Peters, James (1853 - 1927)

Col. James Peters (RCN) was born September 11, 1853 in Saint John, New Brunswick, into a family descended from United Empire Loyalists from New York. He began his military career in 1870. He was gazetted as a lieutenant in 1872. The first permanent force army unit to defend Canada`s West Coast arrived in Victoria on November 10, 1887 on the steamer Princess Louise, under the command of Major James Peters. He was acclaimed as the first town councillor when Esquimalt became a municipality in 1912. Buried in the Veterans Cemetery, Esquimalt, in 1927.