Semlin

Before I get into talking about Charles Semlin, I want to let my readers know about something I just found out. On June 11, 2012, I wrote an entry entitled 'Flirty Forty' and this photo and write up was included.

Taken in New Westminster on October 1, 1940, this is one of the most famous photos of World War II. It is entitled 'Wait for Me Daddy'.

This photograph shows the Eighth Street and Columbia Avenue intersection. Photographer Claude P. Detloff positioned himself to capture the column of soldiers walking down the hill when he saw the five-year- old Warren 'Whitey' Bernard escape his mother's grasp and run to his father, Private Jack Bernard.

Life magazine picked up this picture and it appeared worldwide. In addition, it hung in schoolrooms across British Columbia during the war. Good news is that Bernard made it back from the war and Detloff was on hand to photograph the family's reunion.

It has just been announced that artists Veronica and Edwin Dam de Nogales have been hired to create a bronze memorial artwork of this photo, which will be displayed in New Westminter's Hyack Square, in almost the exact spot where this photo was taken. It is due to be unveiled in October of 2014.

A speech by Attorney General Martin ultimately led to the demise of the Semlin government. On June 20, 1899 - just after the Kootenay miner's strike began, Martin was giving a speech at a banquet in Rossland. A few angry miner owners in the audience began to heckle Martin. The Attorney General didn't handle it that well and shouting match began, which led to a brawl that had to be broken up by the police. Semlin demanded Martin's resignation and Martin only agreed after the caucus sided with the premier.

That wasn't the end of Joseph Martin though. When the legislative session began in January of 1900, there was Martin sitting with the opposition. Even when Martin was in his cabinet, Semlin did not have a comfortable majority. Now with the man sitting with the opposition, the future of Charles Semlin's government was precarious. The fatal blow came in February of 1900 with the defeat of a major government bill concerning electoral redistribution. 

Semlin advised Lieutenant Governor McInnes of the defeat and requested time to try to regain the confidence of the house. After several days of negotiating, Semlin found several opposition figures that were willing to join his ministry. McInnes ignored Semlin's efforts and dismissed the government. He called on Martin to form a government.

The lieutenant governor's decision caused an uproar in the assembly and they responded by passing a no-confidence vote in Martin. Martin could not govern without a popular and he failed to get that in the June 1900 provincial election. So McInnes turned to James Dunsmuir to form a new administration.

Semlin had represented Yale since British Columbia had entered the confederation. But he didn't run in the 1900 election. He later said:"I felt that I had done my share, and that it was time that younger shoulders were taking up the burdens of public life." He did try to return to politics, winning a by-election in 1903. He didn't run in the provincial election that fall though. He did try provincial politics again in 1907 but lost.

Throughout his political career, Charles Semlin found time to be active in his community. He is said to have helped form a local agricultural association in 1888 (the Inland Agricultural Society of British Columbia perhaps? He was elected president of that organization in 1889.) He was active in the development of the British Columbia Cattleman's Association in 1889.He continued to play a role as the ranching industry faced a series of challenges, including increased competition from ranches in Alberta. 

Semlin also had an interest in Canadian history land and was president of the Yale and Lillooet Pioneer Society for many years. He was a good speaker and was often asked to chair meetings and to act as master of ceremonies. He continued to fill those roles well into his eighties.

Charles Semlin was a life long bachelor - is even listed as single on his death certificate. He did raise a daughter, Mary, and left much of his estate - valued at just over $50,000 and consisting of mainly stock in the Dominion Ranch Limited - to his grandchildren. In one account of his life, written after Semlin's death, a friend said that the girl was adopted. However, according to a census record of 1881, Mary is listed as the daughter of Caroline Williams. Williams was a native woman living with Semlin and using his surname but there is no record of them ever marrying.

