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Archival description
Only top-level descriptions British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General
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Records pertaining to Indian lands

  • GR-0200
  • Series
  • 1763; 1859-1870 [photocopied 1976]

The series consists of certified copies of records pertaining to Indian lands obtained by the Dept. of the Attorney-General in 1976 from the Public Record Office, London.

It includes selected page copies of proclamations (PC 2/110), correspondence, and despatches (C.O.5/65, C.O.42/24 and C.O.398) from successive Secretaries of State to the Governor of British Columbia pertaining to Indian lands and Crown lands in North America as well as British Columbia.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

Attorney General document series

  • GR-0419
  • Series
  • 1857-1966

The Attorney-General Document series consists mainly of transcripts of depositions and preliminary hearings and trials, forwarded to the Attorney-General and numbered consecutively by year they were filed. Registers and indexes (volumes 879 to 885) are available on microfilm reel B00395.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

Indexes to letters received

  • GR-0981
  • Series
  • 1858-1864

This series consists of two volumes of indexes recording correspondence inward to the Colony of British Columbia Department of Lands and Works. The indexes were used to track the receipt of incoming correspondence and reports.

Volume 1 is titled "Index to letters received" and covers the years 1858 to 1864. The index is arranged by the sender, then chronologically. This includes sections for miscellaneous correspondence and reports and correspondence from Boards of Survey, Courts of Enquiry, the Governor, the Attorney-General, the Assistant Commissioners of Lands and Works, Gold Commissioners, and to letters from the Royal Engineers or Military. Some sections are missing: Military (p. 26-33), Captain J.M. Grant R.E. (p. 37-44), Captain R.M. Parsons (p. 45-50), Boards of Survey (p. 51-52), and Courts of Enquiry (p. 52-54).

Volume 2 indexes letters received by the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works and covers 1858-1863. Items in this volume are also arranged by sender, then chronologically. However they only include sections for: the Governor; Captain Gosset of the Royal Engineers; Treasurer; Chartres Brew, Acting Treasurer; and HPP Crease, Attorney General. Most of the entries in volume 2 duplicate the contents of volume 1. Thus, this partial volume may have been used as a reference copy.

British Columbia (Colony). Lands and Works Dept.

Drafts of proclamations, ordinances, acts, bills

  • GR-0673
  • Series
  • 1858-1910

This series consists of drafts of proclamations, ordinances, acts, and bills, 1858-1910. Records created before 1871 were created by the Attorney-General of the Colony of British Columbia, and possibly by the Attorney-General for the Colony of Vancouver Island. Records created after 1871 were created by the Department of the Attorney-General for the Province in British Columbia.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

Victoria Gaol records

  • GR-0308
  • Series
  • 1859-1914

This series consists of the records of the Victoria Gaol, 1859-1914. The 107 volumes include lists of prisoners, descriptions of prisoners, sentence books, work records, charge books, employment registers, registers of clothing issued, reports of prisoners' conduct, punishment books, gaolers' reports, duty rosters and daily diaries, ration books, food account books, stores and provisions account books, financial records, doctors' record books, medical order books, receipts and 1875 correspondence from the Superintendent of Police.

Records have been grouped by subject matter, then arranged chronologically when possible. The groupings are as follows: Volumes 1 to 6, Lists of prisoners in Victoria gaol; Volumes 7 to 13, Description lists; Volumes 14 to 17, Sentence books; Volumes 18 to 22, Work records; Volumes 23 to 35, Charge books; Volumes 36 to 40, Prisoners conduct records; Volumes 41 to 107, Gaolers' records.

Victoria Gaol

Draft bills and other material regarding mining

  • GR-0675
  • Series
  • 1859-1871

This series consists of papers, mainly draft bills, regarding mining, 1859-1871. Records created before 1871 were created in the office of the Attorney-General of the Colony of British Columbia, and possibly the Attorney-General of the Colony of Vancouver Island, if the records relate to Vancouver Island and were created before 1866 when the two colonies merged. Records created in 1871 were created by the Attorney-General for the Province of British Columbia.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

Inquisitions/inquests

  • GR-1328
  • Series
  • 1859-1871

The series consists of copies of inquisitions and inquests selected and microfilmed from the Colonial Correspondence (GR-1372).
It includes inquisitions (inquests) conducted during the colonial period, including the following:

Vancouver Island (Colony), 1859 - 18 Nov 1866 numbered VI 1859/1 to VI 1866/4
British Columbia (Colony), 1859 - 18 Nov 1866 numbered BC 1859/1 to BC 1866
British Columbia (United Colony), 19 Nov 1866 - 20 Jul 1871 numbered BC 1866/2 to BC 1871/3

The files usually contain an inquisition form, which indicates the name of the deceased, the coroner's name, where the inquest was held, the date, names of the members of the coroner's jury and the cause of death.

