View source for Victoria District

{{for|historic Victoria District in Upper Canada|Hastings County}}
{{Infobox Canada electoral district
| province            = British Columbia
| image               = 
| caption             = 
| fed-status          = defunct
| fed-district-number = 
| fed-created         = 1871
| fed-abolished       = 1872
| fed-election-first  = 1871
| fed-election-last   = 1871
| fed-rep             = 
| fed-rep-link        = 
| fed-rep-party       = 
| fed-rep-party-link  = 
| demo-pop-ref        = 
| demo-area-ref       = 
| demo-electors-ref   = 
| demo-census-date    = 
| demo-pop            = 
| demo-electors       = 
| demo-electors-date  = 
| demo-area           = 
| demo-cd             = 
| demo-csd            = 
}}

'''Victoria District''' was a federal [[electoral district (Canada)|electoral district]] in [[British Columbia]], Canada, that was represented in the [[House of Commons of Canada]] from 1871 to 1872.

== History ==

It was created at the time of that province's entry into [[Confederation of Canada|Confederation]] in 1871.  It was composed of all of the Victoria, Esquimalt and Saanich districts as defined at the time.  In 1872, it was abolished, and replaced by [[Victoria (British Columbia federal electoral district)|Victoria]] riding.  As there was no general federal election including the new BC seats until 1872, the original Members of Parliament (MPs) from BC were elected in a special byelection held on 20 September 1871.

== Members of Parliament ==

In Victoria District, there were only two candidates for the two-seat riding, so both members entered the House of Commons by [[acclamation]].

One was [[Premier of British Columbia|Premier]] [[Amor De Cosmos]], who held the seat and its successor for three elected terms as of the 1872 general election.  During his first term, he retained his office as Premier, and during the last, shared the seat with [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[John A. Macdonald]].

The other member was [[Henry Nathan, Jr.]], a local businessman and the first [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|MP]] of [[Jewish]] heritage.

For the 1872 general election, the Victoria District riding was replaced by [[Victoria (British Columbia federal electoral district)|Victoria]] riding.  This was also the case with the similarly-temporary [[Cariboo District]], [[Yale District]], [[New Westminster District]], which were abolished and replaced by ridings without the "District" appellation.

== Election results ==

{{1871 Canadian federal by-elections/Victoria District}}

== See also ==

* [[List of Canadian federal electoral districts]]
* [[Historical federal electoral districts of Canada]]

==External links==
*[http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Sites/LOP/HFER/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Det&Include=Y&rid=782 Riding history from the] [[Library of Parliament]]

[[Category:Defunct British Columbia federal electoral districts on Vancouver Island]]