Benjamin Joseph Frobisher

Benjamin Joseph Frobisher (March 26 1782 – March 18 1821) was a fur trader and political figure in Lower Canada.

He was born in Montreal, the son of Joseph Frobisher, and studied in England. In 1799, he joined the North West Company and travelled west, becoming clerk in the English River department. He later worked as a clerk for a merchant in the fur trade at Quebec City. In 1804, he married Isabella, the niece of Sir William Grant and stepdaughter of John Craigie. Frobisher represented Montreal County in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada from 1804 to 1808. He was named a justice of the peace for Trois-Rivières district in 1805. He served in the local militia, later becoming lieutenant-colonel. In 1815, he was named provincial aide-de-camp for colonial administrator Sir Gordon Drummond and, in 1816, for Governor Sir John Coape Sherbrooke.

In 1817, he led an attack by the North West Company against a Hudson's Bay Company fort at Île-à-la-Crosse, located in what is now Saskatchewan. In 1819, he was taken prisoner by the HBC and detained at York Factory. He later escaped and returned to Quebec.

He died at Quebec City in 1821.

External links

* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=2878 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]