On January 1 Point Grey and South Vancouver amalgamated with the City of Vancouver. This increased our city`s population to 240,000 and made Vancouver Canada`s third largest city.On this day Alfred Wallace died. Wallace had been born in England and came to Vancouver in 1889. He started Wallace Shipyards in 1905 and that company went on to become Canada`s biggest shipbuilding firm by the end of WWII.
On January 2 the first city council meeting of the amalgamated city was held. The mayor was a former grocer, W.H. Malkin and he paid tribute to his predecessor L.D. Taylor for helping to bring about the amalgamation. Malkin`s term in office was unexciting but efficient.
Also on January 2, the Ballantyne Pier opened.
Sadly another important death occurred on February 6. John Hess Elliot was a pioneer who came from Pennsylvania to Vancouver in 1898. He was responsible for many homes being built and is recognized for heling in establishing Savary Island as a vacation resort.
During the first World War he enlisted with the 242nd Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force. He was 53 years old and insisted on fighting in the trenches alongside men half his age. He was wounded in battle and unable to remember who he was. Fortunately, after he was evacuated to a hospital in England, a fellow soldier recognized him. He returned home to Vancouver on a stretcher and a decorated veteran.
Vancouver`s first port doctor, Daniel Loftus Beckingsale, died on February 14. He was 82 years old and passed away in London England.
Beckingsale came to Vancouver in June 1886 to become our first port doctor and an early health doctor. He was responsible for starting the Vancouver Reading Room which was the predecessor for the Vancouver Public Library.
Alfred St. George Hamersley was Vancouver's first solicitor. In 1888 he arrived in Vancouver after practicing law in New Zealand and being called to the bar fifteen years previous. Hamersley became legal advisor to Vancouver City Corporation and the CPR. Hamersley once sold a piece of property at the southeast corner of Fraser Street and East 11th Avenue to fellow Freemason and writer Rudyard Kipling.
On February 25 Hamersley died in England where he had returned in 1906.
In mid-March construction began on the spectacular Marine Building.
On March 31, actor Lee Patterson was born in Vancouver. I looked up his filmography at IMDB.com and he had quite the catalogue of work before dying in Texas at the age of 77.
On April 6 the city of Hope was incorporated.
I hope you find the beauty around you.
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