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About Acheson Irvine
- Acheson Gosford Irvine, ISO (December 7, 1837 – January 8, 1916) served as Commissioner of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) from November 1, 1880, to March 31, 1886. Irvine was born in Lower Canada in 1837, the son of John George Irvine, a captain in the Royal Quebec volunteers.
- Acheson became Assistant Commissioner of the North-West Mounted Police in 1876, and was promoted to commissioner in 1880.
- Irvine was involved with the events of the North-West Rebellion of 1885.
- On March 17, 1885, Irvine received a telegraph from Superintendent Leif Crozier that there was trouble near Fort Carlton and reinforcements were required.
- On March 18, Irvine left Regina, Assiniboia, with 100 men, arriving in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, on March 25.
- On March 26, Irvine set out for Fort Carlton with 83 police and 25 civilian volunteers.
- Shortly before his arrival there, a skirmish took place at Duck Lake, outside Batoche, between the existing NWMP forces, led by Crozier, and a group of Métis and Indians led by Gabriel Dumont, with the NWMP coming off worst.
- On March 27, the day after his arrival, Irvine concluded that Fort Carlton was indefensible and pulled the troops out, returning to Prince Albert.
- The troops returned to Prince Albert unharmed, but Fort Carlton burnt to the ground during the evacuation.
- Irvine was publicly censured by General Middleton for not attacking Batoche. Acheson Irvine also served as a member of the executive council of the North-West Territories from 1882 to 1886.
- Following his retirement in 1886, he became warden of the Stony Mountain Penitentiary in Manitoba.
- He was awarded the Imperial Service Order in 1902. In 1945, an RCMP Commissioner-Class ship was named after him.
- The patrol vessel Irvine (originally named HMCS Noranda) had started off life as a Bangor-class minesweeper in the Royal Canadian Navy.
- In 1962 the RCMP sold the ship, which was converted to a yacht, the Miriana; she sank at Montego Bay, Jamaica in May 1971.
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