John Sebastian Helmcken
Encyclopedia
John Sebastian Helmcken was a British Columbia
physician
who played a prominent role in bringing the province into Canadian Confederation
. He was also the founding president of the British Columbia Medical Association
.
. He was hired aboard the Hudson's Bay Company
's Prince Rupert as a ship's surgeon on its 1847 voyage to York Factory, Rupert's Land
. After completing his certification at Guy's Hospital, he travelled to India and China. He had intended to join the Navy, but was persuaded instead to join the HBC in 1849 as a physician and clerk on to be stationed on Vancouver Island. On the long voyage, smallpox
broke out aboard ship, but Helmcken handled the situation ably, and only a single life was lost.
, where he was soon made a magistrate and tasked with resolving a dispute between the company and the coal-miners there, who wanted to join the California Gold Rush
. Six months later, Chief Factor James Douglas
called Helmcken to Fort Victoria
to attend the ailing Governor Richard Blanshard
, and he settled there permanently. On December 27, 1852, he married Douglas' daughter Cecilia. Douglas was by that time the governor of the colony, and Helmcken had effectively joined what newspaperman Amor de Cosmos
called disparagingly the "family-company compact".
In 1856, he was elected to the first Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island
to represent Esquimalt. He served as its speaker until that colony merged with British Columbia in 1866. He continued on as Speaker of the Legislative Council
of new colony
until Confederation in 1871. By 1863 he had risen to the rank of chief trader within the HBC, and in 1870 Governor Musgrave appointed him to his executive council.
Despite his opposition to the idea, Helmcken was sent along with Joseph Trutch
and Robert Carrall
to Ottawa to negotiate terms of confederation with the Canadian government. The terms they negotiated were very favourable to BC; In particular, BC was promised a railway connection with the rest of Canada within ten years and the federal government agreed to assume the colony's sizable debt. Few British Columbians could deny the value of the deal as negotiated by Helmcken, Carrall and Trutch, and British Columbia became a Canadian province on July 20, 1871.
, premier
, and lieutenant governor
. He did accept an appointment to the board of the Canadian Pacific Railway
.
Even as a private citizen, Helmcken remained a respected and influential figure. He had a hand in having the capital of the province moved to Victoria
from New Westminster and in securing lucrative public work contracts for Victoria companies. In addition to his role as surgeon for the HBC, Helmcken was founding president of the British Columbia Medical Society in 1885, and helped found the Medical Council of British Columbia, which licences BC doctors, the next year. He was also the physician of the provincial jail and sat on the board of the Royal Hospital
.
John Helmcken died in Victoria at the age of 96. The house
Helmcken built in 1852 and lived in until his death is now a museum located at Thunderbird Park
in Victoria. A street in Victoria and one in Vancouver's Yaletown neighbourhood bear his name.
His son Henry Dallas "Harry"
served in the British Columbia assembly.
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
who played a prominent role in bringing the province into Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
. He was also the founding president of the British Columbia Medical Association
British Columbia Medical Association
The British Columbia Medical Association is a professional body of doctors in the Canadian province of British Columbia.It is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia....
.
Early life
John Sebastian Helmcken was born in London, England, the son of ethnically-German parents Claus Helmcken and Catherine Mittler. His education was at St. George's German and English school, and after apprenticing as a druggist and physician, at Guy's HospitalGuy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital is a large NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in south east London, England. It is administratively a part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. It is a large teaching hospital and is home to the King's College London School of Medicine...
. He was hired aboard the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
's Prince Rupert as a ship's surgeon on its 1847 voyage to York Factory, Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land, or Prince Rupert's Land, was a territory in British North America, consisting of the Hudson Bay drainage basin that was nominally owned by the Hudson's Bay Company for 200 years from 1670 to 1870, although numerous aboriginal groups lived in the same territory and disputed the...
. After completing his certification at Guy's Hospital, he travelled to India and China. He had intended to join the Navy, but was persuaded instead to join the HBC in 1849 as a physician and clerk on to be stationed on Vancouver Island. On the long voyage, smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
broke out aboard ship, but Helmcken handled the situation ably, and only a single life was lost.
Vancouver Island
Helmcken arrived on Vancouver Island in March 1850 and was posted first to Fort RupertFort Rupert, British Columbia
Fort Rupert is the site of a former Hudson's Bay Company fort which was built and first commanded by William Henry McNeill in 1849 and later by John Work. It is located near present-day Port Hardy, British Columbia on Vancouver Island....
, where he was soon made a magistrate and tasked with resolving a dispute between the company and the coal-miners there, who wanted to join the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
. Six months later, Chief Factor James Douglas
James Douglas (Governor)
Sir James Douglas KCB was a company fur-trader and a British colonial governor on Vancouver Island in northwestern North America, particularly in what is now British Columbia. Douglas worked for the North West Company, and later for the Hudson's Bay Company becoming a high-ranking company officer...
called Helmcken to Fort Victoria
Fort Victoria (British Columbia)
Fort Victoria was a fur trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the headquarters of HBC operations in British Columbia. The fort was the beginnings of a settlement that eventually grew into the modern Victoria, British Columbia, the capital city of British Columbia.The headquarters of HBC...
to attend the ailing Governor Richard Blanshard
Richard Blanshard
Richard Blanshard MA was an English barrister and first governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island from its foundation in 1849 to his resignation in 1851....
