Robert Mann Parsons

Robert Mann Parsons was a British Royal Engineer who was one of seven officers of the elite Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, that founded British Columbia as the Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866).
He was born on 29 September 1829 in Peckham, Surrey.
He was educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and commissioned into the Royal Engineers as a second lieutenant on 1 October 1847. He was promoted to lieutenant on 21 Sept 1850, to second captain on 23 February 1856, to captain on 1 April 1862, to major on 5 July 1872, to lieutenant-colonel on 8 March 1873, to colonel on 8 March 1878, to major-general on 29 October 1879, when he retired.
He arrived in British Columbia on 29 October 1858, in command of the first group of the Columbia Detachment, in which he was employed for his 'expert knowledge of survey'. He was in charge of the lithographic press of British Columbia 1861 - 1863.
Parsons Anchorage in British Columbia is named after him.
He was Superintendent of the Ordnance Survey Office at Southampton, England, during 1869. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 2 June 1870.
He resided at 21 Hyde Vale, Greenwich, Kent, and died at Greenwich on 20 May 1897, leaving assets worth £10,945 17s. The records of his service are held by the British National Archives.