Francis James Roscoe was a Canadian

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...

 entrepreneur and Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

.

Francis Roscoe was born in Liverpool, England, the son of W.S. Roscoe, was educated at University College

University College London

University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...

 and the University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

 and came to British Columbia in 1862, settling in the Ross Bay area of Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

. He was the younger brother of poet William Caldwell Roscoe and the grandson of English historian and writer William Roscoe

William Roscoe

William Roscoe , was an English historian and miscellaneous writer.-Life:He was born in Liverpool, where his father, a market gardener, kept a public house called the Bowling Green at Mount Pleasant. Roscoe left school at the age of twelve, having learned all that his schoolmaster could teach...

. In 1864, he married Anna Letitia Le Breton. Roscoe was a partner in several hardware and ironware ventures. In 1870, he became the Commissioner of Savings Banks for the British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 colony. Roscoe stood for election as an Independent Liberal candidate in the Canadian federal election in 1874

Canadian federal election, 1874

The Canadian federal election of 1874 was held on January 22, 1874, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 3rd Parliament of Canada. Sir John A...

 in the two-member Victoria riding

Victoria (electoral district)

Victoria is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1872 to 1904 and since 1925....

. He placed second in a close three-way race and was elected along with Liberal incumbent Amor De Cosmos

Amor De Cosmos

Amor De Cosmos was a Canadian journalist, publisher and politician. He served as the second Premier of British Columbia.-Early life:...

.
Roscoe did not stand for re-election in 1878 and died later in the year in Victoria at the age of 47. He was replaced in the seat by incoming Prime Minister John A. Macdonald

John A. Macdonald

Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...

 who had lost his Ontario

Kingston (electoral district)

Kingston was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1925 and from 1953 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867, and initially consisted of the city of Kingston, Ontario...

 seat earlier as the BC portion of the election was delayed, and because he was deemed unelectable in eastern Canada due to ongoing politics surrounding his role in the Pacific Scandal

Pacific Scandal

The Pacific Scandal was a political scandal in Canada involving allegations of bribes being accepted by the Conservative government in the attempts of private interests to influence the bidding for a national rail contract...

.

Roscoe's Victoria home is today preserved by The Land Conservancy of BC

The Land Conservancy

TLC The Land Conservancy of British Columbia is a not-for-profit, charitable land trust based in British Columbia, Canada.The purpose of the Society is to protect plants, animals, natural communities and landscape features that represent diversity of life on earth, by protecting the lands and...

as a rare example of a pre-Confederation colonial house.