AN EYE FOR A GOOD PICTURE The legacy of John Aitken

The camera work of amateur photographer John Aitken provides rare glimpses of early settlement on Mayne Island as well as other parts of the southern Gulf Islands, and even includes one or two relating to the Klondike gold rush. Aitken’s images are skillfully composed and beautifully executed—all done by an amateur photographer with a 4x5 camera in his hands and a good eye for his surroundings.

Born in Scotland on November 4th, 1873, John Aitken took his place as the fourth child and second son of Alexander and Janet Aitken (née Chalmers). John’s destiny, along with that of his family, was bound up with the economic circumstances of the time, which saw a large exodus of Scotland’s population in the mid-1880s—due in large part to increasing urbanization and industrialization in the Lowlands. Some 80,000 Scots came to Canada between 1871 and 1901 to seek a better future. John Aitken was destined for an interesting life, far from his homeland.

Fifteen-year-old Aitken crossed the Atlantic to Canada aboard the , arriving in Halifax on December 19, 1888.