Heritage Register
Rockland

1008 Carberry Gardens

Built 1907
Heritage-Designated 2000

For: George Mesher

Architect/Contractor: George C. Mesher & Son

ARCHITECTURE:

This is an eclectic two-storey, hip-roofed house, almost entirely without eaves. The left side of the façade has a second-storey rectangular extension over a first-storey angled bay; the right side has a cantilevered, bracketed second-storey oriel bay. The foundation and second floor are clad in subtly flared shingles, the ground floor in drop siding framed by corner boards and belt courses. There is an inset corner porch on the left side, and a cantilevered two-storey rectangular blind bay on the right, to which a modern carport has been attached. The second-floor front windows are paired casements, those on the ground floor are double-hung sash with horns.
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ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

Owners: 1907-11: George Mesher paid taxes on the property.

1911-12: Rev. Canon William Francis Locke Paddon (1844-1922) was vicar of the Gulf Islands Anglican Parish of the Columbia Diocese. Educated at Wadham College, Oxford, England, he was ordained in 1870. After serving at Kilmeen, Galway, Ireland, Paddon came to BC in 1889. In 1895 he moved to Mayne Island, built the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in 1897, and lived in the Vicarage until his death. His wife was Irish-born Kathleen Rebecca Robinson (1852-1945).

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

Tenants: 1908: Auctioneer John Robert Stewart Watkin Williams (b. Birmingham, ENG 1863-1935) and Amy Violet (née Scrocold, 1868-1943) later moved to 1002 Carberry Gdns until John’s death. John came to Vancouver Island in the late-1880s and to Victoria in 1902. He retired from auctioneering several years before his death. Amy moved to Quamichan Lake near Duncan in 1936.

1909: Major Trevor Mawdsley Foote (b. Yorkshire, ENG 1877-1917) was educated at Oxford, came to BC in 1901, and worked for the Canadian Bank of Commerce. He returned to England in 1910, came back in 1913, then joined the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment in WWI. He died in July 1917, five months after being wounded at Vimy Ridge, and is buried in Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery in Belgium, near Ypres.

Owners: 1913-28: Col. Josiah Greenwood Holmes, DSO (b. St. Catharines, ON 1845-1928) and his wife Elizabeth (née Kew, b. Beamsville, ON 1850-1926) married in 1870. Josiah entered the militia while attending Grantham Academy in Ontario. He took part in the Fenian Raid campaigns in 1866 and 1870, became an original member of Canada’s First Permanent Force in 1871, then the Canadian School of Gunnery, later the Royal Canadian Artillery, when Imperial forces withdrew from Canada [except from Halifax and Esquimalt]. In 1883 Josiah was promoted to colonel, and organized the Pacific fleet in Esquimalt as its first commandant. In 1893 he transferred to Winnipeg, then London, ON, but returned to Esquimalt in 1901 as commanding District Officer until retiring in 1909.

1930: Beaumont Boggs (1140 Arthur Currie Ln, Vic West).

1931: Major Ralph Otter Gregory Morton.

1931-38: Col. Hugh MacIntyre Urquhart (b. Scotland 1880-1950) and his sister, Elizabeth (1882-1968) lived at 855 Pemberton Rd, Rockland, in 1928-30 and 608 Trutch St, Fairfield, in 1946-68. Hugh came to Winnipeg in 1908. In 1914 he enlisted for WWI with the Winnipeg 79th Camerons, then with the 16th Battalion, Canadian Scottish Regiment (CSR) of the CEF. He was awarded the Military Cross and Distinguished Service Order in 1917, and promoted to major then lieutenant-colonel in command of the 43rd Battalion, CEF. France awarded him the Croix de Guerre. From 1921-26 he was Additional Aide de Camp to King George V and commander of the 1st Battalion, CSR, then transferred to the reserves. In 1932 Col. Urquhart published The History of the 16th Battalion (The Canadian Scottish), CEF, in the Great War, 1914-1919. From 1940-46 he returned to active service as colonel in charge of the CSR. On his retirement he was decorated as a Commander, Royal Victorian Order. In 1950 he published Arthur Currie: Biography of a Great Canadian (1114 Arthur Currie Lane, Vic West), the first book on the Victoria man who orchestrated the taking of Vimy Ridge. Hugh died in 1950 and was buried with full military honours at Christ Church Cathedral.

1940-50: Schoolteacher Gertrude Eva Scott (née Maynard, b.Aberglele, Conway, WAL 1864-1949), the widow of Henry John Scott.

1951-54: Labourer Thomas Blight (b. Cornwall, ENG 1889-1953) and Violet Theodora (née Locke, b. 1898) married in 1918. Thomas came to Canada in 1913, served with the CEF during WWI, and came toVictoria in 1918.

1954-55: Miss Ursula Primrose-Wells.

c.1957-1974: BC government draftsman, then newspaper reporter, Robert Sydney Ivor Pethick (1925-1974) and Rose Janet (née Frew).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Map of Victoria's Heritage Register Properties

• Rockland History

• Rockland Heritage Register


• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Three: Rockland, Burnside, Harris Green,
Hillside-Quadra, North Park & Oaklands