FIDLER, PETER, fur trader, surveyor, explorer, and cartographer;
b. 16 Aug. 1769 in Bolsover, England, son of James Fidler and
Mary –; m. autumn 1794 according to the custom of the country
and formally on 14 Aug. 1821 at Norway House (Man.), Mary, a
Swampy Cree, and they had 14 children; d. 17 Dec. 1822 at
Dauphin Lake House (Man.). In April 1788 at London, in the midst
of a renewal of the rivalry between the Hudson’s Bay Company and
the North West Company for the fur trade of the northwest, Peter
Fidler joined the HBC as a labourer and reached York Factory
(Man.) later that year. He had certainly received some formal
education: he was soon promoted from labourer to post journal
writer because he was “in every way qualified for that station,
being a good Scholar and Accountant.” Moreover, he was regarded
as “a sober steady young man.” Within a year of his arrival he
was sent inland as a writer, first to Manchester House (near
Standard Hill, Sask.) and then to South Branch House (near
Batoche). The HBC’s confi