was born on 20 June 1771, and in Canada, he is most noted as the Scottish patron who sponsored the settlement at the Red River Colony in Manitoba (1811). This following a settlement scheme first tried in Prince Edward Island (1803), and a second in Upper Canada (1804). The 5th Earl of Selkirk died on 8 April 1820, in Pau, France, where he is buried. Always favouring large-scale emigration, having advanced his views repeatedly and with enthusiasm, in the winter of 1801/02, Selkirk first put forward to the Colonial Office his belief of the need to provide new challenges to the catholic population of an oppressed Ireland. Soon recognizing that the government would not countenance the resettlement of Irish immigrants in America, Selkirk offered in the alternative the emigration of Protestant Scottish Highlanders. Again unable to interest the British government in approving settlement in Western Canada, he then seen to be acting against the interests of the Hudson's Bay Company, Selkirk turned to Upper Canada. In this second initiative he faced a 'provincial' government, from the outset, that was inherently hostile to the introduction of a major absentee landholder, into their colony. Selkirk quickly saw the elite of Upper Canada were unsympathetic to any of his proposals, and consequently, his second Canadian scheme was not to soon be realized, when the Colonial Office refused to sanction the scheme. After furious activity on his part, early in 1803, having recruited his Highlanders in 1802–1803, the Home Office allowed they might look favourably on a settlement on Prince Edward Island, where unsettled lands could be had cheaply, without involving the Colonial Office, or the Colony. Coming to understand the Island, learning of its potential through John Stewart, with arranged purchases from private proprietors, by July 1803, his first expedition had set out. Despite the lateness of the first season (for clearing of land or planting), with hindrances and disputes over land preferences, by the time he left in late September 1803, his PEI settlers were well on their way to being properly established. Lot 62 The Early Selkirk Settlements The first documented European visitor to Lot 62 was Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk who observed of his 'visits' in his extensive and detailed diary. He suggests, of his first visit, of Monday, 8 August 1803, that he had perhaps been over-sold on Lot 62, like many others taking it over sight