1st Parliament of British Columbia

John Foster McCreight, premier of British Columbia 1871-1872.

The 1st Legislative Assembly of British Columbia sat from 1871 to 1875. The members were elected in the British Columbia general election held in October 1871. John Foster McCreight was called upon to form a cabinet. In December 1872, the government was defeated on a confidence motion and Amor De Cosmos subsequently formed a new cabinet. After De Cosmos was elected to the House of Commons in February 1874, George A. Walken became premier. ^[1]

There were four sessions of the 1st Legislature: ^[2]

Session	Start	End
1st	February 15, 1872	April 11, 1872
2nd	December 17, 1872	February 21, 1873
3rd	December 18, 1873	March 2, 1874
4th	March 1, 1875	April 22, 1875

James Trimble served as speaker. ^[3]

Members of the 1st Parliament

The following members were elected to the assembly in 1871: ^[1]

Member	Electoral district	First elected
George A. Walkem	Cariboo	1871
Joseph Hunter		1871
Cornelius Booth		1871
John George Barnston (1872)		1872
John Ash	Comox	1871
William Smithe	Cowichan	1871
John Paton Booth		1871
A. Rocke Robertson	Esquimalt	1871
Henry Cogan		1871
John Andrew Mara	Kootenay	1871
Charles Todd		1871
Andrew T. Jamieson	Lillooet	1871
T. B. Humphreys		1871
William Saul (1872)		1872
William M. Brown (1874)		1874
John Robson	Nanaimo	1871
Henry Holbrook	New Westminster City	1871
Josiah Charles Hughes	New Westminster District	1871
William Armstrong		1871
Robert Beaven	Victoria City	1871
John Foster McCreight		1871
Simeon Duck		1871
James Trimble		1871
Amor De Cosmos	Victoria District	1871
Arthur Bunster		1871
William Archibald Robertson (1874)		1874
William Fraser Tolmie (1874)		1874
Robert Smith	Yale	1871
James Robinson		1871
Charles A. Semlin		1871

By-elections

By-elections were held for the following members appointed to the provincial cabinet, as was required at the time. All cabinet members were re-elected by acclamation: ^[4]

• A. Rocke Robertson, Provincial Secretary, ^[1] acclaimed November 28, 1871
• Henry Holbrook, Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, ^[1] acclaimed November 28, 1871
• George A. Walkem, Minister of Finance, ^[1] acclaimed February 23, 1872
• John Ash, Provincial Secretary, ^[5] acclaimed January 11, 1873
• Robert Beaven, Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, ^[6] acclaimed January 6, 1873
• William Armstrong, Minister of Finance and Agriculture, ^[7] acclaimed March 21, 1873

By-elections were held to replace members for various other reasons: ^[4]

Electoral district	Member elected	Election date	Reason
Cariboo	John George Barnston	June 22, 1872	C. Booth appointed judge
Lillooet	William Saul	December 21, 1872	Death of A.T. Jamieson in October 1872
Victoria District	William Archibald Robertson	February 26, 1874	A. Bunster and A. de Cosmos elected to federal seats
	William Fraser Tolmie
Lillooet	Thomas Basil Humphreys	November 17, 1874	both members resigned in a "dispute between the two gentlemen as to which represents the popular feeling of the district"
	William M. Brown

References

1. Kerr, John Blaine (1890). Biographical Dictionary of Well-Known British Columbians with a Historical Sketch. Vancouver: Kerr & Begg. p. 61.
2. Begg, Alexander (1894). History of British Columbia from its Earliest Discovery to the Present Time. Toronto: William Briggs. p. 546.
3. "Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 1872-" (PDF). BC Legislature. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
4. Electoral History of British Columbia 1871-1986 (PDF). Elections British Columbia. 1988.
5. Teece, Wendy K. (1982). "Ask, John". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography . Vol. XI (1881–1890) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
6. Ralston, H. Keith; Foster, Hamar (1998). "Beaven, Robert". In Cook, Ramsay; Hamelin, Jean (eds.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography . Vol. XIV (1911–1920) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
7. Mackintosh, C. H (1877). The Canadian Parliamentary Companion and Annual Register. Ottawa: Citizen Printing and Publishing Company. p. 375.