Theodore Davie, British Columbia Premier, Married Child Bride
It’s not a name that readily comes to mind these days but there was a time when Theodore Davie was not only prominent in the Cowichan Valley but throughout British Columbia. That’s when (July 1892-March 1895) Theodore Davie was our provincial premier and one of a remarkable pioneer family. This remarkable Davies’ Cowichan connection began with the arrival from Surrey, England of Dr. John Chapman Davie and four sons, Alexander, John Jr., William and Horace. Mrs. Davie, a daughter and youngest son Theodore remained in the Old Country while he established a practice in Victoria at the corner of Government and Bastion streets. Attracted to the Cowichan Valley, Dr. Davie repeatedly braved wilderness trails on horseback in search for land for William and Horace. He finally settled on 200 acres at Somenos, between Duncan and Westholme.. But farming didn’t...
Read MoreErnest C. Manning: British Columbia’s chief forester, ‘Father of Conservation’
A coincidence awaits you should you research onetime British Columbia chief forester Ernest C. Manning, for whom Manning Provincial Park is named. The coincidence is that he used his middle initial for Callaway so if you Google Ernest C. Manning, you’ll find that site is dominated by the late Alberta premier of the same name and initial, and no relation. For the man of our quest there are but two sites, both of which require paid access. Let’s stick with B.C.’s Mr. Manning, 1890-1941, who’s regarded as the Father of B.C. Conservation. If conservation sounds like a contradiction for a forester, read on. After graduating from the University of Toronto he worked for the CPR’s land resource department, covering much of the East Kootenay region in all kinds of weather as a timber cruiser until he joined the Dominion...
Read MoreBritish Columbia Had Its Own Wild West
‘A worse set of cut-throats and all-round scoundrels than those who flocked to Yale from all parts of the world never assembled anywhere…’—D.W. Higgins Little did I realize when growing up in Victoria on American comic books, American movies and American magazines–in other words, American history–that the Wild West that so enthralled me and my friends had occurred right here in British Columbia. Almost underfoot, really. That was in 1858 when, almost overnight, Victoria became a tent city, its few hundred permanent residents literally overwhelmed by between 10- and 20,000 fortune seekers passing through on their way to the sandbars of the Fraser River. Did I say that staid Victoria, known up until the 1960s as a little bit of olde England, as a cemetery with a business section where they rolled up the sidewalks at 9:00 p.m., was...
Read MoreDr. C.E. Hart, Victoria’s First Coroner, Had City’s First Auto
A history-making medical practice which had spanned more than 60 years came to a close in October 1960 when Dr. and Col. Edward Charles Hart, CMG, MD, CM, FACS and Victoria coroner, died at the age of 90. Did I say history-making? This amazing Nova Scotian served as Victoria’s coroner for more than half a century. For no fewer than 56 years, Dr. E.C. Hart had served as Victoria’s coroner–one of the longest holders of this office in provincial history. This was by no means the first time that Dr. E.C. Hart made history, many remembering him for being, perhaps, the first in Victoria to own a ‘horseless carriage.’ Setting records, in fact, seems to have been almost commonplace for the remarkable Dr. Hart. Three Victorians who had good reason to know this was true were his son, Edward...
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