1861-01-29
Love Me Little, Love Me Long
Author: Charles Reade (1857). A novel which explores the complexities of love and relationships in Victorian society.
1861-02-07
klootchman
Chinook jargon meaning (Indian) “woman” or “female”.
1861-03-07
Lady Jane Franklin
(1791-1875)
Second wife of Sir John Franklin, famed explorer who disappeared in the Arctic in 1845 while searching for the Northwest Passage. Lady Franklin devoted many years to determining the fate of her husband. She traveled extensively, generally accompanied by her husband’s niece Sophia Cracroft.
1861-03-24
Hopson Pinckney Walker
(c. 1831-1902)
Barrister in BC (1860-70), investor in land and mining claims, relocated to Australia after 1870.
1861-04-14
Steamer Fort Yale explosion
A boiler explosion at Union Bar on the Fraser River destroyed the steamer Fort Yale killing five including its captain Smith Jamieson.
1861-04-18
Francis George Claudet
(1837-1906)
Photographer, manager of assay office and mint in New Westminster.
1861-04-18
Hope, BC
View of Hope on the Fraser River where Peter O’Reilly lived since September 1859. On April 18, 1861, Peter wrote, “Claudet arrived & took some views.” This may be one of the Claudet photographs taken at that time.
1861-04-21
William Irving
(1816-1872)
Master mariner and steamship owner whose company operated the Governor Douglas, Colonel Moody, Maria, Reliance, and Onward on the Fraser River and Victoria passenger and freight routes.
1861-06-12
Henry J Commeline
(? – ?)
Clerk, postmaster, deputy sheriff and chief constable at Yale 1860-64, later transferred to Williams Creek.
1861-06-18
Adam Bede
First novel by Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot) (1859). Bede, a carpenter, is in love with an unmarried woman who bears a child by another man. Although Bede tries to help her, he eventually loses her but finds happiness with someone else.
1861-07-01
Great Comet of 1861
One of the eight greatest comets of the nineteenth century.
1861-07-09
Christ Church, Hope
Anglican church in wood-frame Gothic style designed by the Royal Engineers and completed in 1861.
1861-08-17
Craigie
(? – ?)
Chief constable at Hope from 1860 to 1863.
1861-11-26
Colonial Hotel
A New Westminster hotel frequented by Peter O’Reilly operated from 1860 to 1883.
Back to Peter O’Reilly’s 1861 Diary
Peter O’Reilly’s 1861 diary has been transcribed by volunteers and staff of the Vancouver Island Local History Society and is for informational purposes only. Researchers interested in this diary are advised to consult the original document housed at the Royal British Columbia Museum & Archives, found in MS-2894, the O’Reilly family fonds.