Philip Timms was born in Toronto in 1874, and moved to Vancouver with his wife Lizzie in 1898. Timms worked as a commercial photographer, and operated a photography and printing shop from 1900 to 1968. Timms was a member of the Royal Photographic Society, and the official photographer for the Vancouver Museum. Timms died in 1973.
Thurston was a member of the original crew and medic on the "Phyllis Cormack" in 1971 for the first Greenpeace campaign. He continued to work with Greenpeace and was a co-founder of Greenpeace International in 1979. He died in Victoria, B.C.
Edgar Thrupp was a civil engineer practicing in Vancouver in the 1920s and 1930s.
Thrupp was born Jun 6, 1863 in Adelaide, Australia. He died June 27, 1951.
Thompson was born in Bailieboro, Ontario, May 27, 1864. He had offices in many locations in New Westminster and Vancouver.
Henrietta Thompson was a member of the B.C. Social Credit Association and secretary of the Vancouver Centre Constituency organization.
Born in 1905, George Thompson came to Vancouver from Saskatchewan in 1926. Thompson began working in photography circa 1920; the B.C. directory of 1928 lists him as a finisher for the Eastman Kodak Company and in 1930 he is listed as a salesman for the company, residing at 1016 Nelson Street. In 1932, he established and became President of the Vancouver Photo Supply Limited company and by 1938 he had also founded the Victoria Photo Supply Limited company. By 1941, he had produced two colour motion pictures of Vancouver used by the British Columbia Government Travel Bureau.
In 1938, Thompson was elected President of the Kitsilano Chamber of Commerce, and in 1940 and 1941 he was the President of the Kitsilano Ratepayers Association. He ran unsuccessfully for the Board of Parks Commissioners as an independent in 1941, but was elected for three consecutive terms as an NPA candidate beginning in 1943. He also served on the 1952 West Vancouver Council. Thompson was a member of the Lions' Club, the Reserve Battalion of the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, the Associated Property Owners' Association and the City Archives Committee. He began showing horses in the 1940s, including the champion stallion Goldheart.
In 1930, Thompson married Ruby Florence Wood, daughter of Vancouver jeweller Arthur Wood, and the couple had two daughters. The family lived at the following addresses in Vancouver: 3426 West 27th Avenue (1930 to 1934), 2805 West 34th Avenue (1934-1940) and 2154 West 33rd Avenue (1939), before moving to West Vancouver in the early 1950s, eventually to a house at 865 Wildwood Lane.
Charles Thompson was a Vancouver businessman and politician. Born in Grey County, Ontario, he moved to Vancouver in 1924 and eventually established Vancouver Motors Limited. He managed the mayoralty campaign of G.G. McGeer in 1934. He was elected alderman for the term 1945 1946, and re-elected for 1947-1948. He was elected mayor for 1949-1950.
Terry Hannigan was a former City employee working for the Sanitation Department. He retired in 1975 as Superintendent of Sanitation.
William Taylor, a resident of South Vancouver, joined the 11th Regiment Irish Fusiliers for home service in 1915 but went overseas with the 121st Battalion in 1916. He was wounded near Lens while serving with the 102nd North British Columbians in 1917, and spent the remainder of the war in hospital.
Theodore (Ted) Pierce Taylor was born September 5, 1896 in Oak Park, Illinois, to L.D. and Annie Louise Taylor, shortly after L.D. s arrival in Vancouver, British Columbia. Annie and Ted joined L.D. in Vancouver in 1901, and lived there until 1906, when Annie moved Ted and his brother Kenneth (Ken) (b. 1902) to Los Angeles.
Ted graduated from L.A. Berendo High School in June 1915. As a student, he was active in theatre and the school newspaper. Upon graduation, he began writing about motion pictures and, in 1918, he became a reporter for the Los Angeles Times . In March 1919, Ted was hired as the Director of the News Department for the Metro Pictures Corporation. Upon his resignation in May 1920, he became the editor and publisher of the Studio Publicists Association s Mouth Organ . Later that year he worked for Universal Pictures for a short time and then concentrated on freelance publicity work for individuals such as Ferdinand Earle, William Desmond Taylor and Reginald Barker. In 1921 Ted married Ruth Wing.
