British Columbia general election, 1871

Formerly a British colony, British Columbia became a province of Canada on July 20 1871. An interim Cabinet was appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, and election writs for the First general election were issued to choose 25 members of the first provincial legislature from 12 ridings (electoral districts). These ridings were:

*Cariboo (three members)
*Comox
*Cowichan (two members)
*Esquimalt (two members)
*Kootenay (two members)
*Lillooet (two members)
*Nanaimo
*New Westminster (two members)
*New Westminster City
*Victoria (two members)
*Victoria City (four members)
*Yale (three members)

Polling conditions

The election was held from October through December 1871, and was conducted by means of a show of hands on nomination day and, if required, an open poll book on polling day. There were no organized political parties.

tatistics

*Votes 3,804
*Candidates 46
*Members 25

Vancouver Island
*Upper Island 310 votes, four seats (77.5 votes/seat)
**Comox: 24 votes (24 votes/seat)
**Cowichan: 196 votes (2 seats 98 votes/seat 49 voters/seat)
**Nanaimo: 90 votes (90 votes/seat)

*"Greater Victoria" 2,074 votes, eight seats (259.25 votes/seat):
**Victoria: 377 votes (2 seats 188.5 votes/seat 94.25 voters/seat)
**Victoria City: 1,515 (4 seats 378.75 votes/seat 169.3525 voters/seat)
**Esquimalt: 182 (2 seats 91 votes/seat 45.5 voters/seat)

Mainland:
*Interior 1,907 votes, ten seats (190.7 votes/seat):
**Cariboo: 785 votes (3 seats 261.67 votes/seat)
**Kootenay: 39 votes (2 seats 19.5 votes/seat)
**Lillooet: 102 votes (2 seats 51 votes/seat
**Yale: 171 votes (3 seats 57 votes/seat)

*Lower Mainland 686 votes (3 seats 228.67 votes/seat:
**New Westminster: 323 votes (2 seats 161.5 votes/seat)
**New Westminster City: unknown at this time (vote was by acclamation)_

Note that these figures refer to votes actually cast, not the population "per se" nor the total of the potential voters' list.

Results by Riding

Note: There is no arrangement to the ridings and members, other than by rough alphabetical order, as all were technically independents. Actual seating of the House or political alignments are not represented.

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align="center" |Comox

align="center"|John Ash
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align="center"|Joseph Hunter
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align="center" rowspan=2|Cowichan

align="center"|John Paton Booth
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align="center"|George Anthony Boomer Walkem
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align="center"|William Smithe
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align="center"|Henry Cogan
align="center" rowspan=2 |Esquimalt
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align="center" rowspan=2 |Kootenay
align="center"|John Andrew Mara
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align="center"|Alexander Rocke Robertson
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align="center"|Charles Todd
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align="center"|Thomas Basil Humphreys
align="center" rowspan=2 |Lillooet
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align="center" |Nanaimo
align="center"|John Robson
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align="center"|William M. Brown
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align="center" rowspan=2 |New Westminster
align="center"|William James Armstrong
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align="center"|Henry Holbrook
align="center" |New Westminster City
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align="center" |Josiah Charles Hughes
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align="center"|William Archibald Robertson
align="center" rowspan=2 |Victoria
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align="center" rowspan=4 |Victoria City
align="center"|Robert Beaven
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align="center"|William Fraser Tolmie
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align="center"|Simeon Duck
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align="center"|James Robinson
align="center" rowspan=3 |Yale
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align="center"|John Foster McCreight
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align="center"|Charles Augustus Semlin
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align="center"|James Trimble
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align="center"|Robert Smith
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align-left"
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align-left"
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align="center" colspan="10"|Source: [http://www.elections.bc.ca/elections/electoral_history/toc.html Elections BC]
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Further reading & references

*"In the Sea of Sterile Mountains: The Chinese in British Columbia", Joseph Morton, J.J. Douglas, Vancouver (1974). Despite its title, a fairly thorough account of the politicians and electoral politics in early BC.