MHS Centennial Business:
Hudson’s Bay Company

The Hudson’s Bay Company is the oldest company in North America, and the second-oldest in the world.

In 1670 Charles II granted a charter to the “Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Tradeing into Hudson’s Bay.” Its initial post was at Rupert’s House in what is now Quebec, followed by posts at Moose Factory and Albany in present-day Ontario. Although as early as 1673 attempts had been made to establish a post at Port Nelson (near York Factory), conflict with the French interfered. In 1684 Radisson helped the Hudson’s Bay Company to establish York Fort at the mouth of the Hayes River, the first fort and the oldest permanent settlement in the province of Manitoba.

The achievements of Hudson’s Bay Company are too numerous to describe in detail. The fur trade dominated its first two hundred years when it acted as the governing body for the vast region known as Rupert’s Land. Gradually the retail trade developed which is now the focus of its operations. And although London, England was the headquarters for three centuries, the heart of its operations for a large part of that time was York Factory and later Winnipeg, Manitoba. Even though the headquarters now resides in Toronto, the importance attached to Winnipeg and Manitoba is reflected in its 1994 donation to this province of its museum collection and archives, the former to the Museum of Man and Nature and the latter to the Archives of Manitoba. Through the Hudson’s Bay History Foundation, set up with the tax savings from that donation, it is providing ongoing funding for these treasures as well as supporting The Beaver magazine and Canada’s National History Society, both based in Winnipeg. And, of course they are active retailers in Manitoba operating stores under the Zeller’s name and The Bay, led by the flagship downtown store.

Governors of the Hudson’s Bay Company (1670-1985)

Term	Governor
1670-1682	His Highness Prince Rupert
1683-1685	HRH James, Duke of York (King James II)
1685-1692	John, Lord Churchill (Duke of Marlborough)
1692-1696	Sir Stephen Evans
1696-1700	Sir William Trumbull
1700-1712	Sir Stephen Evans
1712-1743	Sir Bibye Lake
1743-1746	Benjamin Pitt
1746-1750	Thomas Knapp
1750-1760	Sir Atwell Lake
1760-1770	Sir William Baker
1770-1782	Bibye Lake
1782-1799	Samuel Wegg
1799-1807	Sir James Winter Lake
1807-1812	William Mainwaring
1812-1822	Joseph Berens Jr.
1822-1852	Sir John Henry Pelly
1852-1856	Andrew Wedderburn Colvile (?-1856)
1856-1858	John Shepherd
1858-1863	Henry Hulse Berens
1863-1868	Sir Edmund Walker Head
1868-1869	The Earl of Kimberley
1868-1874	Sir Stafford Northcote (Earl of Iddesleigh)
1874-1880	George Joachim Goschen
1880-1889	Eden Colvile (1819-1893)
1889-1914	Donald Alexander Smith [Lord Strathcona] (1820-1914)
1914-1915	Sir Thomas Skinner
1915-1925	Sir Robert Molesworth Kindersley
1925-1931	Charles Vincent Sale
1931-1952	SIr Patrick Ashley Cooper
1952-1965	William Johnston Keswick
1965-1970	Derick Heathcoat Armory
1970-1982	George T. Richardson
1982-?	Donald Scott McGiverin

An MHS Centennial Business Award was presented to the Hudson’s Bay Company by Judith Hudson Beattie in January 1999.

Sources:

Company of Adventurers by Peter C. Newman, Viking Penguin Inc., Appendix 4.

MHS Centennial Businesses

Page revised: 18 July 2009