Following employment as the editor and publisher of CAMERA! in 1921 and 1922, Ted was hired as Motion Picture Editor and editor of the Cinematters column for the Los Angeles Record in July 1922. In 1923, he also worked as a publicist for the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation.
Immediately following an appointment as the Los Angeles representative of the New York Morning Telegraph in January 1925, Ted moved to Paris, France with Mary Beaton (b. July 19, 1905), the daughter of Octavia (d. 1946) and George Beaton (d. 1938). Having obtained a divorce from Ruth Wing, he married Mary and she gave birth to a daughter, Mary Louise Taylor, on April 16, 1925. Mary died shortly after from complications related to the birth. Ted remained in Paris until September 1928, working as a reporter for the Paris Times . Octavia Beaton arrived in Paris in later in 1925 to care for Mary Louise, and returned with Mary to the United States in 1928. In 1929, they joined Ted in Los Angeles.
Upon his return to Los Angeles, Ted became the manager of the L.A. Press Services, which Ken, now the editor of the Los Angeles Express, had been running in his absence. For the next several years, Ted was employed in various press positions, including: reporter, Variety (September 1929 to June 1932); editor, Los Angeles Today (September 1933); reporter and assistant editor, Hollywood Reporter (May 1934-October 1937); publicity copy editor, features, Columbia Pictures (October 1937-June 1940); editor and weekly columnist, Hollywood MOVIES (August to December 1940, 1941). He then worked as a freelance publicist, and acquired additional employment with the Screen Publicists Guild, Screen Cartoonists Guild, Hollywood Sun , War Labor Board, Federated Press, and the magazines Frauds and Cosmopolitan . He was also a co-writer of Leonard Louis Levinson s The Left-Handed Dictionary .
Ted was an active member of several organizations during his career, including the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers (WAMPAS), Screen Publicists Guild, Affiliated Picture Interests, Committee of 14, Los Angeles Press Club, American Newspaper Guild, Motion Picture Democratic Committee, Conference of Studio Unions, Los Angeles Central Labor Council, and the Victory Council.
Louis Denison (L.D.) Taylor was born to Gustavus and Amy (nee Denison) Taylor on July 22, 1857 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was educated in the public school system in Ann Arbor and brought up a Congregationalist.
After graduating from high school, L.D. secured a position at the University of Michigan Library. In the mid-1880’s, he was a partner in a truss company and bicycle business in Ann Arbor, and a teller at the First National Bank. In 1891 he moved to Chicago to work as an assistant auditor for the Wabash Railroad.
The following year, on May 26, L.D. married Annie Louise Pierce, the daughter of Chicago architect Osborne J. Pierce and his wife Caroline. Subsequently, L.D. began work as an accountant at a lumber company. In August 1896, L.D. was arrested for charges of embezzlement relating to his partnership in the North and Taylor Bank on West Madison Avenue in Chicago, and fled north to Canada. He arrived in Vancouver on September 8, 1896.
Due to a lack of job opportunities in Vancouver, L.D. left the city in early 1897 in search of work, travelling to California, Texas and Colorado, where he found employment selling newspaper subscriptions. By spring he returned to British Columbia to do some prospecting at Harrison Lake and in the Cassiar District. Unsuccessful with these ventures, he secured a job as a baggage clerk with the Canadian Pacific Railway in Revelstoke. In May 1898, he left for the Klondike to try prospecting a second time; unsuccessful in his efforts, he returned to Vancouver in the fall and acquired a job as a freight handler with the CPR.
In 1899 L.D. secured employment with The Daily Province as manager of its circulation department. He lived across the street from the newspaper, in a boarding house on Hastings Street, until he purchased a home in Fairview, at approximately 8th Avenue and Willow Street, in 1899.
L.D.’s first son, Theodore (Ted) Pierce Taylor, was born on September 5, 1896. Annie and Ted joined L.D. in Vancouver in 1901, and the family settled in the Fairview house. A second son, Kenneth (Ken), was born in 1902. In 1906, L.D. and Annie separated; Annie left Vancouver with Ted and Ken, to live with her parents in Los Angeles. After residing for a short time in the West End, L.D. moved into the Granville Mansions apartments at 715 Robson Streets in 1909.
