John Meade (ca. 1830s – 1900s).
Little is known of John Meade’s life before he enlisted within the Royal Engineers where he was a Lance Corporal as a surveyor and cartographic draftsman.
Sapper John Meade volunteered for service in British Columbia. He left Gravesend 10 October 1858 on the ship “Thames City”, together with Captain Luard and 121 other men, 31 women and 31 children, came around Cape Horn, and arrived at Esquimalt Harbour on 12 April 1859. During their voyage Meade took up the challenge, made by Captain Luard, to have amateur theatricals on board; and did so, in drag.
In February 1861 it appears that Meade pre-empted Lot 183, New Westminster District, 160 acres; later granted to Hailstone, Brighouse and Morton, now the west end of Vancouver.
In May 1864 he was in Victoria but there is no letter of his application for the VIEE and when the official VIEE member pledge was signed on 31 May he was not on the list. It was the next day Meade was granted to fill a vacancy caused by Mr. D. E. Prest who had not shown up[1]. Therefore on 1 June he was formally appointed as “pioneer & miner” of the VIEE. Meade became an excellent choice proving to be a valuable member within the VIEE. He was also a member of Foley‘s sub-Exploring party who discovered gold on (and naming) the Leech River on 18 July. At the end of Meade’s journal he made a detailed overview of all the distances travelled by the VIEE and used 18 pages for drawing maps of their various journeys, recording the discoveries of all sub-parties.
The British Colonist referred to him as “Sergeant Meade.”
After the VIEE he was never heard of again. It appears Meade died or left British Columbia before November 1907.
Copyright © July 2014, Bart van den Berk.
—————-
Footnote:
[1] Source: Brown, Robert, MS-0794, Robert Brown Papers, British Columbia Archives, Victoria, Canada. Vol.1, file 6, Report of the exploration sub-committee to the chairman and members of the General Committee, 1 June 1864; 5 pages.
—————-
[Annotated and edited from the following main sources, in order of usage.]
—-, Lance Corporal John Meade, The Royal Engineers, accessed 14 April 2014, http://www.royalengineers.ca/Meade.html
—-, Derby: The First Home of the Columbia Detachment in British Columbia, The Royal Engineers, accessed 14 April 2014, http://www.royalengineers.ca/derby.html
Woodward, Frances M., The Influence of the Royal Engineers on the Development of British Columbia, BC Studies, No. 24, Winter 1974-75, accessed 14 April 2014, http://prophet.library.ubc.ca/ojs/index.php/bcstudies/article/viewFile/817/860
Brown, Robert, MS-0794, Robert Brown Papers, British Columbia Archives, Victoria, Canada. Vol.1, file 4, Contract for monthly stipend of members of the expedition for five months, 1 June 1864; 2 pages.
Brown, Robert, MS-0794, Robert Brown Papers, British Columbia Archives, Victoria, Canada. Vol.1, file 5, Pledge of members of the expedition, 31 May 1864; 2 pages. Meade’s name was later added and signed by him.
Brown, Robert, MS-0794, Robert Brown Papers, British Columbia Archives, Victoria, Canada. Vol.1, file 6, Report of the exploration sub-committee to the chairman and members of the General Committee, 1 June 1864; 5 pages.
(Keyword) biography John Meade