Andrew remained in Europe, inherited his father's estates and set up as a sugar broker (Wedderburn and Company). When his brother-in-law began buying into the
Hudson's Bay Company, Andrew followed suit. By 1810, he was on the HBC board, and worked to rationalize the company's administration. In 1820, he was largely responsible for sending out
Sir George Simpson to take charge of HBC affairs in North America. During Simpson's long administration (1821–1860) the two worked closely together, one in London business circles and the other in the wilds of
Rupert’s Land, which eventually became western Canada. After the
Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, Andrew was one of the first plantation owners to develop indentured labour schemes to take workers from India to the British Caribbean. In January 1838, the wooden sailing ship
Whitby left Calcutta carrying 246 workers for Colvile and Davidson's, Barkly & Company. The ship arrived in British Guiana in May 1838. Workers were assigned to different estates for five years. Andrew brought 78 men, two women and two girls from Calcutta to work on his Bellevue planation under an indenture of 5 years. Within a year of arriving at Colvile's Bellevue plantation, one of the children had reportedly died after being raped, and 12 of the men were dead (15 men died according to other reports). In 1839, the
British Emancipator and
John Scoble (of the
Anti-Slavery Society) reported cases of sickness and abuse at Colvile's Bellevue estate. Workers were reported to have been poorly treated, and the case became an example for abolitionists and humanitarians who argued that the indenture system was little better than slavery. In self-defence, Colvile reported that most of the coolies who died at Bellevue were elderly men. Though 1838 accounts still describe the estate as his, Bellevue was not listed in his will among properties still held by Colvile at his death. == Marriages and children ==