Robert Burnaby
| Robert Burnaby | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | November 30, 1828 Woodthorpe, Leicestershire |
| Died | January 10, 1878 (aged 49) Woodthorpe, Leicestershire |
| Residence | Victoria, British Columbia |
| Employer | Richard Moody, self |
| Children | 1 |
| Parent(s) | Reverend Thomas Burnaby and Sarah Meares |
Robert Burnaby (November 30, 1828 – January 10, 1878) was a merchant, politician and civil servant in British Columbia. The city of Burnaby, British Columbia is indirectly named for him, as well as at least ten other urban and geographical features, including a mountain, a lake, a park, a Haida Gwaii Island and a street in Vancouver.
Burnaby was born in Woodthorpe, Leicestershire and arrived in British Columbia in 1858 after a career in the civil service in London. On the strength of his recommendation by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Col. Richard Moody decided to hire him as his personal secretary. Though he served in this role only briefly, he played a part in planning the settlement of the towns of Queensborough, Hope and Yale. Burnaby also explored the area around Burnaby Lake, which Moody decided to name after him.
Within a year or so, he founded a commission trading business with his friend Edward Henderson, in Victoria. Due to high risk, speculation in a coal mine in Burrard Inlet that never materialized, and a recession, it folded in 1865. He then went into real estate and insurance. In 1862 he contended that he had a claim prior to that of the "Three Greenhorn Englishmen" to what is now known as the West End of Vancouver, but Judge Chartres Brew dismissed the documents he produced as forgeries, "obviously written by a liar or a knave."
Soon after his arrival in Victoria, Burnaby ran for the Legislative Assembly. He was elected as the member from Esquimalt and Metchosin, and served for five years.
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