how large Lord Selkirk was in life). A plaque is affixed to the front that reads as follows:
"SELKIRK
Thomas Douglas (1771-1820), Fifth Earl of Selkirk, whose inspired leadership and support attracted settlers in Scotland and Ireland to the settlement at the forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rovers. The initial group arrived in August 1812 to establish the first permanent agricultural settlement in Western Canada on the site of the present City of Winnipeg."