These inquests were filed in the Colonial Correspondence under the name of the coroner or person conducting them. The indexing was incomplete and only those inquests held by persons whose last name begins with letters from A-M have been listed. It is not known whether this section of listings is complete.

To locate unindexed colonial inquests, researchers should look under the heading "deaths" in the index to miscellaneous correspondence inwards to the British Columbia Colonial Secretary, 1858-1863 (C/AB/30.lKl/l). Letters to which the index refers will be found in the Colonial Correspondence under the name of the author of the letter. Researchers should also look in indexes under the names of the Gold Commissioners, since they acted as coroners. Indexes of correspondence inward to the Colonial Secretary should be checked generally for references to deaths.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

Victoria Gaol employment registers

  • GR-0305
  • Series
  • 1861-1914

This series contains employment registers from the Victoria Gaol, 1861-1914. These volumes contain daily reports showing the prisoner's name, with or without labour, how/where employed and sometimes "remarks". The following Volumes are missing : 1 May 1900 - 16 Sep 1901 and 1 Feb 1903 - 14 Jun 1904. The final volume contains a notes that prisoners were transferred to Saanich Prison Farm on 12 Sep 1914.

Victoria Gaol

Inquisitions/inquests conducted by coroners

  • GR-1327
  • Series
  • [1862], 1872-1937

This series contains inquisitions and inquests conducted by coroners in British Columbia [1862], 1872-1937. To obtain the inquest number for inquests on reels B02374 to B02445, consult the contemporary indexes and registers. For indexes and registers see GR-0432.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

Legal opinions offered by Attorney General

  • GR-1459
  • Series
  • 1864-1879

This series contains legal opinions offered by Attorney General on a wide range of subjects. For more information on the subjects covered, please consult the attached finding aid.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

Attorney General correspondence to the Governor

  • GR-0752
  • Series
  • 1864-1870

This series consists of letters and copies of letters from the Colonial Attorney General to the Governor forwarding ordinances and commenting on bills and ordinances, 1864-1870.

British Columbia (Colony). Attorney-General

Coroner's inquiries/inquests

  • GR-0431
  • Series
  • 1865-1937

Inquisitions/inquests conducted by coroners in British Columbia and selected by archives staff for retention in their original formats. Most, if not all, of these Inquests also occur in GR-1327 and GR-1328.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

Bills and other material

  • GR-0556
  • Series
  • 1867-1868

This series consists of bills, draft ordinances, orders of the day and other working papers for the Legislative Council of the colony of British Columbia.

British Columbia. Legislative Council

Bills, orders and other material

  • GR-0674
  • Series
  • 1868-1872

This series consists of bills, draft bills, orders of the day, notes on debates, estimates, draft legislation, statutes, subject files and other records of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly, 1868-1872.

The first versions or drafts of a bill or act are known as the Blues version, after the blue paper used for the printing. The final version, printed by the Queen’s Printer, is on white paper. All blues versions will be identified as draft. Final versions will be noted at “Statute”.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

Selected Attorney-General correspondence inward

  • GR-0429
  • Series
  • 1872-1950, predominant 1872-1937

This series contains selected inward Department of the Attorney-General correspondence from 1872 to 1950, although most of the items date from 1872 to 1937. Records cover all aspects of work conducted by the Attorney General and discuss a wide variety of subject matter.

The department used several numbering and filling systems during this time period. From 1872 to 1911 letters were assigned a number as they were received, and then filed in numerical order by year. From 1911 to 1917 a subject file drawer system was used, and thereafter correspondence was coded and filed according to the Act which applied to the issue under discussion in the correspondence.

See the file list for descriptions of files or individual folios within the files.

