This dissertation examines Scottish involvement in the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), c.1779 to c.1821. It surveys the Company's recruitment practices, and the national and regional contribution of Scots to the HBC, demonstrating that Orkneymen were disproportionately numerous throughout the entire period under examination. This study explores their motivation for entry to the HBC, and the various routes (and obstacles) to advancement of salary and station. It also seeks to establish whether Scottish networks operated in the fur trade, and the utility of such connections. Although Scots encountered many opportunities for betterment in Rupert's Land, they were also confronted with the challenge of working in a commercially competitive and remote wilderness environment. Extreme climatic conditions, insufficient food/medicinal supplies, laborious work duties, and violent trade rivalry meant that illness, disability, and death were common occurrences. The extent to which the paternalistic directors endeavoured to mitigate such hardships, and tended to the welfare of employees and their dependents, is assessed. Finally, the social, cultural and economic impact of Scots on both their temporary and home residences is explored. This discussion includes the significance of 'Scottishness' in the fur trade and the importance of 'home' to temporary migrants. In addition, this study highlights the difficulties of remitting savings and domestic support money to dependents in Scotland, and the successes of employees who fulfilled their personal ambitions on their return to Orkney, and climbed onto the property ladder.

While historians have long been interested in many and varied dimensions of fur trade history, they have, until recently, either largely neglected the role of the missionary or treated him with something less than enthusiasm. This thesis seeks to understand and re-evaluate the first contact Protestant missionary in Rupert's Land, 1820-1850, by investigating his background, personality, motivation for mission, the methods he used, and particularly his attitude to and understanding of the people he served. It also examines the nascent Indian church which resulted from his presence, the role of the missionary wife, and the relationship of the clergy with "other whites". This study concludes that these early missionaries generally differed in background, outlook, and expectations from their successors in the second half of the nineteenth century; that individuality, circumstances, and the structure of fur-trade society were, in the final analysis, the most crucial components of their "success" or "failure" (both being relative terms); and that, despite their faults and shortcomings, their presence on the whole proved a salutary rather than a negative influence.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from pdf file main screen (viewed March 26, 2010). "A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Dept. of History". Includes bibliographical references.

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This dissertation argues that the Hudson’s Bay Company depot that was built at Norway House beginning in 1825 created economic opportunities that were sufficiently strong to draw Aboriginal people to the site in such numbers that, within a decade of its establishment, the post was the locus of a thriving community. This was in spite of the lack of any significant trade in furs, in spite of the absence of an existing Aboriginal community on which to expand and in spite of the very small number of Hudson’s Bay Company personnel assigned to the post on a permanent basis. Although economic factors were not the only reason for the development of Norway House as a community, these factors were almost certainly primus inter pares of the various influences in that development. This study also offers a new framework for the conception and construction of community based on documenting day-to-day activities that were themselves behavioural reflections of intentionality and choice. Interpretation of these behaviours is possible by combining a variety of approaches and methodologies, some qualitative and some quantitative. By closely counting and analyzing data in archival records that were collected by fur trade agents in the course of their normal duties, it is possible to measure the importance of various activities such as construction, fishing and hunting. With a clear understanding of what people were actually doing, it is possible to interpret their intentions in the absence of explicit documentary evidence.

This dissertation argues that the Hudson’s Bay Company depot that was built at Norway House beginning in 1825 created economic opportunities that were sufficiently strong to draw Aboriginal people to the site in such numbers that, within a decade of its establishment, the post was the locus of a thriving community. This was in spite of the lack of any significant trade in furs, in spite of the absence of an existing Aboriginal community on which to expand and in spite of the very small number of Hudson’s Bay Company personnel assigned to the post on a permanent basis. Although economic factors were not the only reason for the development of Norway House as a community, these factors were almost certainly primus inter pares of the various influences in that development. This study also offers a new framework for the conception and construction of community based on documenting day-to-day activities that were themselves behavioural reflections of intentionality and choice. Interpretation of these behaviours is possible by combining a variety of approaches and methodologies, some qualitative and some quantitative. By closely counting and analyzing data in archival records that were collected by fur trade agents in the course of their normal duties, it is possible to measure the importance of various activities such as construction, fishing and hunting. With a clear understanding of what people were actually doing, it is possible to interpret their intentions in the absence of explicit documentary evidence.

