Thomas Wilson Paterson, railway contractor, politician, Lieutenant Governor 1909-14. Born 6 December 1851, Darnel, Scotland; died 28 August 1921, Victoria.
After immigrating to Canada as a youngster with his parents, he grew up in Ontario, where he got his first job as a labourer on railway construction. Soon he was a partner in a contracting firm and moved to BC seeking new opportunities for his company.
In 1883 he won the contract to build the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway line on Vancouver Island; after several other building jobs he became general manager of the Victoria & Sidney Railway in 1895. He also had investments in shipping, farming and logging.
Paterson was elected to the legislature in 1902 for a Victoria riding. In 1907 he ran for the mayoralty of Victoria; he lost, then lost his seat in the legislature later the same year. He returned to his business affairs and on 11 Dec 1909 was appointed Lieutenant Governor. It was a prosperous period and a politically stable one, and his term of office was uneventful. He retired in 1914 to a home in Oak Bay and a large farm, Inverholm, near Ladner.