Alfred Waddington

Alfred Waddington
Born	October 2, 1801 Brompton, London, England
Died	February 26, 1872 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	politician, author, businessman

Alfred Penderell Waddington (October 2, 1801 – February 26, 1872), during his later years, was actively involved in the Colony of Vancouver Island in what later became the province of British Columbia, Canada.

From 1860 to 1861 he was a representative of the Victoria District in the House of Assembly of the Colony of Vancouver Island. He was also the first colonial Superintendent of Education from 1865 to 1867 and was an advocate of free public education.

Waddington is also remembered for planning the ill-fated Waddington's Road at Bute Inlet. The road was intended to be a shorter route to the Cariboo Gold Rush goldfields and was intended to run from the Pacific Coast via Bute Inlet to Fort Alexandria, but instead resulted in the tragedy of the Chilcotin War.

Alfred Waddington completed his early education in England, attended a school in Paris and then attended the University of Göttingen in Germany.

In 1850, he moved to California and joined a partnership of wholesale grocers.

In 1858, Waddington moved north to Victoria, British Columbia. Although the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush was in full swing, Waddington was not interested in gold seeking. Instead, he wanted to encourage settlement in the colony and wrote Fraser Mines Vindicated, the first book ever published in the Colony of Vancouver Island that was not from a government source.

In 1860, he was elected to the House of Assembly on a platform of religious equality, women's rights and small government.

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