Understanding the Index to HBC Servants’ Contracts, 1776 -1927

The Hudson’s Bay Company Archives holds thousands of servants’ contracts, which date from about 1776-1927. This index includes the majority of these contracts, but this only represents a portion of the employees hired to work for the Hudson’s Bay Company. If a person’s name is not in this index, the contract may not have survived, it may be missing or filed elsewhere, or it may not have been created in the first place (this was often the case when individuals were employed for casual or seasonal work).

For additional information about these records, see the description of Servants’ contracts in the Keystone database.

Who signed contracts?

Hudson’s Bay Company servants’ contracts were for labourers, voyageurs, tradespeople, and professionals such as accountants, clerks and surgeons who were under contract to HBC. These people were called servants of the company. They were mostly men, although there are a few contracts for women who served as cooks. The Factors and Chief Factors who had considerably more responsibility within the company were known as officers. Some officers began their careers as clerks; if this was the case, then their early contracts may have survived as well.

About the contracts

Early contracts, from 1776-1818, are bound into volumes and arranged chronologically. There were contracts created before 1776, but as far as we know none of them have survived. Contracts from 1818 onward are filed alphabetically.

Contracts consist of one or more sheets (or folios) and were either handwritten by a clerk or printed. Some contracts were signed at the HBC’s London office, others in Orkney or Hudson’s Bay. Generally contracts were signed for a period of 1 to 5 years. The usual contract for an apprentice was seven years. Most contracts aligned with the outfit year; that is, they began on June 1 and terminated May 31 a number of years later. Free passage home is often written into a contract, but some men elected to remain in the Red River Settlement and receive a grant of 25 acres of land from the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Contracts from the early twentieth century are much more detailed than those from previous centuries. They contain:

  • the name and address of the future employee
  • the period of the contract, usually 5 years
  • the occupation or capacity of the employee e.g. apprentice clerk
  • the annual salary sometimes in British pounds or Canadian dollars
  • the age of the future employee, his date & place of Birth
  • his marital status
  • his previous employer
  • the amount, usually in pounds, of any advance payment.

Appended to the contract may be:

  • a photograph
  • a handwritten letter of application
  • testimonials usually from a previous employer or Minister of the Church
  • Medical & Dental certificates to indicate the person is in good health
  • occasionally a copy of a birth certificate
  • typed carbon copies of all documents

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Index Headings

Name

Employees’ family (or last) names appear first, then their given (or first) name.

Date

This is the date the contract was signed, which is not necessarily the same as the date the individual began his term of employment with HBC. The index says n.d. if there is no date on the contract.

Age

This is often an approximate age which appears at the top of the contract.

Origin

This is the employee’s place (generally a parish) of origin or where his first contract was signed. An example of a typical entry is “Scot OKI Birsay” where:

  • Scot = Scotland
  • OKI  =  Orkney Isles
  • Birsay = Parish of Birsay / Name of the hamlet or farm

See Abbreviations used in place names section below for more information.

Work Location

This can refer to where the employee was working or where the contract was signed as the employee was traveling to his destination.

See Abbreviations used in place names section below for more information.

Occupation

This is the position for which an individual was hired.

The occupations of French Canadian employees may be written in French or English. These terms include:

  • Charpentier = Carpenter
  • Coureur = Runner
  • Devant = Bowsman, the second most experienced position in a canoe
  • Ecrivain = Scribe or Writer
  • Ferblantier = Tinman
  • Gardeur de Vache = Cattlekeeper
  • Gouvernail = Steersman, the most responsible position in a canoe
  • Hivernant/Hyvernant = Wintering Partner
  • Interprète = Interpreter
  • Journalier = Journeyman, Day Labourer
  • Maçon = Builder, Mason
  • Milieu = Middleman, the least experienced position in a canoe
  • Pêcheur = Fisherman
  • Squarer = Forms wood or stone into a square
  • Tonnelier = Cooper, Barrel Maker, Kegmaker
  • Traiteur = Keeper of eating house, sometimes used for trapper
  • Trappeur = Trapper
  • Voyageur = Voyager

Miscellaneous

Extra information which appears on the contract has been abbreviated in this section following this example: £25 pa.+£2 t/s (3) sig.