, and he settled there permanently. On December 27, 1852, he married Douglas' daughter Cecilia. Douglas was by that time the governor of the colony, and Helmcken had effectively joined what newspaperman Amor de Cosmos
Amor De Cosmos
Amor De Cosmos was a Canadian journalist, publisher and politician. He served as the second Premier of British Columbia.-Early life:...
called disparagingly the "family-company compact".
In 1856, he was elected to the first Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island
Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island
The Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island was the colonial parliamentary body that was elected to represent voters in the Colony of Vancouver Island. It was created in 1856 after a series of petitions were sent to the colonial office in London protesting the Hudson’s Bay Company’s proprietary...
to represent Esquimalt. He served as its speaker until that colony merged with British Columbia in 1866. He continued on as Speaker of the Legislative Council
Legislative Council of British Columbia
The Legislative Council of British Columbia was an advisory body created in 1867 to the Governor of the "new" Colony of British Columbia, which had been created from the merger of the old Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia...
of new colony
United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia
The Colony of British Columbia is a crown colony that resulted from the amalgamation of the two former colonies, the Colony of Vancouver Island and the mainland Colony of British Columbia...
until Confederation in 1871. By 1863 he had risen to the rank of chief trader within the HBC, and in 1870 Governor Musgrave appointed him to his executive council.
Confederation
Helmcken was in favour of British Columbia joining Canadian Confederation for a while in 1866, but by the time the issue was being seriously debated in 1870, he had dismissed it as impractical and against the financial interests of the colony. He was sometimes accused of supporting annexation to the US. He denied that but stated that "it cannot be regarded as improbable that ultimately, not only this Colony, but the whole of the Dominion of Canada will be absorbed by the United States." Helmcken later summed up his real objection to joining Canada as purely utilitarian: "this Colony had no love for Canada; the bargain for love could not be; it can only be the advancement of material interest which will lead to union."Despite his opposition to the idea, Helmcken was sent along with Joseph Trutch
Joseph Trutch
Sir Joseph William Trutch, KCMG was an English-born Canadian engineer, surveyor and politician.-Early life and career:...
and Robert Carrall
Robert William Weir Carrall
Robert William Weir Carrall was a Canadian physician and politicianBorn in Carrall’s Grove, near Woodstock, Upper Canada, the son of James and Jane Carrall, Carrall received his MD from McGill University in 1859...
to Ottawa to negotiate terms of confederation with the Canadian government. The terms they negotiated were very favourable to BC; In particular, BC was promised a railway connection with the rest of Canada within ten years and the federal government agreed to assume the colony's sizable debt. Few British Columbians could deny the value of the deal as negotiated by Helmcken, Carrall and Trutch, and British Columbia became a Canadian province on July 20, 1871.
Later years
After Confederation, Helmcken retired from politics, and refused offers of positions as a senatorCanadian Senate
The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...
, premier
Premier (Canada)
In Canada, a premier is the head of government of a province or territory. There are currently ten provincial premiers and three territorial premiers in Canada....
, and lieutenant governor
Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia
The Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia is the viceregal representative in British Columbia of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared with equally the ten other jurisdictions of Canada and resides predominantly in her oldest...
. He did accept an appointment to the board of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
.
Even as a private citizen, Helmcken remained a respected and influential figure. He had a hand in having the capital of the province moved to Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
from New Westminster and in securing lucrative public work contracts for Victoria companies. In addition to his role as surgeon for the HBC, Helmcken was founding president of the British Columbia Medical Society in 1885, and helped found the Medical Council of British Columbia, which licences BC doctors, the next year. He was also the physician of the provincial jail and sat on the board of the Royal Hospital
Royal Jubilee Hospital
The Royal Jubilee Hospital is a 400-bed general hospital in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada located about east of the city centre, in the Jubilee neighbourhood . Its name commemorates the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887...
.
John Helmcken died in Victoria at the age of 96. The house
Helmcken House
Helmcken House is a museum in Victoria, British Columbia, located in Thunderbird Park. It was built by Dr. John Sebastian Helmcken, the first doctor in Victoria, in 1852, a surgeon with the Hudson's Bay Company. It is currently claimed to be the oldest house in British Columbia that is open to the...
Helmcken built in 1852 and lived in until his death is now a museum located at Thunderbird Park
Thunderbird Park
Thunderbird Park is a park in Victoria, British Columbia next to the Royal British Columbia Museum. The park is home to many totem poles and other First Nations monuments...
in Victoria. A street in Victoria and one in Vancouver's Yaletown neighbourhood bear his name.
His son Henry Dallas "Harry"
Henry Dallas Helmcken
Henry Dallas "Harry" Helmcken was a lawyer and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Victoria City in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1894 to 1903....
served in the British Columbia assembly.
External links
- Helmcken House from BC Heritage Branch.