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Imbert Orchard fonds Esquimalt (B.C.)
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Eva Gillan interview

PERIOD COVERED: ;1912;-;1920 RECORDED: Victoria (B.C.), 1962-03-30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: In an interview with Imbert Orchard, Mrs. Eva Gillan speaks about her arrival in Victoria from England in 1912, and her first impressions. She is a well known singer under her maiden name, Eva Hart, and talks about the Empress Hotel, music and entertainment. She discusses the "Englishness" of Victoria; tourism; prominent families; the Pemberton family; the Pooley family; the Dunsmuir family; the Barnard family; local Indians; the Chinese; Esquimalt; Vancouver and the real estate boom. Grace L. Shaw continues the interview (for a radio program on the history of theatre in Canada). Mrs. Gillan talks about her musical career; theatrical life in Victoria in 1912; Reginald Hincks; the opening of the Royal Theatre; and various performances. Grace Shaw's interview with Mrs. Gillan is continued on tape T1301:0001. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Hamilton Smith interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1962-03-27 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Smith talks about his father's Victoria hardtack business; May 24 celebrations in Esquimalt; visit of the Lord Dufferin; his father's bakery supplies for the Royal Navy and the Hudson's B;ay Company; his father's sealing schooner, the "Kate"; Victoria then and now; his father's early life in the Cariboo and Victoria; MacDonald's Bank; Hamilton Smith's biscuit factory in Vancouver; Mooney's Biscuit Co.; impressions of Amor De Cosmos; the Douglas family; Mayor Harris; Cariboo miners in Victoria; and his father's creation of special dog biscuits for the Klondike gold rush. [TRACK 2: ;blank.]

John Quinn Gillan interview

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Military life in Esquimalt, B.C. PERIOD COVERED: 1907-1914 RECORDED: Victoria (B.C.), 1962-03-30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: This tape begins with brief comments by Eva Gillan (nee Eva Hart), about her theatrical career; this is the conclusion of an interview by Grace Shaw, continued from T1302:0001. The tape continues with Imbert Orchard's interview of Colonel John Quinn Gillan. He recalls his arrival in Esquimalt as a British soldier in 1907; the army in the Victoria area prior to World War I; a 1914 incident; concerning the coastal defense guns; and the Canadian Navy. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Living memory : Days of the Royal Navy

SUMMARY: This program is a collection of memories about the Royal Navy, and the prominent part it played in the life of Victoria from the 1850s to 1910. Voices heard include: Mrs. Madge Muskett, Mrs. Hood, Mr. Hiscocks, and Major Monteith.

Living memory : series 3 : Victoria in living memory

The sub-series consists of episodes from the third series of "Living Memory", a CBC Vancouver radio program about people and places in British Columbia history, based on oral history interviews recorded by Imbert Orchard. Four series aired from 1961 to 1964. The third series, broadcast from July 6 to September 28, 1962, dealt with early days in Victoria, and was produced to mark the city's centennial.

Madge Muskett interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1962-03-29 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Muskett, granddaughter of Sir Henry Crease, talks about her girlhood in Esquimalt; Constance Cottage; the village of Esquimalt; growing up in Victoria; summer camping; the Royal Navy; her grandfather, Sir Henry Crease; impressions of Victoria and Esquimalt; Victoria today; childhood; Christmas celebrations; the smallpox epidemic; Indians; her husband's school, the Collegiate; and yacht and canoe races during May 24 celebrations. TRACK 2: Mrs. Muskett recalls a typical day in her grandfather's house, "Pentrelew"; meals; the Crease family; appearance of the house; life in the house; ladies calling days; and the bathroom.

Major George Sissman interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Major George Sissman (88 years old) describes coming to Victoria in 1903 on transfer from Halifax while in the British Army, life in the Army, his first impressions of Esquimalt, social life, his duties as a clerk, more on social life among officers, how Esquimalt declined when the British ships left in 1906 leaving only one ship behind, changes in Victoria over time, and a story about a murdered officer. [TRACK 2: Blank.]

Maxwell Kirkpatrick-Crockett interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1962-05-18 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Major Maxwell Kirkpatrick-Crockett talks about his arrival in Vancouver in 1911; early jobs in Vancouver; work in Victoria; Arthur Currie; commission with the Fifth Regiment; Victoria at the; outbreak of World War I; coast defense batteries at Esquimalt in 1914; the affair of the "BC submarines"; fear of coastal attacks; state of coast defenses; the 5th Regiment sent to Nanaimo because of rioting [i.e., striking] coal miners; the damage at Extension. TRACK 2: Major Kirkpatrick-Crockett continues speaking about incidents at Extension; Ladysmith; German interest in British Columbia in; 1914; [von] Alvensleben; anti-German feeling; history of St. John's Church; Victoria; Christ Church; Bishop Hills; Reverend Cridge and conditions in Victoria after World War I; work in the Victoria Machinery Depot and for the City of Victoria.