  • £25 pa. = This is the rate of pay per year (or per annum) = 25 pounds sterling.
  • £12-16 pa. = This rate of pay rises from 12 pounds sterling in the first year to a maximum of 16 pounds sterling in the last year.
  • £40 pa.+serv. = Approximately £10 per year was allowed to pay for a servant. Normally this service was granted to a Master of a ship.
  • +£2 t/s = The employee received £2 in lieu of tea and sugar.
  • (3) = The term of the contract was 3 years.
  • sig. = The employee signed his contract. The signature was witnessed.
  • his mark = The employee either could not write or did not sign the contract and made his mark which was witnessed.
  • Inland bonus = There was an allowance for all employees who worked inland away from the sea. In early contracts this could be as much as the annual salary and it was often referred to as a bounty.
  • Advance £10 = An employee might have agreed to an advance payment on his wages when he signed the contract.
  • Old Hand = The employee had worked for HBC for a number of years.
  • Board & Lodging = Board is written in the index. Meals and a bed to sleep were provided for employees by the company. This information was not always given in a contract.

Location Code

This is a reference code assigned by the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives and used to locate a particular contract, e.g. A.32/54 fo. 56.

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Spelling Variations

Variations in the spelling of names are common in these records. It is a good idea to check all variations, as the spelling of an individual’s name was not always consistent from contract to contract. For example, you may find contracts for one person filed under Irvin, Irvine and Irwin, or Dumais and Dumas. French Canadian names will sometimes include an alias or “dit” and the contract is often filed under both names in the index, e.g. Duhorné, Pierre dit Laneville and Laneuville, Pierre Duhorné dit. Where names have been abbreviated in the contracts the full name is written in the index. In cases where there is a discrepancy between the clerk’s spelling at the top of the contract and the signature of the employee at the bottom of the contract, the spelling of the employee’s signature is recorded unless the clerk’s spelling is the more common variant. When a nickname is known it is entered in square brackets, e.g. Sabiston, Alexander [Sandy]. If the individual can also be found in the index under a totally different surname, that information is also given in brackets, e.g. Twatt [Wall], Robert.

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Abbreviations used in place names

A number of abbreviations have been used in the index. Wherever possible the geographical information is given in modern terms, rather than those in use at the time the contract was signed.

North America

Rupert’s Land included all land whose rivers drained into Hudson’s Bay. This encompassed a vast region and more than one province, so no modern provincial locations are included in the contracts; however, these locations have been determined and included in the index where possible. Many contracts are dated before the Canadian provinces and some American states were established, so all modern provinces and states are given in brackets, e.g. Manitoba [MB]. It is believed that some place names refer to farms rather than villages or hamlets.

North America Abbreviations

Location Abbreviation

Alberta

AB

British Columbia

BC

Canada

Can

Hudson’s Bay

HB

Hawaii

HI

Lake

L

Labrador

LB

Manitoba

MB

Moose Factory

MF

North West Territories

NT

Ontario

ON

Prince of Wales Fort [Churchill]

PoW

Quebec

PQ

River

R

Rupert’s Land

RL

Saskatchewan

SK

United States, Alaska

US AL

United States, Washington

US WA

United States

US

York Fort / York Factory

YF

Yukon Territory

YT

British Isles

The following abbreviations have been used for the countries and for political and geographic areas other than countries. Ireland refers to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Generally, lower case letters were used to distinguish the country entry from the county entry.

British Isles Abbreviations

Location Abbreviation

England

Eng

Scotland

Scot

Ireland

Ire

Channel Islands

CI

Isle of Man

IOM

County boundaries within each country (or principality, in the case of Wales) for England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales are based upon the pre-1974 Colin R. Chapman’s County Codes. These three capital letters will identify the British County of origin, e.g. Bedfordshire would be abbreviated to BDF.

