British Columbia

Central Saanich commemorated the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War by unveiling the new cenotaph on November 11, 2018. The ceremony included a march in, two minutes of silence, poems and remarks, wreath laying, and was emceed by Carl Jensen, chair of the Cenotaph Committee. Mayor Windsor was in attendance as well as council members, Central Saanich police and firefighters, members of Air Cadet’s 676 Kittyhawk Squadron, Girl Guides, Boy Scouts and Stelly’s Marching Band.

The Central Saanich Cenotaph is a symbol of the loss and sacrifice Canadian Veterans have made. It was designed by Small and Rossell Landscape Architect. The supplier, Mortimer’s Monument Works in Victoria, arranged for granite stone to be quarried in Vermont, manufactured in Quebec, and brought to Saanich. The memorial has four sides: a Canadian maple leaf to symbolize all Canadians who have served; the message “Be at Peace” in English; the message “Be at Peace” in French; and a side with artwork by a local T'sartlip First Nation artist, Charles Elliott.

CFB Esquimalt was established in 1842 as the Royal Navy’s Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard. In 1905 it was renamed the Royal Navy’s Pacific Station and retained this function until shortly after the creation of the Naval Services of Canada in 1910.

During the presence of the Royal Navy in Esquimalt, many supporting troops were also stationed at the dockyard including Royal Engineers who were responsible for submarine mining and the operation of searchlights.

This plaque is a tribute to the 48^th Submarine Mining Company, Royal Engineers who were stationed at Esquimalt between 1900 and 1906.

Gore Peace Memorial Park, .09 Ha, was dedicated in 1919 when a memorial ceremony was held on July 19 to honour the young men from Saanich killed in WWI. A peace memorial made out of a granite block was unveiled in the park on November 11, 1957.

The memorial was relocated from the park to the municipal hall after a 5-2 council vote in May 1970. For more information visit the Saanich Archives.

Shelbourne Street became Canada’s first Road of Remembrance on October 2, 1921. Some 5,000 people, including then-premier John Oliver and Lieutenant-Governor Walter Nichol, attended the planting ceremony, which also commemorated British Columbians who died in the Boer War. Original plans were for this to be a British Columbia memorial and to plant one memorial London Planetree for each for each soldier that did not come home. A goal eventually rendered unfeasible by the number of British Columbian soldiers killed (6,000) and there was only space for 800 trees. Other communities were developing their own memorials, so the memorial trees on Shelbourne became a memorial for the greater Victoria area.

A total of 600 trees were planted, running from Mount Douglas Park to Cedar Hill Cross Road in Saanich, and from Hillside to Bay Street in Victoria. Of those, 500 trees stood in Saanich. There were wrought-iron fences with commemorative plaques put around the trees to protect them.

In 1918, Canadians turned to the duty of commemorating the dead. Some promoted practical memorials like Roads of Remembrance. These linear tree-lined avenues had trees that were typically a single species, regularly spaced along each side of the avenue that would grow tall and stately. American elms were chosen for many of these avenues. A small plaque was used to assign a particular tree to a specific fallen soldier. In some cases, the next-of-kin was involved in purchasing the tree and/or plaque for the deceased soldier.

Roads of Remembrance were based on two symbol-laden images. The first was France’s tree-lined country avenues: long straight roads, with large elms on either side, beautiful and useful, and loved by the Canadians overseas. The second symbol was a living memorial: trees represented the victory of life over death. Memorial trees became living symbols of the sacrifices made in France and Belgium.

In October 1918, the Road of Remembrance project was supported by the Women’s Canadian Club, Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire, Great War Veterans Association, British Empire Service League, Rotary and  Kiwanis Clubs, Victoria Chamber of Commerce, and the Good Roads Association.

On April 1, 1960, the District of Saanich’s Council unanimously approved the renaming of Shelbourne Street to Memorial Avenue. The renaming was never completed and today the name legally remains Shelbourne Street. During the 1960’s, the memorial trees from Cedar Hill Cross Road to Torquay were cut down so Shelbourne could be widened from two to four lanes. In 1961, at Gore Memorial Peace Park a small monument was erected in a renewed plan to complete the planting of London Planetrees on Shelbourne.

In the summer of 1971, trees were cut down at the corner of Shelbourne and MacKenzie to make room for a shopping mall. A petition started by two 12 year old girls, Stephanie Gould and Margo Tudman, was sent to the mayor to protest the trees that were cut and to stop more cutting.

In 1976 the Municipality of Saanich, the Heritage Tree Committee and the Victoria Horticultural Society established a small monument with a plaque where Elnido and San Juan meet Shelbourne.

The District of Saanich and the Memorial Avenue Committee rededicated Memorial Avenue on Shelbourne to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the 1918 Armistice and the 1921 Dedication of the Memorial London Planetrees. Saanich installed 30 sign toppers to recognize Memorial Avenue on Shelbourne. The sign toppers were placed on top of existing signs along Shelbourne Street between North Dairy Road and Mount Douglas Park. 

The signs depict the leaf of a London Planetree, which represents the memorial trees planted along Shelbourne. The leaf is coloured red, symbolizing the deep respect for the many who gave their lives for Canada, British Columbia and Greater Victoria. The leaf is flanked by two poppy symbols, which area registered trademark of The Royal Canadian Legion, Dominion Command. The memorial trees have come to represent those lost in all the wars that Canada participated in.

