Joseph James Hargrave

Joseph James Hargrave
Joseph James Hargrave (photo by William Notman)
Born	April 1, 1841 York Factory, Manitoba, Canada
Died	February 22, 1894 Edinburgh, Scotland
Education	Madras College, St. Andrews, Scotland
Occupation	Chief Trader, Hudson’s Bay Company
Title	FRGS
Parent(s)	James Hargrave and Letitia MacTavish

Joseph James Hargrave (1841–1894) was a Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) trader, author, and journalist. He wrote the 1871 book, Red River, a history of the Manitoba Red River Colony.

Joseph James Hargrave was born and raised at York Factory, a fur trading post on Hudson Bay. He was the oldest son of York Factory's Chief Trader James Hargrave and his wife Letitia MacTavish Hargrave. His family took him to Scotland in 1846 where he studied at Madras College, St. Andrews, and completed his studies as a surveyor in 1859.

Hargrave returned to North America in 1861, where he became an apprentice clerk in the HBC and a secretary to his uncle William Mactavish, the governor of Rupert's Land and Assiniboia. In 1869, he began writing a series of articles for the Montreal Herald about the anticipated transfer of land from the HBC to Canada. In 1871, he published the book Red River describing the history of the Red River Colony prior to the 1869–1870 Red River Rebellion of Louis Riel.

Before his retirement, he became a Chief Trader in the HBC. He died in 1894 in Edinburgh, shortly after returning to Scotland.