This teacher, packer, miner, hotel owner, rancher, politician and school trustee died on November 2, 1927 - less than a month before his 91st birthday. The Vancouver Daily Province carried the news on the front page, pointing out that he was the last surviving member of the province's first legislature. In the editorial column, it reflected that Semlin's adult life had spanned the history of the province of British Columbia since its formal creation in 1871. In Cache Creek, the newspaper observed that his grave was next to a cenotaph commemorating European pioneers "of which the deceased was one of the most beloved."

So that is my telling of the life of Charles Semlin, B.C.'s twelfth premier. I obtained the information from the awesome website, Dictionary of Canadian Biography.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Charles Augustus Semlin, history, Premier, politics Liberal, Joseph Martin, gentle,

C.A.S.

This is the Pilling House at 906 Salsbury Drive. Built in 1908, it reflects the evolving social and economic character of Grandview in the early 1900s. This area was originally promoted as an exclusive area - thanks to its commanding views - but other districts such as Shaughnessy won out in the exclusivity area.

Charles Semlin's political career began in 1871 - the same year the B.C. entered the confederation of Canada - when he was elected in Yale to the inaugural session of the provincial legislature. He and another candidate tied for third place in the three-member riding so the returning officer put their names in a hat and Semlin was declared the winner when his name was drawn. Semlin's first years as a politician were not that notable. He ran unsuccessfully in Yale for the general elections in 1875 and 1878.

Then Charles' fortunes improved. He was returned to his seat in 1882 and would go on to retain his position in the elections of 1886, 1890, 1894 and 1898. He then became leader of the opposition after the election of 1894 when Robert Beaven failed to win his re-election.

Charles Knight, president and general manager of  Western Pacific Development Company, owned the house from 1910 to 1913. From 1914 to 1915, William Walker, manager of the Canadian Electric Power Company lived here. The transition to a more middle and working class neighbourhood began in 1922 with James and Marion Pilling.

Semlin was an affable and easy-going man, not particularly effective as leader of the opposition. He appears to have been largely uncomfortable in the political arena of the day with its divisive atmosphere and raucous debate. To make things even more confusing, provincial politics had not yet embraced party allegiances of the federal arena. Semlin and Premier John Turner were both staunch conservatives. Semlin only held a titular head of opposition because the opposition represented all shades of the political spectrum. All were united in their discontent with the Turner government and you can't build a political party on that!

By 1897, the national and provincial press were criticising not only the Turner administration but also the actions of certain cabinet ministers. Semlin issued an official opposition platform that summer on behalf of the Provincial party, calling for an electoral re-distribution to correct the over-representation of Victoria and the under-representation of the mainland in the assembly. He also called for a reorganization of civil service, constraints on Asian immigration and government control of railways. In October of that year, the first gathering of provincial Liberals formulated as similar platform to oppose the Turner government. The Liberals were split over the issue of introducing party lines in the next election but the arrival of prominent Manitoba Liberal, Joseph Martin, had served to give them greater presence.

James was an adjuster with the Canadian Credit Men's Trust Association, and following his death in 1938, Marion continued to live here until 1950. In 2009, the sleeping porch was restored under the Vancouver Heritage Foundation's Restore It program.

In July of 1898, the Turner government failed to win a majority. Contested results and delayed polling meant that the exact results remained in doubt for some time. In a controversial move, Lieutenant Governor Thomas Robert McInnes dismissed Turner and his ministers in early August. In spite of the fact that Beaven had failed to win a seat, McInnes turned to him to take over as premier. However, Beaven failed to get the support he needed so the Lieutenant Governor called on Semlin to take over as leader of the province. 

Martin was reluctant to serve under Semlin - perhaps because Martin was hoping to be named leader at a Liberal convention to be held in Vancouver in two weeks and could then rightly assume the position of Premier - but the former Manitoba politician did end up supporting Semlin.