England Abbreviations

Location Abbreviation Location Abbreviation

Bedfordshire

BDF

London

LND

Berkshire

BKS

Middlesex

MDX

Buckinghamshire

BKM

Norfolk

NFK

Cambridgeshire

CAM

Northamptonshire

NTH

Cheshire

CHS

Nottinghamshire

NTT

Cornwall

CON

Oxfordshire

OXF

Derbyshire

DBY

Rutland

RUT

Devon

DEV

Shropshire

SAL

Dorset

DOR

Somerset

SOM

Durham

DUR

Staffordshire

STS

Essex

ESS

Suffolk

SFK

Gloucestershire

GLS

Surrey

SRY

Hampshire

HAM

Sussex

SSX

Herefordshire

HEF

Warwickshire

WAR

Hertfordshire

HRT

Westmorland

WES

Huntingdon

HUN

Wiltshire

WIL

Kent

KEN

Worcestershire

WOR

Lancashire

LAN

Yorkshire

YKS

Leicestershire

LEI

Isle of Man

IOM

Lincolnshire

LIN

Isle of Wight

IOW

Wales Abbreviations

Location Abbreviation Location Abbreviation

Anglesey

AGY

Glamorganshire

GLA

Breconshire

BRE

Merionethshire

MER

Caernarvonshire

CAE

Monmouthshire

MON

Cardiganshire

CGN

Montgomeryshire

MGY

Carmarthenshire

CMN

Pembrokeshire

PEM

Denbighshire

DEN

Radnorshire

RAD

Flintshire

FLN

 

 

Scotland Abbreviations

Location Abbreviation Location Abbreviation

Aberdeen

ABD

Lanarkshire

LKS

Angus

ANS

Midlothian

MLN

Argyllshire

ARL

Moray

MOR

Ayrshire

AYR

Nairn

NAI

Banffshire

BAN

Orkney Isles

OKI

Berwickshire

BEW

Peebles

PEE

Bute

BUT

Perth

PER

Caithness

CAI

Renfrew

RFW

Clackmannanshire

CLK

Ross & Cromarty

ROC

Dumfriesshire

DFS

Roxburgh

ROX

Dunbartonshire

DNB

Selkirk

SEL

East Lothian

ELN

Shetland Isles

SHI

Fifeshire

FIF

Stirlingshire

STI

Inverness

INV

Sutherland

SUT

Kincardineshire

KCD

West Lothian

WLN

Kircudbrightshire

KKD

Wigtown

WIG

Kinross

KRS

 

 

Ireland Abbreviations

Location Abbreviation Location Abbrevation

Antrim

ANT

Limerick

LIM

Armagh

ARM

Londonderry

LDY

Carlow

CAR

Longford

LOG

Cavan

CAV

Louth

LOU

Clare

CLA

Mayo

MAY

Cork

COR

Meath

MEA

Donegal

DON

Monaghan

MOG

Down

DOW

Offaly (Kings)

OFF

Dublin

DUB

Queen’s (see Leix)

 

Fermanagh

FER

Roscommon

ROS

Galway

GAL

Sligo

SLI

Kerry

KER

Tipperary

TIP

Kildare

KID

Tyrone

TYR

Kilkenny

KIK

Waterford

WAT

Kings (see Offaly)

 

Westmeath

WEM

Leitrim

LET

Wexford

WEX

Leix (Queen’s)

LEX

Wicklow

WIC

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Payment

Servants of the Hudson’s Bay Company had their salary quoted on an annual basis, generally in British pounds sterling (£) or livres, the currency of Lower Canada (Quebec). Occasionally wages are quoted in Spanish piastras and rarely in French francs.

An amount of money written as £8.13.4 would be interpreted as:

  • £8 = 8 pounds
  • 13 = 13 shillings
  • 4 = 4 pence

12 pence equaled 1 shilling, and 20 shillings equaled 1 pound, so there were 240 pence in 1 pound. Occasionally payments were made in guineas. This is an old British monetary term which was in common use until after World War II. One guinea was £1.1.0 (one pound one shilling or twenty-one shillings).

It was common for English and Scottish employees who had signed a contract to receive part of their wages in advance of travel. Normally up to half the first year’s salary could be paid in advance. Some French Canadian voyageurs received part of their wages as money up front, clothing, or equipment and supplies. Other occupations allowed men to receive goods in addition to annual wages. Sometimes the contracts refer to specific measurements, such as:

  • lbs = pounds (mass)
  • Cwt = hundredweight or 112 lbs
  • ¼ cwt = 28 lbs
  • Keg = 56 lbs

French Canadian employees were more likely to carry a debt reported in their new contracts. This debt would be carried from one contract to another, and the amount of money deducted from the employee’s wages would often be written in pencil at the back of the latest contract.

During the period of the contract it was customary for employees to be paid by a credit note recorded in the account ledger. Debit notes on the opposite page would record the amount of goods purchased during each year. The balance at the end of the contract was given to each employee. In addition to an agreed annual wage there were benefits such as board and lodging and an allowance for tea and sugar. Some contracts carry an agreement written in the margin allowing the employee to settle in the country with a grant of land. Employees would be required to complete the full term of the contract (usually five years) before the grant was made to them.

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