The trees now represent loss in all of Canada's wars. In 2010, the Grade 7 students at Gordon Head Middle School and their teacher Alex de Medeiros organized the planting of trees to commemorate two local soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

In 2018, The Generals Plant Memorial Trees interpretive panel at San Juan and Shelbourne Streets and the Roads of Remembrance interpretive panel at Gore Peace Memorial Park were installed.

This memorial is dedicated to Captain Frederick Percival Trench, Royal Navy. He was Captain of the Royal Arthur, a powerful new British cruiser in 1895. While off the coast of Mexico on May 10, 1895, he died suddenly and was buried at sea. The memorial was erected by the Admiral and Officers of HMS Royal Arthur as a token of their regard for him.

For his service in the upper Burmah campaign, Lieutenant Frederick Perceval Trench was made a Commander on December 18, 1885. The Royal Arthur sailed from Portsmouth, England on March 27, 1895 to the Pacific to relieve the British armored cruiser Warspite as flagship of the British forces in Pacific waters. Captain Frederick Percival Trench was appointed governor of the port of Corinto, Nicaragua in April 1895.

Lt. Governor Randolph Bruce unveiled a Memorial Cairn to honor Leechtown in 1928.  The Leechtown Memorial cairn in Leechtown, B.C. was destroyed by vandals. Remnants of the Leechtown Memorial cairn are on display outside at the Sooke Region Museum and Visitor Center. Lt. Peter John Leech of the Royal Engineers, who was the second in command of the Vancouver Island Exploratory Expedition, and his crew discovered placer gold in July 1864 about 12 miles from Sooke in an unnamed tributary, subsequently named the Leech River. The discovery of gold was the beginning of the gold rush in this region.

Work Point Barracks Memorial was unveiled on 20 June 1987, by the Reviewing Officer as part of the centenary celebrations. It was erected by the Third Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry to commemorate all soldiers that lived in these barracks. The granite stone comes from Beacon Hill Park courtesy of the City of Victoria. Beacon Hill was the temporary home of C Battery, the Regiment of Canadian Artillery that built Work Point Barracks in 1887. 

In 1920, Bravo Company of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry occupied Work Point Barracks until the start of the Second World War. In the fall of 1957 the First Battalion moved to Work Point Barracks from Germany, where it remained until the fall of 1963 when the Battalion returned to Germany. On 19 September 1970, the First Battalion, The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada was re-designated as the Third Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry at Work Point Barracks, and is still their residence.

This stained glass window, The Royal Canadian Navy Centennial Memorial Window 2010, at St. Paul’s Anglican Church was unveiled in 2010 for the Official Naval Centennial Project, to whom it is dedicated.

In May 2007, Rear-Admiral Bill Hughes attended the dedication ceremony in Kingston Ontario of a memorial window to the Princess of Wales Own Regiment. The significance of the memorial window and the dedication ceremony struck a chord with him and he noted that the window resembled the configuration and size of those in his own St. Paul’s Church in Esquimalt. In describing it to his son, Commander Roderick Hughes RCN, the idea of a memorial for the (then) upcoming Royal Canadian Naval Centennial was conceived.

Admiral Hughes proposed the project to the Rector of the Church. A committee was formed with representatives from the Church and the naval side. The committee included Rear-Admiral Ken Summers, Ms. Debbie Towell, Major the Reverend Canon Andrew Gates, Ron Mason, Doug Henderson, Darwin Robinson and Commander Michael Morres. Rear-Admiral Hughes was appointed as the committee Chair. Approval was granted by NDHQ to include the project as an Official Naval Centennial Project. Mercer and Schaefer Glass Studios was selected to undertake the work.

At Lampson Street School, along Lampson Street and Old Esquimalt Road, are trees that were planted in memorial to all First World War soldiers. The original trees planted in 1917 have since required replacement, and an inscribed plaque draws attention to the elm trees. The tree plantings were part of a cross-Canada initiative during the war to honour soldiers. Originally, the four elm trees were planted for four soldiers from Lampson Street School:

John Wilton Douglas Dowler
Killed in action April 11, 1917, aged 25 years.
After attending Lampson, he attended McGill University and was an advocate for the School Cadet Program.

Arthur James Guest
Killed in action June 13, 1916, aged 21 years.
At enlistment he was a brakeman with the E & N Railroad.

Charles Mawer Hardie
Killed in action October 13, 1916, aged 21 years.
At enlistment he was a student at McGill University.

Herbert James Nankivell
Killed in action October 8, 1916, aged 18 years.
At enlistment he was a plumber with Cookson Plumbing Limited, Victoria.

This stained glass window, Sailor’s Window of Remembrance, at St. Paul’s Anglican Church is a set of 3 memorial windows. After The Royal Canadian Navy Centennial Memorial Window (NICMM #59005-063), an Official Naval Centennial Project was dedicated in 2010, the donations left over were sufficient to create a second set of 3 smaller windows for the church. These windows were unveiled in 2011, dedicated to the sailors of the RN, the RFA, and the RCN who have given their lives in the service of their countries.