The Origin of British Columbia’s First Common School

During the Colony of Vancouver Island’s formative years (1849–1853), three types of basic education evolved: church-run, Hudson’s Bay Company-controlled, and common schooling. Who taught in that first schoolhouse? Which type of education represents the origins of the current public school system in the province?

In 1849, the British government established the Crown Colony of Vancouver Island and leased its 31,284 square km to the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) for 7 shillings (about $54 today) a year. The Colonial Office cut a special deal with the HBC directors. The HBC agreed to act as the Crown’s “sponsoring agent,” if it could retain a relatively free hand in governing the colony. The Company was contracted to: survey the island, sell land at “reasonable price,” promote immigration, regulate commerce and industry, and spend 90 percent of land revenues on roads, churches, schools, and other facilities for settlers. For every 100 acres a settler bought at £1 per acre ($385/ha today), he had to bring, at his own expense, three married couples or five single men. For every eight square miles (2.6 km ) of land sold in the colony, a square mile would be earmarked for the use of Anglican clergy, and a further square mile would be reserved for “church and churchyard, schools, and other public purposes.” The HBC had five years to fulfill or forfeit the grant.

By March 1850, only a handful of immigrant children, whose parents were HBC employees, had arrived. Consequently, Chief