This dissertation seeks to explore the wide reaching effects of the ‘Consumer Revolution of the Augustan Period’ (1680-1750) by examining the Hudson’s Bay Company from the perspective of the London metropole. During this period, newly imported and manufactured goods began flooding English markets. For the first time, members of the middling and lower sorts were able to afford those items which had previously been deemed ‘luxuries.’ One of these luxuries was the beaver felt hat, which had previously been restricted to the wealthy aristocracy and gentry because of its great cost. However, because of the HBC’s exports of beaver fur from Rupert’s Land making beaver widely available and therefore, less expensive, those outside of the privileged upper sorts were finally able to enjoy this commodity. Thus, the focus here will be on the furs leaving North America, specifically Hudson’s Bay, between 1670 and 1730, and consider the subsequent consumption of those furs by the British and European markets. This thesis examines English fashion, social, economic, and political history to understand the Hudson’s Bay Company and the Consumer Revolution, and their effects on one another.

This dissertation argues that the Hudson’s Bay Company depot that was built at Norway House beginning in 1825 created economic opportunities that were sufficiently strong to draw Aboriginal people to the site in such numbers that, within a decade of its establishment, the post was the locus of a thriving community. This was in spite of the lack of any significant trade in furs, in spite of the absence of an existing Aboriginal community on which to expand and in spite of the very small number of Hudson’s Bay Company personnel assigned to the post on a permanent basis. Although economic factors were not the only reason for the development of Norway House as a community, these factors were almost certainly primus inter pares of the various influences in that development. This study also offers a new framework for the conception and construction of community based on documenting day-to-day activities that were themselves behavioural reflections of intentionality and choice. Interpretation of these behaviours is possible by combining a variety of approaches and methodologies, some qualitative and some quantitative. By closely counting and analyzing data in archival records that were collected by fur trade agents in the course of their normal duties, it is possible to measure the importance of various activities such as construction, fishing and hunting. With a clear understanding of what people were actually doing, it is possible to interpret their intentions in the absence of explicit documentary evidence.

This dissertation argues that the Hudson’s Bay Company depot that was built at Norway House beginning in 1825 created economic opportunities that were sufficiently strong to draw Aboriginal people to the site in such numbers that, within a decade of its establishment, the post was the locus of a thriving community. This was in spite of the lack of any significant trade in furs, in spite of the absence of an existing Aboriginal community on which to expand and in spite of the very small number of Hudson’s Bay Company personnel assigned to the post on a permanent basis. Although economic factors were not the only reason for the development of Norway House as a community, these factors were almost certainly primus inter pares of the various influences in that development. This study also offers a new framework for the conception and construction of community based on documenting day-to-day activities that were themselves behavioural reflections of intentionality and choice. Interpretation of these behaviours is possible by combining a variety of approaches and methodologies, some qualitative and some quantitative. By closely counting and analyzing data in archival records that were collected by fur trade agents in the course of their normal duties, it is possible to measure the importance of various activities such as construction, fishing and hunting. With a clear understanding of what people were actually doing, it is possible to interpret their intentions in the absence of explicit documentary evidence.

This dissertation seeks to explore the wide reaching effects of the ‘Consumer Revolution of the Augustan Period’ (1680-1750) by examining the Hudson’s Bay Company from the perspective of the London metropole. During this period, newly imported and manufactured goods began flooding English markets. For the first time, members of the middling and lower sorts were able to afford those items which had previously been deemed ‘luxuries.’ One of these luxuries was the beaver felt hat, which had previously been restricted to the wealthy aristocracy and gentry because of its great cost. However, because of the HBC’s exports of beaver fur from Rupert’s Land making beaver widely available and therefore, less expensive, those outside of the privileged upper sorts were finally able to enjoy this commodity. Thus, the focus here will be on the furs leaving North America, specifically Hudson’s Bay, between 1670 and 1730, and consider the subsequent consumption of those furs by the British and European markets. This thesis examines English fashion, social, economic, and political history to understand the Hudson’s Bay Company and the Consumer Revolution, and their effects on one another.