Muir interview

CALL NUMBER: T0639:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Muir discusses how sailors would dock at Esquimalt in 1903 including the clothes they wore and dances they did, the music the sailors played on the streets of Victoria, more on the sailors, his father (Archie Muir) who was the first engineer at the dry dock, packing fish in the old days, what the old dry dock was like including activities there in 1887, the native boys while he was in school, the children of Naval officers, more on what life was like, his work in a machine shop in 1900, what the inside of a store in Esquimalt was like, and more on early Victoria. TRACK 2: Muir continues by describing what shops were like including the wooden floors and the card tables in the bars, how there were no civilians in the Navy yard, submarines in Esquimalt, using guns at the shooting range, Rev. Sharpe, and parties that the Germans gave, including the instruments used.

CALL NUMBER: T0639:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Muir RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Muir discusses how Englishmen always got work because they came so far, and several anecdotes about incidents with fishermen at the dock. [TRACK 2: Blank.]

Robert Hiscocks interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-01-17 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Robert H. Hiscocks discusses: early days in Victoria; the Chinook jargon; school days; athletics; May 24 celebrations; Esquimalt Harbour; the Royal Navy; summer camping in Esquimalt Harbour; ;teasing the Chinese; Indians; Sir Richard McBride; politics; Johnson Street pubs; the chain gang; and his views on tourism in Victoria. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Roberta E. Robertson interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1962-05-16 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Robertson recalls the James Bay area in the 1870s and 1880s; the causeway; the chain gang; her father, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Wolfenden; his arrival with the Royal Engineers; his work as King's Printer; his rifle shooting awards; the family home in James Bay; the founding of the Fifth Regiment; her first husband, Charlie Innes; her first home in Esquimalt and her later life. She talks about her early life; living conditions; black residents; Sir James Douglas and his family; Judge Crease; Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie; the Chinese; the Royal Navy and a childhood incident. TRACK 2: Mrs. Robertson continues with her recollections of the Carr family; Emily Carr's character; and childhood incidents.

Roger Monteith interview

CALL NUMBER: T1287:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1962-03 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Major Roger Monteith recalls early Victoria from the 1890s; he talks about streets; stores; cabbies; saloons; Christmastime; banks; Robert Service; Indians; Chinese peddlers and Chinatown. TRACK 2: Major Monteith continues with recollections about life in Victoria of the 1890s. He talks about the Chinese lotteries; Chinese New Year; lack of vandalism; local amusements; the causeway; th;e harbour; wholesalers; the Klondike gold rush as it affected Victoria; survey parties; Robert Flaherty; Royal Navy; Esquimalt; Navy regattas and balls; and his boyhood adventures in Victoria.;

CALL NUMBER: T1287:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1962-03 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Major Monteith continues with his recollections about his boyhood adventures; family recreations; picnics on the Gorge and Cadboro Bay; sports; horse racing; May 24 celebrations; summer camping; schooling; unusual characters; Bill Nye; Warburton Pike; the sealing fleet; sailing ships and Victoria today. TRACK 2: Major Monteith continues with his discussion about the characteristics of ;Victoria; changes; arrival of foreigners; beer parlors instead of pubs; and the influence of San Francisco in the older days.;

W.L.B. Young interview

CALL NUMBER: T1314:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1962-03-28 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. "Lewie" Young recalls early memories of Victoria; the visit of the Marquis of Lorne; early schooling; May 24 celebrations; the James Bay Athletic Association; the Gorge regatta; sailors o;f the Royal Navy; saloons; hack stands; express wagons; stores; Wharf Street; Government Street; Yates Street; the chain gang; steamers to New Westminster and Yale; water transportation to San Francis;co and Washington State; Esquimalt; the Skinner farm; Royal Roads; Roland Stewart; Hatley Park; the sealing fleet; his father coming out with the ship called the "Ashelstan" that carried St. John's Ir;on Church; his mother's arrival in 1859; recollections of Lady Douglas; Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie; Harry Wootton; Mayor Fell and Mayor Harris. TRACK 2: Mr. Young continues with his recollections ab;out Richard McBride; Walter Engelhardt; politics; the Davie family; the smallpox epidemic; the depression in the 1890s; the Klondike gold rush; Victoria today; changes in Victoria; beginnings of the James Bay Athletic Association; the famous four-oared crew; fishing and hunting in Saanich; swimming at the outer wharf; the Chinook language.

CALL NUMBER: T1314:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1962-03-28 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Young sings a Chinook song; talks about living at Port Essington; the Peter Herman cannery; canneries along the Skeena; Cunningham Cannery and Wiggs O'Neill. [TRACK 2: blank.]