Chartres Brew
Encyclopedia
Gold Commissioner
Gold Commissioner was an important regional administrative post in the Colony of British Columbia.In the 1860s, Governor Douglas had three priorities to protect the two colonies he governed: to protect the boundaries, to uphold law and order and to provide access to the gold fields...
, Chief Constable
Chief Constable
Chief constable is the rank used by the chief police officer of every territorial police force in the United Kingdom except for the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, as well as the chief officers of the three 'special' national police forces, the British Transport Police, Ministry...
and judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
in the Colony of British Columbia
Colony of British Columbia
The Colony of British Columbia was a crown colony in British North America from 1858 until 1866. At its creation, it physically constituted approximately half the present day Canadian province of British Columbia, since it did not include the Colony of Vancouver Island, the vast and still largely...
, later a province of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Born in Corofin, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Brew served in the Royal Irish Constabulary
Royal Irish Constabulary
The armed Royal Irish Constabulary was Ireland's major police force for most of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police controlled the capital, and the cities of Derry and Belfast, originally with their own police...
where he ascended to the position of inspector. In 1858 he was recommended for the office of Chief Inspector of Police for the new Colony of British Columbia
Colony of British Columbia
The Colony of British Columbia was a crown colony in British North America from 1858 until 1866. At its creation, it physically constituted approximately half the present day Canadian province of British Columbia, since it did not include the Colony of Vancouver Island, the vast and still largely...
to maintain law and order in the goldfields. When he arrived in the Interior
British Columbia Interior
The British Columbia Interior or BC Interior or Interior of British Columbia, usually referred to only as the Interior, is one of the three main regions of the Canadian province of British Columbia, the other two being the Lower Mainland, which comprises the overlapping areas of Greater Vancouver...
, however, he was appointed Chief Gold Commissioner as a constabulary was not established until after the Chilcotin War
Chilcotin War
The Chilcotin War, Chilcotin Uprising or Bute Inlet Massacre was a confrontation in 1864 between members of the Tsilhqot'in people in British Columbia and white road construction workers...
.
After the attack on the road crew which launched that war, Governor Seymour
Frederick Seymour
Frederick Seymour was a colonial administrator. He served as the second Governor of the Colony of British Columbia from 1864 to 1866, and the first governor of the union of the two colonies, also named the Colony of British Columbia from 1866 to 1869.Seymour was the son of Henry Augustus Seymour,...
dispatched Brew to lead an expedition into the Chilcotin District
Chilcotin District
The Chilcotin District of British Columbia is usually known simply as "the Chilcotin", and also in speech commonly as "the Chilcotin Country" or simply Chilcotin. It is a plateau and mountain region in British Columbia on the inland lea of the Coast Mountains on the west side of the Fraser River....
from the head of Bute Inlet
Bute Inlet
Bute Inlet is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast. It is 80 km long from its head at the mouths of the Homathko and Southgate Rivers to the continental headlands at its mouth, where it is nearly blocked by Stuart Island, and it averages about 4 km in width...
, which met up at Puntzi Lake
Puntzi Lake
Puntzi Lake is a lake in the Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Columbia. It is located on the western side of the upper Chilcotin River to the northeast of Tatla Lake, and is connected to the Chilcotin River via Puntzi Creek, of which it is an expansion...
with another expedition from the Cariboo led by William George Cox
William George Cox
William George Cox was Gold Commissioner for the Cariboo and Boundary Districts in the Colony of British Columbia, Canada during the Rock Creek Gold Rush....
to lead another from the Cariboo goldfields towns. The result of the expeditions was more a denouement than a show of force, with the two expeditionary forces camped out without any visible adversary, while the hunt for the Chilcotin warriors went on in the deep bush, resulting in the death by ambush of Donald MacLean, former chief trader at Fort Kamloops. The Chilcotin war leader Klattasine
Klattasine
Klattasine was the young chief of the Chilcotin tribe who became famous during the British Columbia gold rush....
was persuaded to surrender on terms of amnesty, then summarily arrested and eventually tried and hanged for murder, along with five other Chilcotins, including Tellot, another of the rebellion's leaders.
Brew was well respected by his superiors and served numerous functions in the colony over the years: magistrate, acting treasurer, acting chief commissioner of lands and works, and appointed member of the Legislative Council of British Columbia
Legislative Council of British Columbia
The Legislative Council of British Columbia was an advisory body created in 1867 to the Governor of the "new" Colony of British Columbia, which had been created from the merger of the old Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia...
He died in the Cariboo
Cariboo
The Cariboo is an intermontane region of British Columbia along a plateau stretching from the Fraser Canyon to the Cariboo Mountains. The name is a reference to the woodland caribou that were once abundant in the region...
of acute rheumatism in 1869.
His epitaph was written by his friend Judge Begbie
Matthew Baillie Begbie
Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie was born on the island of Mauritius, thereafter raised and educated in the United Kingdom...
: “A man imperturbable in courage and temper, endowed with a great and varied administrative capacity, a most ready wit, a most pure integrity and a most humane heart.”
Brew's name was conferred on two mountain summits in British Columbia, both named Mount Brew. The higher one at 2891m is located just south of the Fraser Canyon
Fraser Canyon
The Fraser Canyon is an 84 km landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley...
town of Lillooet
Lillooet, British Columbia
Lillooet is a community on the Fraser River in western Canada, about up the British Columbia Railway line from Vancouver. Situated at an intersection of deep gorges in the lee of the Coast Mountains, it has a dry climate- of precipitation is recorded annually at the town's weather station,...
, and which is the second-highest in the Lillooet Ranges
Lillooet Ranges
The Lillooet Ranges are the southeasternmost subdivision of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia. They are located between the drainage of the Lillooet River and Harrison Lake on the west and the canyon of the Fraser River on the east, and by the lowland coastal valley of...
after Skihist Mountain
Skihist Mountain
Skihist Mountain is the highest mountain in the Cantilever Range and in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the southern boundary of Stein Valley Nlaka'pamux Heritage Park, about west of Lytton....
. The other is just east of Likely, British Columbia in the Cariboo
Cariboo
The Cariboo is an intermontane region of British Columbia along a plateau stretching from the Fraser Canyon to the Cariboo Mountains. The name is a reference to the woodland caribou that were once abundant in the region...
district, 2057m, adjacent to Quesnel Lake
Quesnel Lake
Quesnel Lake is a glacial lake or fjord in British Columbia, Canada, and is the origin of the Quesnel River. With a maximum depth of 610 meters , it is the deepest lake in British Columbia, though not the deepest lake in Canada, as is often claimed. That distinction belongs to Great Slave Lake...
.