Showing 248 results

Series consists of judgements created between November 1880 and October 1977 by the Victoria Supreme Court. Orders are the formal expression of the ruling of the court and judgements are the final orders issued in a case. Early records relate to a variety of matters, including adoption and divorce. Records after 1958 primarily relate to financial matters such as damages, costs, payments, bankruptcy recovery, and divorce costs and maintenance. Original textual records up to the end of 1958 appear to have been destroyed after microfilming; retrieve those records using microfilm.

Records are arranged by volume and folio number as assigned by the court registry. The records were scheduled for full retention under Court Services ORCS (schedule 100152) 51400-25.

Index to judgments, Jan. 1, 1885 - Nov. 1, 1895. The judgments and the preceding index are found in GR-1590.

The fonds notably consists of military-related content from the early 1900s until the 1940s. Pre-WW1 photographs include a limited amount of photographs relating to the Canadian Militia. Photographs taken during the First World War including most departures of troops by ship from Victoria and other departures by train from Vancouver and Vernon. There are also images of numerous B.C. training camps which cover topics from training exercises, inspections, mascots and portraiture. For material covering the inter-war and Second World War, images are predominantly of ceremonies, visiting military dignitaries as well as of graduations and groups of soldiers who trained at the Officer’s Training Centre in Gordon Head. There are also photographs of the Women’s Army Corps and of various legions following the end of World War II.
The next largest group of photographs is a collection of city views, natural landscapes and other tourist-centric photography which Crocker used to make postcards which he sold. These cover large Canadian cities but also various stops along the CPR route through the Rocky Mountains, as well as other locations on Vancouver Island, across BC and down the west coast of the United States and even Mexico.
Other potential series in the Ernest Crocker fonds include portraiture, tableaux vivants, Royal Visits, celebrations and parades, and sporting events.
Also included is some ephemera, Trio postcards, correspondence, sales receipts, and an embossed seal with the Trio stamp.

The collection is presently arranged by size and to some extent format. Containers are not organized by date nor by topic and appear to be mixed throughout the collection. The majority of photographic records appear to have been created in Victoria and the surrounding area, with additional photographic records covering Vancouver Island, the British Columbia Interior, Winnipeg, Toronto, London UK, California, U.S.A., and Mexico.

Series consists of divorce case files created between 1940 and 1949 by the Victoria Supreme Court registry. Orders have been removed from this series and are filed separately as GR-1587. Typical divorce case files can include petitions, affidavits, summons, correspondence and other records relating to the case.

Records are arranged by case file numbers, which were assigned chronologically by the court registry and include the year a divorce was initiated. The records were scheduled for full retention under Court Services ORCS (schedule 100152) 51440-20.

Series consists of decrees nisi, decrees absolute, and divorce orders issued by the Supreme Court of Victoria between 1877 and 1998. Decrees nisi were used inconsistently prior to the 1930s and required a waiting period before a decree absolute could be issued. Between 1968 and 1985, the waiting period was three months. A divorce was not legally in effect without a decree absolute. After 1985, divorce orders automatically came into effect 31 days after the divorce was granted, barring an appeal.

Volumes 1-11 and 19-43 are indexed. The records were scheduled for full retention under Court Services ORCS (schedule 100152) 51440-25.

The series consists of copies of British Columbia baptism, marriage and death registers created by churches that conducted the ceremonies. Currently only records (baptisms 1849-1899; marriages 1864-1903) of St. Andrews Cathedral, Victoria , are available.

Churches were required to submit their baptismal registers to the Vital Statistics Division in the 1940s so the registers could be microfilmed. Vital Statistics subsequently created an alphabetical index to the microfilmed registers, and a database was created from the index volumes with supplementary information from the microfilmed registers added to the entries. This information is searchable via the BC Archives Genealogy database. The microfilm copies of the original registers may include some additional information or context that was not included in the database.

Each bound volume was created by one church. Each entry corresponds with one ceremony, but may involve multiple individuals. The entries within each volume are ordered chronologically and may be numbered. Every volume varies in the type and presentation of information included and may not be consistent throughout one volume. All entries include the date of the ceremony, name of individual(s) involved in the ceremony, and the name of the priest who conducted the ceremony.

Baptism register entries may also include name of child, date of birth, place of birth, sex of child, name and surname of father, name and maiden name of mother, residence of parents, profession of parents, religion of parents, name and surname of grandparents, religion of grandparents, and name and surname of godparents.

Marriage register entries may also include name and surname of groom, name and maiden name of bride, age of bride, age of groom, name and surname of their parents, name and surname of witnesses present, religion of named individuals, place of birth, and signatures of parties involved.

Death register entries may also include: death dates, cause of death, age at death, location of internment and information about the funeral ceremony.

Indigenous people are included in the registers (as Indians or Sauvages). Some Indigenous names are included. Many baptisms of Indigenous people were in groups and may only consist of a list of the Christian names the priest gave to the baptized individuals. Tribal or community affiliations may be included.