In May 1905, L.D. purchased The Vancouver Daily World newspaper (also called The Daily World, The Vancouver World, and The World) with funds raised from investors. In 1912, having greatly boosted the newspaper’s circulation, Taylor constructed the World Building at 500 Beatty Street, to house the newspaper's production, and to provide commercial rental space. For two years, it was the tallest building in the British Empire. However, due to an economic recession, Taylor was unable to rent the additional space. The paper went into debt, and he was forced to sell it in 1915.
While still living in Ann Arbor, L.D. had run unsuccessfully for Alderman. His political career in Vancouver began with a successful bid for one of two available positions of Licence Commissioner in 1902. In 1903 he was not successful and neither was he in his bids for alderman in 1904 and 1905. He was, however, appointed by Council to serve on the Library Board and the Building Committee of the Carnegie Library in 1903.
In 1909, while owner of The World, L.D. ran for Mayor of Vancouver, but lost. He was elected the following year. This would be the first of nine mayoral election wins. Excluding the period 1916 to 1921, L.D. ran for Mayor in every civic election until 1938; he was elected Mayor in 1910, 1911, 1915, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1930 and 1932 (a total of eleven years). In 1935 and 1937 he ran unsuccessfully for Alderman.
As Mayor, L.D.’s contributions included the construction of the Sea Island Airport; the establishment of a Town Planning Commission, The Greater Vancouver Water District Board, a juvenile court, and an eight hour work day for civic employees; and the amalgamation of Vancouver with South Vancouver and Point Grey. L.D. also played leading roles in the construction of the Second Narrows, Burrard Street, and Lion’s Gate bridges; the development of False Creek; and the creation of a City Archives. As a champion of the “Single-Tax System,” he introduced municipal tax revisions, and removed taxes on improvements. He was an advocate for universal sufferage and the working class.
In 1916 L.D. and Annie were divorced and Taylor married Alice Helena Berry, who had been the Managing Director of The World for several years. Berry passed away in 1919, and Taylor never married again.
L.D. did not abandon the publishing business after the sale of The World. During his brief retirement from politics, 1916 to 1924, he established several publications, including The Critic, The B.C. Mining News, and The Vancouver Oil and Mining Record.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, L.D. experienced some setbacks to his health. While exiting an airplane in1928, he was seriously injured by the plane’s propeller. The following year, he nearly drowned while boating in the Parsnip River. In July 1932, L.D. suddenly took ill and was unable to attend to his civic duties for five months.
After his last term in office in 1934, L.D. maintained a strong interest in Vancouver’s political affairs. In 1937 he began publishing a small newspaper called The New Deal, which he used to comment on the current civic administration and to promote his aldermanic campaign platform.
In his private time, he was a member of several clubs and organizations, including The Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks (Elks Club), the Loyal Order of Moose, the Turf Club, and the Dramatic Order Knights of Khorassan.
L.D. passed away on June 4, 1946 at age 88.
Tate, Charles Montgomery, Reverend
The Reverend Charles Montgomery Tate (1832-1933) was a Methodist minister who was involved in work with the First Nations of the Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island.
He was born in Northumberland, and arrived in Victoria, intending to go to the Cariboo gold fields. Instead, he went to Nanaimo and taught English to the Native Indians of the area. In 1879 he was ordained at the first Methodist Conference in Victoria. He went on to publish portions of the Scriptures in Chinook, and established the Coqualeetza Residential School in Sardis. He retired in Victoria in 1910.
Michel J. Sym operated M.J. Sym Photographic Laboratories, at 274 Main Street, Winnipeg, during the 1940s, and a film production company, Michel J. Sym Studios, from an address at 468 Academy Road, Winnipeg, during the 1950s and 1960s. Through Michel J. Sym Studios, Sym created commercial and promotional films for the Manitoba Provincial Government and for organizations such as the Manitoba Motor League, the Manitoba Beet Growers Association, and the Manitoba Sugar Company Limited.
