Victoria’s Pioneer Square: ‘God’s Forgotten Acre'
In my promo for this week’s post on what is today’s Pioneer Square in Victoria, I lamented that cemeteries are supposed to be hallowed ground and treated with due respect—meaning that the graves and headstones are kept up, in effect, for all time.
But, as I sorrowfully pointed out, such isn’t always the case and what originally was the Quadra Street burying ground, or cemetery, home to some of Victoria’s earliest and most historically significant pioneers, is now treated and used as a park.
In other words, when you walk on the pathways and the grass you’re walking on the dead...
But I’m getting ahead of my story. I want to turn you over to a pioneer historian I introduced you to in the Chronicles some months ago. Edgar Fawcett wrote one of the most collectible books on our capital’s history, Some Reminiscences of Early Victoria, which was published in 1912. It was my being introduced to Reminiscences as a teen that greatly influenced my decision to become a writer of British Columbia history rather than of fiction—or anything else.
Keep in mind that Fawcett wrote this more than 100 years ago. Then I’ll bring you up to date.
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OLD VICTORIA CEMETERY
“Yet even these bones from insult to protect,
Some frail memorial still erected nigh.”
“Each in his marrow cell forever laid
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.”
Thomas Gray
I must first apologize for altering two words in this quotation from this most beautiful poem that caused the celebrated General Wolfe to say that he would rather be the author of it than have taken Quebec.
I am moved to write these lines by the fact that these bones require protecting from the vandalism of certain persons unknown, also I have been approached by pioneers several times to write about this desecration of the last resting-place of our pioneers.
It was in 1869 or early ‘60 that the Quadra Street Cemetery was opened, all the bones from the cemetery on Johnson and Douglas Streets being exhumed and carried to Quadra Street in carts. I have stood several times and watched the operation of digging up and carting away of the remains from the first cemetery. It was situated on the corner of Johnson and Douglas Streets, the brick building on the south-west corner being built on the site, and it must have extended into the streets also, as some years later skeletons were found by workmen digging trenches for water pipes. There were many naval men buried there, and the dates of some of the headboards show an earlier date than the opening of it, there being two burials from war vessels, one in 1846, H.M.S. Cormorant, and one in 1852. These early dates show that Her Majesty’s vessels were in Esquimalt at that time. Naval men and Hudson’s Bay Company’s employees were the large majority of those buried in the first cemetery.
As a boy, I had a great weakness for funerals, and living only a block from Quadra Street, I attended scores in my day. I naturally liked the naval funerals best, for there were soldiers and sailors, and bands of music, with three volleys over the grave, so I missed few. The funerals came from Esquimalt, generally by water, in large boats propelled by oars, and landed at the Hudson’s Bay Co. Wharf.
By the inscriptions, a large majority were young men and sailors, and many were the result of accidents in Esquimalt Harbour by drowning.
I well remember the funeral of Captain Bull, of H.M. Surveying Ship Plumper, who died at the age of twenty-seven years, the coffin being fastened to a gun carriage and pulled by bluejackets. The state of Victoria’s streets at that time was such that it required a deal of power to propel any vehicle, and especially was this the case with Quadra Street. I have often seen a funeral come to a dead standstill and the hearse dug out of the mud, as also teams loaded with stones for monuments in the cemetery.
We will suppose the hearse has been dug out, and in the cemetery near the graves, in many cases men might be seen bailing out the grave, one below and one of top; especially was this the case with the Roman Catholic ground. And I have known when it was necessary to hold the coffin down in the water with shovels or have a man get down and stand on the coffin until enough soil was thrown on it to keep it down. What must the friends have thought at this time, as the dirty water was forcing its way into the coffin? In the majority of burials there was no grave-case, which helped to make matters worse.
I have always paid periodical visits to this cemetery, the chief reason being that my mother was buried there when I was fifteen years old. She expressed a wish to be carried to her grave instead of being taken in a hearse, and it was the first instance I can remember in Victoria, although it may have been done earlier.
Both Bishops Cridge and Garnett, the clergymen who conducted the burial services over her, are alive to-day.
Rev. Edward Cridge lost four young children to diphtheria; they’re interred here.