Some entries include the geographical location that the ceremony took place. This location may vary from the location of the church, as some priests travelled quite widely to conduct ceremonies.

The collection consists of an incomplete set of copies of the Speech from the Throne, created between 1872 and 2024. The collection was made by the BC Archives using copies of the speeches, including red-ribbon copies, drawn together from various government office sources.

The Speech from the Throne is given by the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia who addresses the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia at its opening and/or closing sessions. The speech outlines the executive government's plans at the start of each session of the Legislative Assembly and reviews the accomplishments of the government at the end of each session.

This series contains a bound volume of minutes of meetings of the Victoria School Board, along with receipts of payments made by the Board. The series includes minutes of meetings of school board electors (showing votes cast by individual electors for particular candidates) and contains copies of provincial government circulars relating to education and copies of schools-related bills, by-laws, rules and regulations.

The series consists of naturalization applications and oaths of allegiance issued by the Victoria County Court between 1859 and 1917; 1926. They are arranged numerically by file number from 1 to 4118 and include oaths of allegiance from 1859 to 1865 and applications and oaths from 1871 to 1917; 1926. The files may also include oath of residence and certificates of naturalization.

Series consists of one bench book and minute book for Colony of Vancouver Island Supreme Court of Civil Justice civil cases heard before Chief Justice David Cameron between 18 October 1863 and 9 May 1864.

Collection consists of records created by members of the Maynard family, primarily Hannah Hatherly Maynard and Richard Maynard. Hannah, Richard, and their son, Albert Hatherly Maynard, were professional photographers based in Victoria. Records include photograph albums, a portion of the photographic portfolio of Hannah and Richard Maynard, a studio register with over 5,000 customer entries for portrait orders fulfilled by Mrs. R. Maynard's Photographic Gallery, and a small number of textual business records. Within this collection, the works of other photographers and photographic studios may be found. Images depict studio portraits, family gatherings, field photographs for Department of Indian Affairs tours of inspection of Indigenous communities, construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway (C.P.R.), documentary photographs of the natural history collection of the Provincial Museum (now Royal BC Museum), and Hannah's experimental artistic works such as tableau vivants, photocollages, composites, montages, photo-sculptures, and double- and multiple-exposure studio portraits.

Records within this collection have been arranged into series that roughly correspond to Maynard Collection numbers that were assigned according to themes by either one of the Maynard family members or early BC Archives staff.

Series consists of one bench book for Colony of Vancouver Island Supreme Court of Civil Justice civil and criminal cases heard by Judge David Cameron at Fort Victoria from November 1853 to January 1856 and one criminal case at Nanaimo in May 1854. It also includes civil cases heard at Victoria in the Inferior Court of Civil Justice in 1856. The volume additionally served as a criminal record book for 1853, a cause book for 1856, and a Registrar's record book for 1853. It opens with a notation that Judge Cameron's commission was read and that he took his seat on 6 October 1853. The Registrar also notes that he received the court seal from Judge Cameron.

This series consists of 13 volumes of Victoria Sheriff court records, 1867-1898. Records include executions, process books, account books, auction book and a cash book. Records may relate to the Victoria County Court or Supreme Court.

This series consists of records relating to miners' certificates and permits issued by the Dept. of Lands and Works and the Dept. of Lands at Victoria. Includes Free Miner's Certificates, 1897-1912; Special Miner's Certificates, 1899-1906; Leave of Absence permits, 1895-1906; mining receipts, 1897-1903; Crown Grant fee receipts pursuant to the Mineral Act, 1911-1918.

The fonds consists of an account ledger, a journal and a grain book. additional found in collection ledger added in 2023.

The series consists of microfilmed copies of the Victoria Court of Appeal order volumes 2-7; 1915 to 1947 and bound order volumes 8-15 for the period 1948 to 1975.

The records consist mainly of orders in response to motions for leave to appeal lower court judgements and sentences, and include both civil and criminal matters. They are bound in folio number order by volume with a nominal index at the front of each volume.

The series consists of a microfilmed copy of the Victoria Court of Appeal orders volume 1, 1910 to 1914. These orders were bound in folio number order from 1 to 318. There is a nominal index at the front of the volume.

This series consist of Vancouver Island Police and Prisons Department charge books. Volumes also contain magistrate's sentence and gaoler's reports. Volumes 6 and 7 are indexes.

This series consists of 7 volumes of Vancouver Island Supreme Court fee books maintained by the Registrar, 1859-1870. The volumes record fees owing to the Supreme Court. Volume 2 also includes the registrar's office diary.

Although the colonies of Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia were united in 1866, the Supreme Court of each Colony remained as two separate Supreme Courts until they were merged in 1870 as the Supreme Court of British Columbia, based in Victoria.

This series consists of record books from the Victoria County Court, 1879-1888. Records include journals, ledgers, and a letterbook of correspondence outward, written by A.F. Pemberton, County Court Judge, Dec. 1879 - Dec. 1880; Edwin Leigh, Registrar, Feb. 1883 - Nov. 1884; and Harvey Combe, Acting Registrar, Jan. 1885 - Nov. 1886.

