By Jack Krayenhoff

SYLVIA VAN KIRK is a retired history professor whose main interest was the Hudson’s Bay Company and the social history of the fur trade. Since Victoria got started as a Hudson’s Bay outpost, it was an excellent place to settle and pursue her research on fur trade families.

And what better church to attend there than the Church of Our Lord? It had been established in 1874, just 16 years after the establishment of the colony of British Columbia in 1858 – and is rich in links with the principals of that event, such as Sir James Douglas.

He was the one who donated the land the church was built on, as well as its organ; and visitors to the church can still sit in ‘the Douglas pew.’

As this year is B.C.’s 150th anniversary, it’s a good opportunity to ask Van Kirk about the part the church and its people played in the history of Victoria and the launching of our province.

Van Kirk first traces the early history of the city. Fort Victoria, she says, was established in 1843 as a fur trading post and promoted to the status of colony in 1849.

With the Fraser River gold rush in 1858, Governor Douglas saw the urgent need to maintain law and order, and immediately extended his authority to the mainland.

On November 19, 1858, at old Fort Langley, he issued a Royal Proclamation, creating the new Crown Colony of British Columbia. It was joined to the older colony of Vancouver Island in 1866.

Shortly before the gold rush, the Company had hired a chaplain, Edward Cridge, who arrived in Victoria in 1855.  

He proved to be an energetic and likable clergyman, and soon became widely popular. He presided over the building of the first Anglican church – a little outside the fort, on ‘Church Hill.’ It was opened in 1856 and called Christ Church, after Cridge’s old parish in London.

The great increase in population during the gold rush resulted in the creation of the Anglican Diocese of British Columbia.

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Cridge might have been the obvious man to become bishop. But one day, to his surprise, a ship from England brought one  Bishop George Hills to town. Suddenly Cridge had a boss. He was given the position of dean of the cathedral.

Now Van Kirk proceeds to the drama of the church fight which followed. While Cridge was ‘Low Church’ and strongly evangelical, Hills was ‘High Church,’ emphasizing the importance of ritual.

Meanwhile the church building had burned down, and a second cathedral was constructed. At its official dedication in 1872, the preacher gave a ‘High Church’ sermon – which so offended Cridge that at the end of it, he got up and publicly denounced what had been said.

The ensuing conflict led to a civil lawsuit, in which Matthew Begbie – famously known as the ‘hanging judge’ – found against Cridge. In the end, the latter built a church of his own: the Church of Our Lord.

He also linked up with the Reformed Episcopal Church, which in the U.S. had split off from the Episcopal Church over the same issues Cridge faced. Its first doctrine was the supreme authority of Holy Scripture.

Among the parishioners who followed Cridge were many noteworthy Victoria pioneers. In addition to Governor James Douglas, there was his son-in-law, Dr. J.S. Helmcken, the colony’s first physician. Senator William John MacDonald was a member, as well as the Carr family – including Emily, the famous painter.

Both Cridge and his wife had an important humanitarian influence on Victoria society.

When sick people came to their door they took care of them, and eventually this care led to the establishment of the Royal Jubilee Hospital. During the gold rush, infants and children found themselves without parents.

Cridge, with the help of Presbyterian and Methodist clergy, founded the B.C. Protestant Orphans Home in 1873 – now the Cridge Centre for the Family.

In addition, Cridge promoted music and culture. He was an accomplished cellist, and there is some reason to consider him the originator of the Victoria Symphony Orchestra. 

Van Kirk concludes: “The Church of Our Lord has been designated a National Historic Site, and its history provides a window on the social and theological currents of 150 years ago. It is a sacred place that continues its tradition of being a light to the community.”

June 2008