James Isham (1716–1761) was chief factor (master) at both York Factory and Fort Prince of Wales in Canada during the mid-1700s. He kept detailed journals that described life in the region, including flora and fauna that were unknown to people in England at that time. His journals are important historical documents and he is well known to scholars of the fur trade in Canada during the early years of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC).
Early years
James Isham was born in 1716 in Holborn, London, to Whitby Isham and Ann Scrimshire, and was christened at St. Andrew Holborn . He had a brother, Thomas, and a sister, Ann.
James Isham shared a common ancestry with the Baronets of Lamport. In the late 1500s, Eusby Isham and Anne Pulton had ten children. Their son, John, was the grandfather of the first hereditary baronet and his brother, Henry, was James Isham's third (three-times) great-grandfather. The lineage of the Isham family can be traced back to Azor in the Domesday Book of 1086.
Isham left England in 1732 at the age of sixteen to work as a clerk/bookkeeper for the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in North America. He was posted to (also called York Fort) at the mouth of the Hayes River and the Nelson River in Hudson Bay where Thomas McCliesh was master and Thomas White was second-in-command.
Fur trader and chief factor
Isham became chief factor at York Fort in 1737 at the age of twenty-one after five years of service. He continued in this position until his death in 1761. His biographer, E.E. Rich, concluded that he was "the most acute and careful observer, the most sympathetic administrator, and the most voluminous writer of the fifty years which he represents. Neither heroic nor brilliant, Isham was also neither rash nor obstinate; he stood very near to his problems and he spared no pains. His character and his knowledge emerge clearly in his writings; most clearly emerges his thirst for knowledge."
Isham was responsible for the well-being and discipline of his men, the efficient running of the fort, and good relations with the Cree and Assiniboine traders who brought furs from further inland. The forts operated on an annual cycle that began with the arrival of the HBC supply ship from London. Once the trading goods and provisions were off-loaded and the furs put on board, the ship left until the following summer. Isham's attention then turned to repairing the fort, stockpiling food and firewood for the winter, and preparing trading goods for the spring season. At Christmas, all of the men who had been away hunting or fishing returned to the fort for the festivities. As soon as the ice disappeared on rivers, traders arrived and for several months Isham dealt with large flotillas of canoes loaded with furs. His men stacked and pressed the furs into bales in preparation for the ship which generally arrived in mid-August.
Isham was transferred to Fort Prince of Wales at the mouth of the Churchill River in 1741. As chief factor, he had two challenges to deal with – two exploration ships planned to stay there for the winter; and the stone fort needed to be rebuilt. The ships commanded by Christopher Middleton were searching for the Northwest Passage through Arctic waters to Asia. The presence of one hundred additional men (Isham had only forty) put a strain on resources and created tension between him and Middleton. The second challenge was the fort, which was built of stone following a military design popular in Europe. Unfortunately, the previous factor (Richard Norton) had taken shortcuts and workmanship was shoddy. Isham needed to renovate, included extending the ramparts to accommodate the recoil of the cannons.
Isham’s observations
James Isham was curious about the new world he encountered on Hudson Bay. In 1743, he compiled his notes and sketches for the HBC's London Committee (board of directors). His ‘Observations on Hudson Bay, 1743’ were placed in the HBC Archives in London until his biographer published them two hundred years later. Isham's "Observations" includes descriptions of mammals and birds, as well as customs and the language of the Cree people who traded at .
In 1745, he returned briefly to London and while there delivered stuffed specimens of unusual birds to George Edwards who was writing a book, ‘A Natural History of Uncommon Birds’. Edwards acknowledged Isham's "commendable curiosity" and thanked him for providing "thirty different species of Birds, of which we have hitherto had little or no knowledge". Edwards created paintings for the book based on Isham's specimens, including the Snow Goose, Surf Scoter, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Whooping Crane, Sandhill Crane, and Sora.