Some four years ago, I had a marble headstone put on her grave, which was enclosed with a fence, and last fall, I saw it there although buried in weeds. A few weeks ago a lady friend asked me if my mother’s name was Jane; for that she had, in walking through the cemetery, come across a stone which must have been hers. I went up to investigate, and after some hours’ search found the stone but the enclosure was gone, and I had a time locating the grave, to replace the stone. In compiling the information given this article, I made many visits lately, and I may say that it is a disgrace to a civilized community to have the last resting place of Victoria’s pioneers in such a condition—marble and sandstone monuments lying in all directions, broken either by falling over naturally, or with rocks by some vandal.
It is a mistake to suppose that there are few remaining relations of these long-buried dead. At least there are fifty per cent of them represented by relatives today...and I hope the state of affairs here related, may cause them to move at once to right matters.
I may say that the individual plots were owned outright by the relations, and others, for they have certain title to them. Individual comments are made on all those I knew of, and several large, heayy stones I could not lift to get inscriptions, as they lie on their face. In several cases wood headboards have outlived stone, the inscriptions on the former being more legible than the stone. The action of the elements in many cases has entirely erased some, especially from sandstone, although newer than the wood boards.
One of the inscriptions I have read many a time as being quaint, was so far as I can remember, thus:
“..........Physicians were in vain;
Till Christ did please to give her ease, release from all
her pain.”
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As a lad, author/historian Edgar Fawcett, who lived nearby, was intrigued by the funerals held in the Quadra Street Cemetery, particularly the military funerals with their pomp and brass bands.
Fawcett then cites every name, date and inscription that he can read and I’ll let him describe the more interesting graves:
Thomas Pritchard, died Oct. 31, 1863, aged 79; also Margaret his wife, died Dec, 3, 1871, 64 years. Note—This is the most prominent monument in the cemetery. They leave grandchildren.
James McCulloch, engineer steamer Sir James Douglas, died April 3, 1870, aged 46; also Margaret, wife of above, died Dec. 3, 1871 aged 64 years; also Wm. M. Doran, mate of same ship who was accidentally drowned in Victoria harbour, July 7, 1868, aged 45 years; erected by officers and men of steamer.
Thos. Carter, of Hillside Farm, died 1869, aged 52 years; was husband of Mrs. C. Booth (and father of William Carter, provincial assessor’s office). Note—Mr. Carter contracted a bad cold in the cemetery at the funeral of a brother Mason, and was heard to remark in an undertone to a friend as he was looking down into the grave, “And who will be the next?” Strange to say, he himself was the next, for within ten days his brother Masons met there to bury him.
NAVAL CORNER
Monument erected to officers and men of H.M.S. Satellite—Daniel Evans, John Stanton, James Rutland, John Williams, Richard Stone, all drowned June 6, 1860; Wm. Browne, died 1856; John Blackler, died 1859; Wm. Kett, died 1859; Richard Brown, died 1857; Willliam Stout, died 1858; William Bell, died 1858; George Kembery, died 1860.
Monument to men of H.M.S. Sutlej—George Lush, John Guff, Edward Tiller, Joseph Neckless, died 1863 and 1864.
John Miller, H.M.S. Thetis, drowned in Esquimalt Harbour June 3, 1852, age 22; W.E. Plummer, H.M.S. Thetis, age 23; James Smith, H.M.S. Thetis, age 31; Charles Parsons, H.M.S. Thetis, age 35—all drowned between Esquimalt and Victoria harbours, Aug. 22, 1852. Note—This headboard is wood, and although nearly 50 years old, is in splendid preservation, painted white with black letters, which stand out so plain as the day they were put on.
Commander Robson, of H.M. Gunboat Forward. Died 1861, from effects of fall from his horse.
Captain John A. Bull, master of H.M. Surveying vessel Plumper; died ---, 1860, aged 27 years.
Fawcett then returns to other graves:
Granite monument to Edwin Evans, only son of Rev. E. Evans, D.D., aged 20 years.
I have already given an account of this young man’s death and burial...how he was drowned off Beacon hill one December day. He undressed and swam out after a duck he had shot, got caught in the kelp and was drowned, his poor father walking up and down the beach all that night, calling, “Edwin! Edwin! My son!” He was buried in a snowstorm, and great sympathy was shown by the public, by the crowds which filled the cemetery that day. Dr. Evans was Methodist minister when the church was built that is now being demolished.
Monument to Frederick Pemberton, Edward Scott, Eber and Grace, the four children of Bishop Cridge, who all died within two months, from diphtheria, in 1864-65; also his sister, Miss Cridge.