Charles Augustus Semlin was only premier of British Columbia for 18 months - from August 15, 1898 to February 27, 1900 - but what a tempestuous period of time that was. First of all, the loose affiliations and informal structures that held the political parties together were challenging to unite even for accomplished politicians but even more so for a gentle man such as Semlin. Divisions in his cabinet, most notably between Conservative Francis Lovett Carter-Cotton (Minister of Finance) and the mercurial Joseph Martin (attorney general).These two men detested each other and their animosity distributed to the disintegration of the government. 

Semlin's problems were compounded by his efforts to initiate wide-ranging reforms. Moves such as legislating eight-hour days for hard rock miners were angrily denounced by mine owners and led to a lengthy and bitter strike in the Kootenays. (June 1899 to February 1900) Then there were the dismissals that accompanied efforts to purge the civil service of patronage appointments, which caused heated protests and further eroded government support.

Wow! This gentle, amiable man sure set off a powder keg, didn't he? He was there to right the wrongs of the age and that easy-going outside obviously hid a will of steel.

Friday, I will finish telling you about Charles Semlin. 

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Charles Augustus Semlin, history, Premier, politics Liberal, Joseph Martin, gentle,

Charles Augustus Semlin

Charles Augustus Semlin was B.C.'s twelfth premier from August 15, 1898 to February 27, 1900. He was born on December 4, 1836 in Barrie, Upper Canada. He was educated in public schools then in private tuition in Barrie where he became a teacher.

However, as with many young men of that era, the gold fields in British Columbia called to young Semlin and he headed west to seek his fortunes. He arrived in Victoria on June 12, 1862.

Charles's career as a miner didn't last for long nor was it that successful. He spent three summers prospecting and mining in the Cariboo before becoming a packer, carrying supplies between Lilloet and Quesnel.

In the spring of 1865 there was a gold rush at Big Bend on the Columbia River and Charles Semlin was apparently on his way there when he came to Cache Creek. Here is where our future premier would spend the rest of his life.

Semlin found work at Ashcroft Manor. He managed the roadhouse and adjacent ranch of Clement Francis Cornwall and his brother Henry. Several months later, Semlin and his partner, Philip Parke, bought a roadhouse of their own, Bonaparte House. Bonaparte House was strategically located at the junction of wagon roads north to the Cariboo and east to Savona's Ferry (Savona) and the upper Thompson River. Parke sold his interest to Wilson Henry Sanford in 1868. Two years later Semlin bought Sanford's interest, making him the sole proprietor of Bonaparte House.

Not that Semlin stayed an innkeeper for long. He then traded Bonaparte House to James Campbell in 1870 for ranch land. Semlin had been acquiring land in the area for the last three years through pre-emption and purchase. Gradually, he consolidated his holdings to create one of the largest ranches of the region, named Dominion Ranch, which he would operate until his death in 1927.

Even though Semlin became a successful rancher - the Dominion Ranch carried 15,000 head of cattle and was one of the most notable of the large interior ranches - Charles also engaged in many other activities. He was Cache Creek's first postmaster. In 1873, he successfully lobbied the government for a public boarding school in the interior so that the regions scattered population of school-age children could receive a formal education. In 1874, as an MLA, Semlin introduced legislation that led to the establishment of the school in Cache Creek and oversaw its official opening in June.

The Central Boarding School attracted a good deal of controversy during its 16-year existence. Some felt that the school should have been in the larger community of Kamloops. The actions of the appointed school board (which comprised Semlin, Parke, Campbell and C.F. Cornwall) and the conditions at the school all drew critical comments from the press but Semlin staunchly defended the school - even teaching there for awhile. The school was shut down though in 1890. Years later when a rural school district was created for Cache Creek, Semlin, Parke and Campbell all served as trustees.

A photo of Philip Parke, compliments of the BC Archives #H-00234

The Cache Creek Boarding school. Photo from the Vancouver Library.

Wednesday, I will tell you about Charles Semlin's political life. Thanks to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography website for the information. It's a great site with lots of information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Charles Augustus Semlin, history, Dominion Ranch, Bonaparte House British Columbia,Cache Creek, boarding school, Philip Parke, upper Canada,