The series is arranged into the following subseries:

-- Correspondence inward, 1872-1911
-- Reports on coal miners’ strike, 1912-1913
-- Memos and correspondence, 1899, 1912-1933, 1950
-- Correspondence regarding unemployment administration and communist activity (Attorney General Department file number L-125), 1930-1937

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

Registers and indexes to coroner's inquiries/inquests

  • GR-0432
  • Series
  • 1874-1937

This series consists of registers and indexes to coroners' inquiries and inquests, 1874-1937. In the registers (1889-1937), names are listed chronologically by year. In the indexes (1879-1937), names are arranged alphabetically by year.

Coroners' inquiries and inquests that are registered and indexed in this accession are held in GR-1327 and GR-1323.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

New Westminster Gaol records

  • GR-0309
  • Series
  • 1875-1917

This series consists of records of the New Westminster Goal, including prisoner description books, monthly lists of prisoners, and prisoners' effects books, 1875-1917.

Description books are a record and description list of all prisoners received into New Westminster Gaol, showing date, name, occupation, age, height, hair, eyes, complexion, religion, nationality, proportions, weight, peculiar marks, read and write, married or single, temperate or intemperate, offence, sentence number of convictions and remarks.

Return of Prisoners confined in New Westminster Gaol are lists arranged by month showing prisoner number and name, offence or charge, date of trial, when received in gaol, where and by whom tried, sentence, religion, nationality, whether can read or write, date of discharge, conduct, occupation in gaol, and remarks.

Prisoners' effects books show date, name, property, officer, remarks, charge and sentence.

Records are arranged chronologically by type of record.

New Westminster Gaol

Records of the Attorney-General’s office

  • GR-3775
  • Series
  • 1876-1894

This series contains several draft documents and letters, the majority of which appear to have originated from the office of Theodore Davie, Attorney General of British Columbia from 1889 to 1892.
The records cover a diverse range of topics and do not appear to be arranged in any specific order. The majority of documents appear to be drafts of court documents or correspondence, many of which are hand-written or have hand-written annotations and corrections. There are also copies of pamphlets, published reports of select committees (court proceedings) and papers related to various Supreme Court of British Columbia cases.
Many of the records in this series appear to be related to matters of transportation, health, new legislation and legal cases in the Supreme Court. At least four files are related to railway or ferry transportation subsidies in the province and include indentures or other agreements between the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works and the Kootenay Valley Company, the Canadian Pacific Railway, James Uren of the Savona Ferry, the Victoria and Sidney Railway Company, the Alberta and British Columbia Exploration Company Ltd, Nakusp & Slocan Railway Company and the Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway.
Records related to health issues can be found in at least two files and mainly concern legislation around preventing the spread of smallpox including the appointment of Health Officers, the appointment of a commission to investigate outbreaks of smallpox, and mandatory vaccination. There are also letters and pamphlets sent to Chief Justice Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie from anti-vaccinators asking to repeal compulsory vaccination.
Drafts for new legislation and orders in council submitted by the President Executive Council can be found in at least three files and relate to welfare for new settler families arriving in BC from Scotland to work in the fishing industry (Crofter Settlement Act, 1892), education including the establishment of the University of British Columbia (British Columbia University Amendment Act), the census, amendments to city limits, appointments of public servants, issues around expenditures (Royal Commission for Investigating the Municipal Management of the City of Victoria), the alleged hostility of the Chilcotin, and the amendments or new drafts of the Act of Incorporation, the Court Act, the Juror’s Act, the Land Registry Act, The Magistrate’s Act, An Act to enable the Lieutenant Governor in Council to establish courts of revision from cities of the Province, the Municipal Act, The Land Agents Regulation Act, The British Columbia Railway Act, an Act respecting the unauthorized use of the provincial coat of arms, the Constitution Act, and the Mining Partnerships Act among other legislation.
There is also a significant amount of draft records related to legal proceedings in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. These include cases such as John Nicholson Muir vs. the Queen, the Queen vs J.D. Demers and Numa Demers, The Esquimalt Graving Dock Contract case, the Attack on Funeral Procession of Ellis Roberts case regarding hostilities between union and non-union miners, Horace S. Shepard vs. Samuel Maxwell regarding revenue taxes, and Cooley et al. vs. Fitzstubbs regarding rights to mining plots.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

Richfield : Assize calendar, Sept 1878

  • GR-4110
  • Series
  • 9 Sep 1878

Series consists of one Richfield Assize calendar for September 9, 1878.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

Selected Attorney-General correspondence inward

  • GR-0996
  • Series
  • 1883-1888

This series contains selected correspondence inward received by the Attorney General from 1883 to 1888, and was originally part of an inward correspondence series created by the Attorney General’s Department. The bulk of the surviving inward correspondence from 1872 to 1937 may be found in GR-0429. Records in this series include correspondence inward, notes regarding cases and assize calendars.