James Murray Yale, chief trader [and Yale, B.C. namesake], H.B.Co.; died May 7, 1871, age 71 years.
Joseph Austen, died July 2, 1871, age 89 years. A pioneer of 1858, and also of San Francisco, where he was a prominent member of the “vigilance committee.” When he was made a judge, [he] sentenced men to death during the stirring times of the early fifties in that city.
Sacred to the memory of John Wood, from his wife—1864. This is one of the best preserved headstones and enclosures in the cemetery, the latter being of iron and 43 years old. My friend, Mr. [D.W.]Higgins, in his book The Mystic Spring, gives the story of this clever actor, and his wife, also, so I will not enlarge on it.
John Sparks, killed by the explosion of steamer Cariboo, Aug. 2, 1861, age 28 years.
Smith Baird Jamieson, killed by the explosion of steamer Yale—April, 1861; Archibald Jamieson, and James Baird Jamieson, killed by the explosion of the steamer Cariboo in Victoria Harbour, Aug. 2, 1861; three brothers, sons of Robert Jamieson, Brodick, Isle of Arran, Scotland.—I refer my readers to Mr. Higgins’ book for the story of these three brothers also. I remember the morning of the explosion of the Cariboo. It woke up the whole town. I think her bones lie in the mud alongside Turpel’s ways in Songhees reserve.
ROMAN CATHOLIC SECTION
There are very few of the monuments left standing here. Besides those naturally destroyed by time, many have been broken by stones into many pieces.
Carroll monument.—This, the second largest, and costliest, in the cemetery, has been very badly used, but it is also one of the oldest. Erected by Ellen Carroll, in memory of her beloved husband, John D. Carroll, died July 11, 1862, age 38; also in memory of her beloved babies, George Washington, born Feb. 22, 1860, died same day; Jules Thomas, born Sept. 19 1862, and died same day. (Who would blame this bereaved wife and mother if she didn’t long remain a widow?)
Sosthenes Driard, a native of France, born 1819, died Feb. 15, 1873. (This marble stone was in several pieces, and difficult to read, but I persevered, as he was as well-known a man in early days, as mine host of the Colonial Hotel and afterwards of the Driard House.)
Mary Hall, died May 31, 1868, age 40 years. (The headboard is one of the best preserved in the cemetery; the black letters stand out as clear and bright as if just executed, but the white paint has nearly disappeared.)
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At this point in his narrative Fawcett returns to the city’s first cemetery which, coincidentally, was in the news as he wrote his book:
The finding of the skeletons in the excavation of Johnson Street this week, recalls the last find nearby, a few years ago, in laying waterpipes on Douglas Street, and I find, in referring to an article I wrote five years ago on clippings from the Victoria Gazette, Victoria’s first newspaper, that “the Council have ordered the removal of the bodies from the cemetery on Johnson Street to the new cemetery on Quadra’.
I can well remember seeing this removal, the bones where the bodies were not entire being thrown into carts, not taken to the Quadra Street Cemetery. I might state that with the exception of a few Hudson’s Bay Company’s employees, those buried there were men from Her majesty’s fleet at Esquimalt. This may seem a long time ago for vessels of war to be at Esquimalt, but by the tombstones in the Quadra Street Cemetery, I find there were some of the seamen from H.M.S. Cormorant buried in 1846. One of them was Benjamin Topp, and also John Miller, of H.M.S. Thetis, who were drowned in Esquimalt Harbour; also W.E. Plummer, James Smith and Charles Parsons, all drowned between Esquimalt and Victoria, August 22, 1852; also James D. Trewin and George Williams, February 4th, 1858. These were all removed to Quadra Street the following year.
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A 1960s B.C. Government tourism photo of Pioneer Square showing the headstones stacked against the back fence.
So much for Edgar Fawcett’s personal account of Victoria’s first and second cemeteries. As we’ve seen, the Quadra Street Cemetery was a poor alternate choice of real estate for hallowed ground for the remains unearthed, in some cases trashed, from Johnson and Government streets which were to make way for commercial development.
Edgar Fawcett described the neglected and vandalized state of the Quadra Street Cemetery in 1912. As we’ve seen, he’d watched it from its inception as a sink-hole in the rainy season, to a scattering of weather-eroded and smashed headstones. But he wasn’t the only one to notice and to decry the cemetery’s unconscionable state. When the cemetery was just six years old, the Rev. J.B. Good informed the Colonist of its deplorable state in a blistering letter to the editor.
