1871 British Columbia general election

The 1871 British Columbia general election was held from October to December 1871. Formerly a British colony, British Columbia became a province of Canada on July 20, 1871. An interim Cabinet was appointed by the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, and election writs for the first general election as a province of Canada were issued to choose 25 members of the first provincial legislature from 12 ridings (electoral districts). These ridings were:

• Cariboo (three members)
• Comox (one member)
• Cowichan (two members)
• Esquimalt (two members)
• Kootenay (two members)
• Lillooet (two members)
• Nanaimo (one member)
• New Westminster (two members)
• New Westminster City (one member)
• Victoria (two members)
• Victoria City (four members)
• Yale (three members).

Polling conditions

The election was held from October through December 1871, and was conducted by means of a show of hands on nomination day and, if required, an open poll book on polling day. There were no organized political parties.

Each voter could cast as many votes as there were seats to fill. Where multiple members were elected, the seats were filled through plurality block voting; elsewhere, first-past-the-post voting was used.

Statistics

• Votes: 3,804
• Candidates: 46
• Members: 25

Vancouver Island

• Upper Island 310 votes, four seats (77.5 votes/seat)
  • Comox: 24 votes (24 votes/seat)
  • Cowichan: 196 votes (2 seats 98 votes/seat 49 voters/seat)
  • Nanaimo: 90 votes (90 votes/seat)
• "Greater Victoria" 2,074 votes, eight seats (259.25 votes/seat):
  • Victoria: 377 votes (2 seats 188.5 votes/seat 94.25 voters/seat)
  • Victoria City: 1,515 (4 seats 378.75 votes/seat 169.3525 voters/seat)
  • Esquimalt: 182 (2 seats 91 votes/seat 45.5 voters/seat)

Mainland:

• Interior 1,907 votes, ten seats (190.7 votes/seat):
  • Cariboo: 785 votes (3 seats 261.67 votes/seat)
  • Kootenay: 39 votes (2 seats 19.5 votes/seat)
  • Lillooet: 102 votes (2 seats 51 votes/seat
  • Yale: 171 votes (3 seats 57 votes/seat)
• Lower Mainland 686 votes (3 seats 228.67 votes/seat:
  • New Westminster: 323 votes (2 seats 161.5 votes/seat)
  • New Westminster City: unknown at this time (vote was by acclamation)_

Note that these figures refer to votes actually cast, not the population per se nor the total of the potential voters' list.

Results by riding

Note: There is no arrangement to the ridings and members, other than by rough alphabetical order, as all were technically independents. Actual seating of the House or political alignments are not represented.

Results of British Columbia general election, 1871
Government				Opposition
	Member	Riding & party		Riding & party		Member
	Cornelius Booth	Cariboo			Comox	John Ash
	Joseph Hunter				Cowichan	John Paton Booth
	George Anthony Boomer Walkem1					William Smithe
	Henry Cogan	Esquimalt			Kootenay	John Andrew Mara
	Alexander Rocke Robertson					Charles Todd
	Thomas Basil Humphreys	Lillooet			Nanaimo	John Robson
	Andrew Thomas Jamieson				New Westminster	William James Armstrong
	Henry Holbrook	New Westminster City				Josiah Charles Hughes
	Arthur Bunster	Victoria			Victoria City	Robert Beaven
	Amor De Cosmos					Simeon Duck
	James Robinson	Yale				John Foster McCreight2
	Charles Augustus Semlin					James Trimble
	Robert Smith
	1 Premier-Elect					2 Incumbent Premier
Source: Elections BC

Byelections

Two sets of byelections were held to confirm appointments to the Executive Council (cabinet), as was the custom in earlier times. Ministerial candidates in this series of byelections were all confirmed by acclamation (so there were no actual polling dates). These byelections were:

• Esquimalt - Alexander Rocke Robertson, acclaimed November 28, 1871
• New Westminster City - Henry Holbrook acclaimed November 28, 1871
• Cariboo - George Anthony Boomer Walkem acclaimed February 23, 1872
• Comox - John Ash acclaimed, January 11, 1873
• Victoria City - Robert Beaven acclaimed January 6, 1873
• New Westminster - William James Armstrong acclaimed March 21, 1873

Other byelections were also held due to deaths and other appointments; all were contested:

• Cariboo - John George Barnston was elected to replace Cornelius Booth who was appointed to be Clerk of the Bench (provincial court) for the district of Kootenay on April 19, 1872
• Lillooet - William Saul was elected December 21, 1872 to replace Andrew Thomas Jamieson, who had died on October 31, 1872
• Victoria - November 26, 1874. The byelection was due to resignations February 9, 1874 of A. Bunster and Amor De Cosmos upon winning seats in the federal election January 22, 1874 (in Vancouver and Victoria federal ridings, respectively). William Archibald Robertson and William Fraser Tolmie won the vacant seats.
• Lillooet - November 17, 1874. On September 26, 1874, MLAs William Saul and Thomas Basil Humphreys jointly resigned "over a dispute between the two gentlemen as to which represents the popular feeling of the district" (Victoria Colonist September 29, 1874). Humphreys was re-elected and William M. Brown was elected to replace William Saul in a tight three-way race.

Composition of House at dissolution

Note: Government/Opposition status applies to candidate at time of election in 1871, not at time of dissolution in 1875.

Composition of 2nd British Columbia Parliament at Dissolution, 1875
Government				Opposition
	Member	Riding & party		Riding & party		Member
	John George Barnston	Cariboo			Comox	John Ash
	Joseph Hunter				Cowichan	John Paton Booth
	George Anthony Boomer Walkem					William Smithe
	Henry Cogan	Esquimalt			Kootenay	John Andrew Mara
	Alexander Rocke Robertson					Charles Todd
	Thomas Basil Humphreys	Lillooet			Nanaimo	John Robson
	William M. Brown				New Westminster	William James Armstrong
	Henry Holbrook	New Westminster City				Josiah Charles Hughes
	William Archibald Robertson	Victoria			Victoria City	Robert Beaven
	William Fraser Tolmie					Simeon Duck
	James Robinson	Yale				John Foster McCreight
	Charles Augustus Semlin					James Trimble
	Robert Smith
Source: Elections BC

Further reading

• In the Sea of Sterile Mountains: The Chinese in British Columbia, Joseph Morton, J.J. Douglas, Vancouver (1974). Despite its title, a fairly thorough account of the politicians and electoral politics in early BC.