Both the manor and the schoolhouse were part of a settlement known as Craigflower Farm, which was one of Western Canada's first farming communities. Established in 1853 by the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, a subsidiary of the Hudson's Bay Company, the farm was to supply fresh produce to the nearby Fort Victoria, and to aid in settlement of lower Vancouver Island. The farm was named after Craigflower Farm in England which was owned by Andrew Colville, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company from 1852 to 1856. The land for the farm, was purchased from the Esquimalt First Nation (recorded as the "Kosapsom" on the treaty) in 1850, who relocated nearby.