Royal Commonwealth Society : First detachment of North West Mounted Police sent into the Yukon

Chapman, John Howard Arthur (1861-1942)

Royal Commonwealth Society

<p style='text-align: justify;'>John Howard Arthur Chapman (1861-1942) was born in Wiltshire and emigrated to Victoria, British Columbia in 1891. He was employed initially as a travelling salesman, dealing with a variety of products from soap to shoes. It is likely that Chapman combined photography with his travelling, which he abandoned as his skills developed, and he became the official photographer to the Government of British Columbia. Between 1895 and 1912, Chapman toured and photographed widely in western Canada, establishing an impressive line of lithographed postcards. From 1912 until 1936, Chapman concentrated on the people, places and events associated with Victoria, Vancouver and the west coast.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'> In 1873, the Canadian government created a central police force, which was eventually named the North-West Mounted Police (becoming the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920). This photograph records its first detachment, under the command of Inspector Charles Constantine, sent into the Yukon in 1895 to extend law and order to the northern frontier.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>See Janus record <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0115%2FY3062S%2F114'>here</a></p>