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Caroline Woodward was a researcher

Gwladys (Gladys) Woodward was born in 1885 in Gloucester England. She moved to Victoria in 1887 with the rest of the Woodward family.

Woodward was an artist and an active member of the Island Arts and Crafts Society, participating in group exhibitions between 1910 and 1943. She also offered watercolour classes in the Victoria Times Colonist in 1928. She was one of a number of signatories to boycott the National Gallery of Canada in 1932 because of existing exhibition and purchase policies related to Canadian artists.

Gwladys Woodward is buried at Ross Bay Cemetery.

Andrew Donald Wooler was a prospector in Princeton, B.C. He was born July 15, 1861 in Quebec and was of Scottish decent. He died January 3, 1941 of influenza in Princeton, B.C.

The Woolacott family lived in Victoria, B.C.

Stephen Wootton was Registrar-General of Titles and stipendiary magistrate at Port Simpson and Metlakatla.

John Work was a fur trader for the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). His trading took him around western Canada and the west of the US, particularly the Washington and Oregon area as well as the coast of British Columbia.

Work was born in Ireland in 1792 and was the eldest of six children. His last name was originally spelled “Wark” but was anglicized when he joined the HBC. His career began in 1814 as a writer for the HBC at Stromness in the Orkney Islands. Work was then posted to York Factory and changed job positions and locations in Upper Canada until 1823.

In 1823, Work was assigned to the Columbia District and he left York Factory with eight men in the charge of Peter Ogden. Work followed a HBC trade path along the Athabasca River to the Columbia River and then further down to the Spokane House. Operating from that area had Work traveling and trading around Fort George, the Fraser River, and the Columbia River. Work took over the charge of the Spokane House after his predecessor retired and was instructed to build a new post at Kettle Falls (named Fort Colvile). From 1825-1826 Work went on trade expeditions in the Flathead Country and supervised the construction of Fort Colvile. For the next four years, until 1830, Work lived primarily in Colvile while going on trading expeditions or acquiring horses along the Snake River for New Caledonia (now British Columbia) and Fort Vancouver (now Vancouver, Washington).

Peter Ogden appointed Work as his successor at the Snake country brigade in 1830, and until 1832 Work traveled on trading expeditions around Salmon River, the Flathead country area, and the Snake Country area. The expeditions proved to be dangerous due to the fierce Blackfeet tribe and difficult due the competition of the American traders.

Work left on an expedition to the Bonaventura (Sacramento) Valley of Mexican California in 1832. The expedition was difficult because of the competition from an American party led by Michel Laframboise and hostile First Nations tribes. After cooperating with Laframboise out of necessity, Work returned to Fort Vancouver in 1833 with disappointing profits. The next year, Work sailed north to the developing Fort Simpson where he took charge from Ogden of the coasting trade. After the completion of Fort Simpson, Work continued trading and travelling around the coast of New Caledonia (now British Columbia), Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands. Fort Simpson became Work’s new permanent residence from 1836-1846.

In 1849, after three years of deliberation, the Council of the Northern Department finalized the placement of the Columbia Department into the hands of Work, James Douglas, and Ogden as the chief factors. Work’s travels continued in 1850 when he went north to establish Fort Rupert. Work investigated the Queen Charlotte Islands where there were reports of discovering of gold, but his party found none. However, in 1851 Work crossed Fort Simpson and found gold which cause a small rush in 1852. In the same year Work purchased a large amount of land near Fort Victoria and built a mansion called Hillside. He became the largest land holder on Vancouver Island and was a member of the Legislative Council of Vancouver Island. Work also remained a chief factor of the HBC and he and Douglas acted as trusties for the HBC Fur Trade Branch.

In 1825, Governor Simpson and McLoughlin had encouraged Work to marry the daughter of a chief of the Cayuse Indians to secure protection for the company brigade, but Work was not interested. Instead he married Josette Legacé, a Spokane woman of mixed blood. She often accompanied Work on his expeditions and together they had 10 children, the youngest born in 1854.
Work passed away in 1861.

The Workmen's Compensation Board was established in 1917 and became the Workers' Compensation Board of British Columbia in 1974.

Established in 1898, W.R. Menchions and Company was a shipbuilding firm located in Vancouver's Coal Harbour. The company earned a reputation as a builder of deep sea fishing boats, tugs, yachts and patrol boats.

William R . Menchions (Apr 11 1871 - Aug 8 1946) appears as a carpenter in 1905, and from 1909 to 1911 he worked as a boat builder for Easthope Brothers at 1717 Georgia. In 1912 he is listed on his own as a boat builder at 1705 Georgia. In 1939 the address was altered to 650 Cardero Street (West Georgia) . In 1941 the firm became W .R . Menchions Co . Ltd ., with William R . Menchions as president .

William Walter [i.e. Walker] Wrathall worked as a telegraph operator and in 1908 opened a photography business in Hazelton, BC. The Wrathall family moved to Prince Rupert in 1912, and William became the patriarch of the Wrathall photographic family, preeminent photographers of Prince Rupert and the region. John (Jack) Richmond Wrathall and his sister co-owner Vivian Comadina carried on the family business in 1948 as Wrathall Photo Finishing Ltd. William died April 11, 1957 at the age of 72 years.

Charles Wren was a farmer from the Red River region who married Elizabeth Ross (d. 1859) and Mary Amelia Ross, daughters of Hudson's Bay Company official Charles Ross (d. 1844). The Wren family children included Anne (b. 1848) who married George Daugherty, and Isabella, who became involved with the Ladies of the Macabees of the World. In addition to living in the Red River area, the family also moved to the Fort Nisqually area, Victoria, and Roy, Washington.

Amos Wright was a resident of Ontario whose brother, Jesse Hussard Wright, was a miner in the Cariboo.

C.C. Wright was a photographer who helped to produce commercial postcards.

John Andre Wright was born in Saskatchewan and came to British Columbia on surveying parties around the Columbia River.

Jonathon Wolfrid Wurtele joined the Royal Northwest Mounted Police in 1879 as a constable. He was assigned to Wood Mountain Post, a sub-post of Fort Walsh, in present-day Saskatchewan. Wurtele left the RNWMP in June 1881.

Horace Graham Wyatt was born in Chichester, Sussex, England, in 1878. He was educated at St. John's College, Oxford and taught in England for two years. From 1905 to 1924 he served as an educator in India. He left India in 1924 and moved to California where he worked as both student and lecturer at Stanford and later taught at other west coast universities. In 1935 he retired to Victoria. There he was active in the John Howard Society, serving for a time as their secretary. He was also a member of the Victoria Branch of the United Nations Association and the Canadian Institute for International Affairs. His published works include Crime in Canada and the War, and The Tale of the Bounty. He has also written several tracts which explore the traditional religions (particularly orthodox Christianity) and the theoretical foundations of modern philosophy. Wyatt died on July 31, 1971.