Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment
When news of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush reached London, Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Secretary of State for the Colonies, requested that War Office recommend an officer who were 'a man of good judgement possessing a knowledge of mankind' to lead 150 (which was later increased to 172) Royal Engineers who had been selected for their 'superior discipline and intelligence'.
[9] Moody had hoped to begin immediately the foundation of a capital city, but, on his arrival at Fort Langley, he learned of an insurrection, at the settlement of Hill's Bar, by a notorious outlaw, Ned McGowan, and some restive gold miners.
[9] Moody described the incident: The notorious Ned McGowan, of Californian celebrity at the head of a band of Yankee Rowdies defying the law!
He founded the new capital city, New Westminster,[9][14] at a site of dense forest of Douglas pine[14] that he selected for its strategic excellence including the quality of its port.
[13] He, in his letter to his friend Arthur Blackwood of the Colonial Office that is dated 1 February 1859, described the majestic beauty of the site:[15][6] "The entrance to the Frazer is very striking--Extending miles to the right & left are low marsh lands (apparently of very rich qualities) & yet fr the Background of Superb Mountains- Swiss in outline, dark in woods, grandly towering into the clouds there is a sublimity that deeply impresses you.
[...] My imagination converted the silent marshes into Cuyp-like pictures of horses and cattle lazily fattening in rich meadows in a glowing sunset.
[...] The water of the deep clear Frazer was of a glassy stillness, not a ripple before us, except when a fish rose to the surface or broods of wild ducks fluttered away".
[18] However, Lord Lytton, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, 'forgot the practicalities of paying for clearing and developing the site and the town' and the effort of Moody's Engineers was continually impeded by insufficient funds, which, together with the continuous opposition of Sir James Douglas, Governor of Vancouver Island, whom Sir Thomas Frederick Elliot (1808 - 1880) described as 'like any other fraud',[19] 'made it impossible for [Moody's] design to be fulfilled'.
Governor Douglas's ethnicity was 'an affront to Victorian society',[23] whereas Mary Moody was a member of the Hawks industrial dynasty and of the Boyd merchant banking family.
[26] Douglas repeatedly insulted the Royal Engineers by attempting to assume their command[27] and refusing to acknowledge their contribution to the nascent colony.
[1] Scott contends that the dissolution of the Columbia Detachment, and the consequent departure of Moody, 'doomed' the development of the settlement and the realisation of Lord Lytton's dream.
[36] Numerous developments occurred in and around Moody Park, including Century House, which was opened by Princess Margaret on 23 July 1958.
In 1984, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of New Westminster, a monument of Richard Clement Moody, at the entrance of the park, was unveiled by Mayor Tom Baker.
