Conyers Bridgewater was born in 1881 in London, England, where he was educated and worked as a barrister. Conyers moved to Victoria with hopes of becoming a land speculator, but the outbreak of the First World War halted all of his business ventures. Before the war, Conyers met Violet Powell, the youngest daughter of a very prominent Victoria family. The couple was married in 1910, and although the wedding took place in England, the lavish event was thoroughly covered in the Victoria society pages. A year later, Conyers and Violet welcomed their only child, a son they named Bentley. The handwritten address on the bottom of the couple’s calling card (see Mrs. Violet Bridgewater’s card), 1139 Burdett Avenue, is where the Bridgewaters lived from 1914 to 1917. Given that this address is listed, this calling card was probably left at Point Ellice House sometime during those three years. The family later left British Columbia and settled in London, where Conyers died sometime around 1970.
List of Calling Cards
The Point Ellice House collection contains hundreds of calling cards left for the O’Reilly family by visitors. This initial research was conducted by Public History students at the University of Victoria, and these biographies constitute only a portion of the individuals represented by the calling cards within the collection.