The series consists of civil orders issued by the Supreme Court in Victoria between 1880 and 2008. Orders dating from 1880 until December 1946 were microfilmed and the originals destroyed. Records after this period are maintained in their original form. Many, but not all, volumes dating up to the late 1970s include nominal indexes. Orders are the formal expression of the ruling of the court. The records relate to a variety of civil matters including adoptions, divorces, and bankruptcies.

The records were scheduled for full retention under Court Services ORCS (schedule 100152) 51400-25.

This series consists of 19 volumes of Victoria Supreme Court daily diaries, 1907, 1910-1912, 1916-1919, 1923-1932, 1934. Volume 1 includes weather reports as well as matters of the court.

This series consists of records created by Road Commissioners from various road districts in the Colony of Vancouver Island, from 1861-1875. This includes the Victoria, Esquimalt, Esquimalt Town, Lake, Saanich, Metchosin, Sooke and Highlands Road Districts.

The records include financial records such as cash books, account books, road tax assessment rolls and ledgers. These track the fines and taxes collected for each district, and the expenses for road construction and maintenance. Some records indicate the individuals who paid for and worked on specific roads in the Victoria area that are still in existence today.

Other records include correspondence and minute books recording the decisions and priorities of the commissioners. These indicate where and how roads were constructed as the colony was growing.

The fonds consists of microfilmed copies of registers of birth, marriages and deaths, minute books, letter books, correspondence, financial records, and plans and specifications of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church; and microfilmed copies of minutes of the B.C. Synod and Presbytery of Columbia. It also includes 12 pages of blueprints of St. Andrew's church in Victoria, accompanied by correspondence.

This series consists of architectural proposals and consultants reports on topics connected with the construction of public buildings, urban development, siting, traffic patterns, and design requirements. Reports have been created for the Department of Public Works by various sources, including Arthur Erikson Architects, The Environmental Analysis Group (TEAG), UBC School of Architecture, BCIT, Vancouver City Planning Department, and other various architects and engineers.

The fonds consists of two photograph albums created by Gladys Beall. The albums document family activities and travels around Victoria and Vancouver Island.

The series consists of large format photographic prints known as "Parliamentary portraits", taken between 1991 and 2022. The portraits are generally taken once per Parliament and show the members of the Legislative Assembly in the Legislative Chamber, at the Parliament Buildings in Victoria, B.C. Dates and Parliamentary sessions are noted and some photographs are accompanied by legends, naming each person in the photograph. Each photograph is taken from the entrance to the chamber and typically shows the Premier, the Leader of the Opposition, the Speaker and other members of the Speaker's and Clerk's office in the centre by the Speaker's chair. The MLA's are at their desks, the government members traditionally sit on the Speaker's right and the opposition on the Speaker's left.
The photographs are as follows:
1 col. photograph from session 34-5, 1991
1 col. photograph from session 35-2, ca. 1995
1 col. photograph from session 36-3, July 22, 1998
1 col. photograph from session 36-4, ca. 2000
1 col. photograph + legend from session 37-2, May 8, 2002
1 col. photograph + legend from session 38-1, November 2, 2005
1 col. photograph + legend from session 39-1, 2009
1 col. photograph from session 39-4, 2012
1 b&w photograph + legend from session 40-3, November 19, 2014
1 col. photograph + legend from session 41-40, 2017
1 b&w photograph + legend from session 42-3, October 3, 2022.

The fonds consists of John Young Copeman's personal and business correspondence, including diaries, estate papers and personal financial records, correspondence, and photographs.

The fonds consists of consists of correspondence and papers relating to mining and real estate in Rossland and real estate in Victoria. Included also, as Dean acted as an arbitrator, are papers dealing with land expropriation by the British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER) for its Saanich Suburban Inter-urban Railway and papers concerning the Victoria (B.C.) Shipowners Limited dispute. The fonds also contains Dean's personal diaries, his diary as Mayor of Rossland for 1903, two account books, a copy of a Victoria city census ca. 1900-1901, certificates appointing John Dean Justice of the Peace for various counties, photographs and nine maps.

This series contains probate files for estates probated in Victoria, ca. 1859-1941. The probate files from 1859 to 1917 are organized more or less alphabetically within date groups or ranges and have been numbered, sequentially, from 1 to 5307. From 1918 onwards, probate files were assigned numbers by year in the order of filing and are more or less in chronological order. The originals of files 1 to 5307 have been retained as well as being microfilmed. Files from 1918 onwards are only available on microfilm.

In addition to the file names provided in the finding aid, an index for this collection is also available on microfilm (see GR-1417, reel B01990). Reel B01990 should be used if a name is not found on the file list, as there are 103 missing files. If a will number is provided, it can be used to locate a copy of the will in GR-1052 or GR-1574.