New to Victoria, he’d been asked to conduct a burial service and, while waiting for the coffin and cortege to arrived, he “employed the time of suspense in a careful survey” of his surroundings. He was appalled by what he saw and smelled and, after several days’ reflection, he let loose with both barrels: “I unhesitantly pronounce [the cemetery] to be worthy of a distinguished place in the catalogue of public nuisances.” The cemetery, he raged, made itself felt “in a manner startling to some other senses than the olfactory of those whose fate it is to live in its immediate neighbourhood.”
He graciously chose to ignore “the promiscuous way in which Heathens and Christians jostle each other, so to speak, in their silent places,” and the general neglect of the occupied graves. Rather, after comparing Victoria’s burial ground to others on the Pacific Coast, he confined himself to “scientific and sanitary grounds”. The single worst factor, he believed, was the sloping ground which allowed rain water to drain northward from the occupied area (obviously the higher ground had been claimed first) to the lower, yet unoccupied ground.
Meaning that, “You have only to open [dig] a grave in winter in the lower part to find out the mischief. The stench and effluvia is so great that the sexton [of the immediately next door Christ Church Cathedral] declares that he had to consume an unwonted amount of tobacco to enable him at all to complete the necessary excavation...”
Rev. Good went on in graphic description but readers will get the drift. In short, he wanted the cemetery closed, a new one established “at a safe distance” from sight and scent.
He wasn’t alone in this view, others suggesting (prophetically) two years later, that the cemetery be closed and made into a park “planted with various ornamental and shade trees”. Closed in 1873, having been replaced by the new Ross Bay Cemetery which was so far out of sight as to be almost out of mind, the Quadra Street cemetery was designated a park in 1908 after decades of further neglect that bordered on sacrilege, and more vandalism.
B.A. McKelvie, journalist and historian, later lamented in the Vancouver Province how the headstones “were gathered from the graves they once marked, and were set up in an unsightly array with the unpainted and hideous fence for a background. Other stones, testimonials of love and affection, of the sorrowing hearts of those bereft of loved ones, were spread out, face up, like merchandise in a shop window... Will no one lend a hand to save this place from utter and complete ruin? Is public sentiment dead?”
He was followed two years later by another Vancouver journalist, Mae Garnett, who expressed similar caustic sentiments: “What evil influences ever impelled those who should have known better to collect the headstones...and spread them out, face up to the weather at the back of the lot? Perhaps, however, it was a proper move, for kindly time will eventually obliterate the names that were graven there in grateful remembrance when Victoria was young–and so those pioneer names that so obviously mean little to Victorians of today, will no longer be shamed in the eyes of those who come to visit Victoria.”
In an interview with the Colonist, she half apologized for her remarks, saying, “I am afraid I may have spoken rather harshly but I [did] so in the hope that my feeble protest will arouse in the benevolent people of Victoria some regard for the ashes of the founders of the city. In doing this I am but making bold to state publicly what countless visitors to Victoria are saying in private.”
In 2017 Victoria City Council approved a plan to “preserve and enhance the rich historic value of the park’s cemetery while maintaining a park space that suits the needs of the surrounding community”. This included preservation of eight of the larger tombstones and those which had been moved to the eastern fenceline years before. Some of the headstones, of course, are in better condition than others and some will be “preserved as joint fundraising efforts with community partners arise”.
PHOTOS BELOW: Two of the more elaborate memorials that have survived a century and a half of erosion (they’re of sandstone), vandalism and neglect.
Pathways were repaired and widened to increase accessibility by wheelchairs, scooters and strollers. Even benches, lighting and garbage bins were replaced with “new stylized furnishings that better reflect the park’s history”. Five ‘invasive’ holly trees were removed as was an English yew for safety reasons, replaced with an evergreen (native, no doubt) hedge.
This TLC for Pioneer Square was long overdue. Obviously, the damage done by the moving of the headstones can’t be undone. That said, we have the Old Cemeteries Society to thank for their years of efforts in researching the 1300-odd pioneers who are interred here.
But the bottom line is this: when you stroll through Pioneer Square today, you’re walking on the graves of its inhabitants. So much for respect for the dead.
Pioneer Square as it appeared in recent years.—Old Cemeteries Society
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