5th Parliament of British Columbia

The 5th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia sat from 1887 to 1890. The members were elected in the British Columbia general election held in July 1886. ^[1] William Smithe formed a government. Following his death in May 1887, ^[2] Alexander Edmund Batson Davie became premier. After Davie died in 1889, ^[3] John Robson became premier.

There were four sessions of the 5th Legislature: ^[4]

Session	Start	End
1st	January 24, 1887	April 7, 1887
2nd	January 27, 1888	April 28, 1888
3rd	January 31, 1889	April 6, 1889
4th	January 23, 1890	April 26, 1890

Charles Edward Pooley served as speaker from 1887 until 1889 when he was named to cabinet. David Williams Higgins succeeded Pooley as speaker. ^[5]

Members of the 5th Parliament

The following members were elected to the assembly in 1886: ^[1]

Member	Electoral district	Party	First elected / previously elected
George Cowan	Cariboo	Government [a]	1877
Robert McLeese		Opposition [b]	1882
Joseph Mason		Government	1886
Ithiel Blake Nason (1888)		Government	1888
John Grant	Cassiar	Opposition	1882
Anthony Maitland Stenhouse	Comox	Opposition	1886
Thomas Basil Humphreys (1887)		Independent Opposition	1871, [c] 1887
Henry Croft	Cowichan	Government	1886
William Smithe		Government	1871
Henry Fry (1887)		Government	1887
David Williams Higgins	Esquimalt	Government	1886
Charles Edward Pooley		Government	1882
James Baker	Kootenay	Government	1886
Edward Allen	Lillooet	Government	1882
Alexander Edmund Batson Davie		Government	1875, 1882
Alfred Wellington Smith (1889)		Government	1889
Robert Dunsmuir	Nanaimo	Government	1882
William Raybould		Government	1882
George Thomson (1887)		Independent	1887
Andrew Haslam (1889)		Government	1889
William Henry Ladner	New Westminster	Opposition	1886
James Orr		Opposition	1882
John Robson		Government	1871, [d] 1882
William Norman Bole	New Westminster City	Opposition	1886
Thomas Cunningham (1889)		Government	1889
George William Anderson	Victoria	Government	1886
Robert Franklin John		Government	1882
James Tolmie (1889)		Government	1889
Robert Beaven	Victoria City	Opposition	1871
Theodore Davie		Government	1882
Edward Gawler Prior		Government	1886
John Herbert Turner		Government	1886
Simeon Duck (1888)		Government	1871, 1882, 1888
George Bohun Martin	Yale	Government	1882
Charles Augustus Semlin		Opposition	1871, 1882
Forbes George Vernon		Government	1875, 1886

Notes

By-elections

By-elections were held for the following members appointed to the provincial cabinet, as was required at the time: ^[1]

• Forbes George Vernon, Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, ^[6] elected June 4, 1887
• John Herbert Turner, Minister of Finance, ^[7] elected September 1, 1887
• Theodore Davie, Attorney General, ^[8] elected September 1, 1889

By-elections were held to replace members for various other reasons: ^[1]

Electoral district	Member elected	Election date	Reason
Nanaimo	George Thomson	January 3, 1887	death of W. Raybould on December 3, 1886
Cowichan	Henry Fry	May 5, 1887	death of W. Smithe on March 28, 1887
Comox	Thomas Basil Humphreys	December 30, 1887	A.M. Stenhouse resigned his seat to join the LDS Church
Victoria City	Simeon Duck	January 25, 1888	E.G. Prior resigned his seat to contest federal by-election
Victoria	James Tolmie	June 30, 1888	R.F. John resigned his seat to become warden of provincial gaol in Victoria
Cariboo	Ithiel Blake Nason	November 26, 1888	R. McLeese resigned his seat to contest federal by-electinn
Nanaimo	Andrew Haslam	June 14, 1889 [e]	death of R. Dunsmuir on April 12, 1889
Lillooet	Alfred Wellington Smith	September 21, 1889	death of A.E.B. Davie on August 1, 1889
New Westminster City	Thomas Cunningham	November 25, 1889	resignation of H.N. Bole after being named to County Court of B.C.

Other changes

• Lillooet (dec. Edward Allen, March 31, 1890)

Notes

1. Government candidate supporting the Smithe administration
2. opposed to the Smithe administration
3. Lillooet
4. Nanaimo
5. Acclaimed

References

1. "Electoral History of British Columbia 1871-1986" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
2. Eastwood, T M (1982). "William Smithe". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online . Retrieved 2011-07-27.
3. Lewis, Zane H (1982). "Alexander Edmund Batson Davie". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online . Retrieved 2011-08-04.
4. Begg, Alexander (1894). History of British Columbia from its earliest discovery to the present time. p. 547. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12.
5. "Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 1872-" (PDF). BC Legislature. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
6. Gosnell, R. Edward (1906). A history; British Columbia. Lewis Publishing Co. p. 694. Retrieved 2011-08-04.
7. Mouat, Jeremy (2005). "Turner, John Herbert". In Cook, Ramsay; Bélanger, Réal (eds.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography . Vol. XV (1921–1930) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
8. Williams, David Ricardo (1990). "Theodore Davie". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online . Retrieved 2011-08-04.