The Attorney General’s Department used several numbering and filing systems during this time period; from 1872 to 1911 letters were assigned a number as they were received, and then filed in numerical order by year. There is no contemporary index for letters inward prior to 1911.

Although the items of correspondence from 1872 to 1911 were assigned numbers sequentially, the original order was not always maintained while the records were in the Attorney-General’s Department. This means that the items are no longer in strict numerical order within a year, and items relating to a single topic may sometimes be found together, regardless of the date when they were first received.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

Correspondence regarding Skeena River uprising

  • GR-0677
  • Series
  • 1888

This series consists of a transcript of correspondence in and out regarding the Skeena River uprising, 1888.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

Warden's diaries

  • GR-0002
  • Series
  • 1893-1899

The series consists of three volumes of Victoria Gaol Warden's diaries dated 1893, 1896 and 1899.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

Nanaimo Gaol records

  • GR-0310
  • Series
  • 1893-1914

This series consists of records of the Provincial Gaol at Nanaimo mostly between 1911 and 1914. Volumes include a list of prisoners, 1893-1911, charge and sentence book, 1911-1914, prisoners' sentence book, prisoners' description book, prisoners' employment book, prisoners' effects book, list of provisions and stores, Gaoler's testimonials at Nanaimo Gaol, 1911-1914 and at the Saanich Prison Farm 1914-1917, punishment book, prisoners' keep account book, gaoler's diary 1911, food account books, an indexed letterpress book of correspondence outward from the Warden J. Munro and a daily minute book of admissions, discharges, calls, visitors, church services, etc.

Nanaimo Gaol

Telegrams to Superintendent of Provincial Police

  • GR-0065
  • Series
  • 1896-1906

The series consists of three volumes of telegrams to the Superintendent of Police, from 1896-1897, and 1900-1906. They are arranged alphabetically within chronological groupings.

British Columbia. Superintendent of Police

Superintendent of Provincial Police correspondence outward

  • GR-0064
  • Series
  • 1898-1918

The series consists of 12 volumes of correspondence from the Superintendent of Provincial Police outward to Attorney General. The records were created between December 1898 and April 1918 and are letterpress copies. There are subject indexes at the start of each volume.

British Columbia. Superintendent of Police

Superintendent of Provincial Police correspondence inward

  • GR-0063
  • Series
  • 1898-1912

The series consists of correspondence from the Dept. of the Attorney-General to the Superintendent of Police between October 1898 and August 1912.

British Columbia. Superintendent of Police

Index to Attorney-General correspondence inward

  • GR-1324
  • Series
  • 1901-1937, predominant 1911-1919

The series consists of a subject index to Department of Attorney-General correspondence inward found within GR-1323. The index is primarily for the years 1911-1919, although there are some entries as early as 1901 and as late as 1937.

Between 1911-1919, each year has a separate index arranged by subject (also known as 'boxes' or 'drawers'). Within each subject, entries are arranged chronologically. Note that the year is marked on only the first page of each index. The series also includes descriptions of the 1919-1937 filing system, listing the acts, sub-headings, and file code numbers used. Though specific correspondence are not listed here, it is possible to use this index to estimate where records might appear within the correspondence (GR-1323).

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

Guides and indexes to correspondence

  • GR-0702
  • Series
  • 1902-1937

This series consists of guides and indexes to correspondence from the Department of the Attorney General. Records include a subject index, 1911-1918; a guide to filing system, 1902-1911, including index to subject drawers; a guide to filing system, 1919-1924; and a guide to filing system, 1925-1937.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

Attorney-General correspondence

  • GR-1323
  • Series
  • 1902-1937

This series contains correspondence files, inward and outward, covering all topics for which the Attorney General was responsible, including legislation and opinions to other departments. During this period, Attorney General responsibilities included industrial schools, motor vehicles, Liquor Control Board, Game Commissioner, Inspector of Municipalities, Registrar of Companies, Inspector of Factories, Inspector of Electrical Energy and Inspector of Tramways.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General

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