TRUTCH, Joseph William, Canadian statesman, born in Bath, England, 18 January, 1826. He was educated at Exeter, England, studied civil engineering under Sir John Rennie, removed to the Pacific coast in 1849, and till 1856 practised as a civil engineer in California and Oregon. He was subsequently assistant engineer on the Illinois and Michigan canal, and on the Illinois river improvement. In 1859 he removed to Victoria, British Columbia, and till 1864 was employed in the construction of public works for the colony. Chief among these were the section through the canon of Fraser river, and the Grand Trunk railroad from Yale to Cariboo, including the Alexandria suspension-bridge over Fraser river, He was chief commissioner of lands and works and surveyor-general of British Columbia, and a member ex officio of the executive and legislative councils from 1864 till 1871, when British Columbia entered the Dominion. He was a delegate to Ottawa in 1870 to confer with the government of Canada as to the terms upon which British Columbia could enter the confederation, and in 1871 to Ottawa and London to settle finally the details of the arrangements for the union. Mr. Trutch was appointed, 5 July, 1871, lieutenant-governor of British Columbia, and on 9 December, 1879, he became resident agent of the Canadian government in British Columbia. In 187'7 he was appointed a companion of the order of St. Michael and St. George.