Pioneer Surveyor. Born near Dublin, Ireland, he was educated at Trinity College, took an engineering job with the Midland Railway of Ireland, before becoming professor of surveying and engineering at the Royal Agricultural College Cirencester, in 1849. In 1850, he offered his services to the Hudson’s Bay Company and was as colonial engineer and surveyor of Vancouver Island, Canada. There he survey the agricultural lands on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, divided the Victoria district into towns plus the survey systems of 11 colonies, including South Australia, New Zealand and Upper Canada. By 1855, Pemberton’s surveys resulted in some 180 settlers bought over 17,000 acres of country land and about 150 town and suburban lots on Vancouver Island. He became a member of the first House of Assembly in 1856 and he was appointed to both the Executive and the Legislative councils of Vancouver Island in 1864. Before he retired from politics in 1868, as a Council member for Victoria District and he was responsible for the admission of British Columbia into the Confederation on fair and equitable terms. For the remainder of his life, he devoted himself to his family, farm, worked as a justice of the peace and corporate real estate investor. He died of heart failure at age 72.
Pioneer Surveyor. Born near Dublin, Ireland, he was educated at Trinity College, took an engineering job with the Midland Railway of Ireland, before becoming professor of surveying and engineering at the Royal Agricultural College Cirencester, in 1849. In 1850, he offered his services to the Hudson’s Bay Company and was as colonial engineer and surveyor of Vancouver Island, Canada. There he survey the agricultural lands on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, divided the Victoria district into towns plus the survey systems of 11 colonies, including South Australia, New Zealand and Upper Canada. By 1855, Pemberton’s surveys resulted in some 180 settlers bought over 17,000 acres of country land and about 150 town and suburban lots on Vancouver Island. He became a member of the first House of Assembly in 1856 and he was appointed to both the Executive and the Legislative councils of Vancouver Island in 1864. Before he retired from politics in 1868, as a Council member for Victoria District and he was responsible for the admission of British Columbia into the Confederation on fair and equitable terms. For the remainder of his life, he devoted himself to his family, farm, worked as a justice of the peace and corporate real estate investor. He died of heart failure at age 72.
Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith
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