Robert Dunsmuir (1825-1889) was a Scottish-Canadian coal miner working for the Hudson's Bay Company on Vancouver Island when he discovered a coal outcropping near Nanaimo which he claimed. This discovery and his subsequent business acumen led him to become a wealthy capitalist supplying coal to San Francisco and the Royal Navy. This enabled him to participate in the development of the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway. He and his wife Joan had eight girls and two sons. Both sons, Alexander and James, were active in his business dealings. James later became premier then lieutenant governor of the province. Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria was constructed for his wife Joan and is now a National Historic Site of Canada. He eventually served a term in the provincial legislature shortly before his death.