‘Wednesda , April 22, 1998

* By Brod Morrison

- In 1891, four brothers real-
ized the potential of the newly-

proposed railway — that its ter-
. Minus would be the ideal spot
to layout a townsite. The broth-
ers were the sons of Samuel -
Brethour, and the original ;
townsite of Sidney was part of

their farms.

But the question has been |
asked over and over again, ©
why was the town named Sid- |
ney, and whom was it named

after?:

‘ulation..”:

An Oriental Jabor contractor arranged. for
_. men to be brought to BC, and some of those lz-
_ borers would Tater work } in the ne Stine Lumber |

“ML

Shey later contracted their labor for ‘the rail”
“ways linking BC to the rest of Canada and, by
the early: 1000s, Sidney had alarge: Chinese: pop-

jooking across the water from.
the rude settlement, saw Sid-

ney Island directly opposite, ‘It
“will be called Sidney,’ said Mr.

Brethour” and that settled it.
But for whom and when
was Sidney Island named?

land during the 1840s and 50s
by officers of the HBC, there
have been at least two expla-
nations to the change of name
to Sidney Island.

One is given by Prof. A L.
C. Atkinson -in 1969 while

| searching for relevant infor-
‘The narfie “Sidney” appar
ently came about when Julius |
‘Brethour, who becarne the first |
president of the Victoria and
Sidney Railway in 1893, was —
asked the question concerning |
, aname for the site. “Brethour, |

mation concerning the design-
ing ofthe Coat of Arms for Sid-
ney. He states that the “island
was named in 1859 by Captain
Richards, R.N.; when in com
mand of the surveying vessel
ELMS. Plumper...”

where.

Chinatown.

PENINSULA PROGRESS

He would. continue, and
show that Sidney was named

| after Lt Frederick William Sid-

ney, [later Captain] a friend

and colleague of Richards. Yet

Atkinson admitted that he was

| not “one hundred per cent cer-

Known and called Sallas Is- : tain,...[but] highly probable...”

When leafing through Cap-
tain John T. Walbran’s: book,
British: Columbia Coast

| Names, 1592- 1906, Their Ori-
) gin and History, the same ac-
| creditation: is

given. to
Richards. But . did. Captain

| Richards rename the island?

The Review, several years
previous, quoted the following

_| findings of the British Admi-

ralty, while inquiring on this
question:
“Prior to 1845 this island

was named Sallas Island. Dur-

| bought local land and grew various Teeth
for local markets. There was s also the inevitable

In Sidney, t the brick Post Office — ‘pull in | a
e 1936 — replaced a portion of what used to be

taf wok

a eo

How the township of Sidney was named —

ing the years 1845 - 1851.a
Captain Kellett carried out a
large scale survey, and in the
Admiralty charts of that pe
riod Captain Kellett called the
island Sidney.

“The Admiralty states that
there is very little doubt that
at some time between the
years 1845-1851, Captain
Kellett re-named the island
Sidney. The charts of Cap-
tain Richards were consulted
by the Admiralty but they
think there is no reason to
believe that he re-named the
island. .

“Captain Richards’ avis
refer only to Sidney Island. No

_ mention is made of Sallas Is-

land. There was a Captain F.
W. Sidney employed as a sur-
veyor during the years 1842 -

| 1869.

-“Ttis believed that Captain

| Kellett renamed the island

Sidney in recognition of this
contemporary surveyor. This: |
was a wellknown feature of —

-the time. Apparently it is ab
ways difficult to give an exact” |
reason for the naming ofanis-

land—the charts seldom give
a real clue. The Admiralty |

co

feels, _ however, that in this |

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