Campbell Sweeny was born in Phillipsburg, Quebec, and was first employed with the Bank of Montreal in Hamilton. In 1887 he became Manager of the first Bank of Montreal branch in Vancouver. From 1901-1915 he was Superintendent of all Bank Branches in B.C. He was a director of the B.C. Packer Association, the Royal Trust Company and the Western Power Company. He was honorary President of the Vancouver Rowing Club and was active in the Vancouver Cricket Club.
Charles Edward Sweeney was born on August 30, 1930. He is one of eight children of Leo Sweeney, owner of Sweeney Cooperage Ltd. Ed Sweeney later became Vice President of that firm, although he eventually sold his share to brothers Frank and Jack in 1972. After three unsuccessful attempts, Sweeney gained an aldermanic seat in 1966, running on the Non-Partisan Association (N.P.A.) slate. He served three terms before being defeated again in the 1972 election. He ran once more, successfully, in 1974, but did not seek re-election after serving that term. Sweeney also had some interest in provincial politics. Switching from the provincial Liberal Party to the Social Credit Party in 1968, he was nominated as a candidate for West Point Grey in the provincial election of 1972, but failed to gain a seat.
Term of office:
1967-1976
Erwin Swangard was born in Munich, Germany in 1908 and came to Canada in 1930. He worked as a sports reporter and journalist for the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, the Vancouver Sun, the Province, and the Toronto Globe. A strong supporter of sport and athletics in British Columbia, Swangard was one of the founders of the B.C. Lions Football Club, and raised almost $1 million to build the Swangard Stadium in Burnaby's Central Park. Swangard was elected president of the Pacific National Exhibition in 1977 and held the post for 13 years. He was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1989 and of the Order of British Columbia in 1990.
James J. Sutherland, Barrister and Solicitor, practiced law in Vancouver.
Fred Sunday was a self-employed commercial photographer who worked in Vancouver.
Fred Sunday was born Dec. 31, 1899 in Germany, and emigrated to Canada in 1929. He arrived in Vancouver in the early 1930s and for a few years operated as BC Photo Service, before later working under his own name. Sunday died Aug. 25, 1961.
Alexander J. Stuart (obt. 1932) was a graduate of the Medical Faculty of the University of Aberdeen in 1885. He came to Canada and practiced in Ontario from 1888 to 1901. In 1901 he began his practice in Mission City, where he was subsequently appointed Provincial Medical Officer. Dr. Stuart died in December 1932.
Roy P. Strable was a commercial photographer operating in Victoria, B.C. In 1961 he was operating Jus-Rite Photo Studios at 716 Yates Street.
Richard Storer was born in England and moved to Vancouver prior to World War I. He served as a fighter pilot and aerial photographer with the Royal Flying Corps and was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre. After the war, he returned to Vancouver and established a printing business, but he continued to fly. In 1932, he and a co-pilot flew from Montreal to Vancouver in a biplane to attempt a one-day non-stop air mail service.
Ada Stevenson (nee Corlett) was born in Chicago, Illinois, and came to Vancouver in 1893. She opened the first kindergarten in Vancouver in 1898. She married A. E. Stevenson 1910. After his death in 1915, Ada returned to teaching at Alexandra Orphanage. She was also active in the Vancouver Manx Society. Stevenson donated Callister Park to the City in 1942.
Henry Herbert Stevens was born in England in 1878 and went to Peterborough, Ontario, with his family in 1887. He moved to Vernon, B.C. in 1894, where he worked as a grocer, a miner and a prospector. During the Depression, Stevens served in the American Army in the Philippines and in China during the Boxer Rebellion. He then went into the real estate and insurance business in Vancouver, becoming president of Vancouver Holdings Limited. He served as an alderman (1910-1911), Conservative MP for Vancouver ridings (1911-1930), and MP for East Kootenay (1930-1940). In 1921 and from 1930-34 he was Minister of Trade and Commerce, and in 1926 was Minister of Customs and Excise. In 1935 he formed the Reconstruction Party, rejoining the Conservative Party in 1938. From 1952-53 he served as the president of the Vancouver Board of Trade, running unsuccessfully in the federal election of 1953. He died on June 14, 1973, in Vancouver.
Gordon Stevens was the Chief Probation Officer of the Vancouver Juvenile Court from 1935-1971.
Alexander Maitland Stephen was born and educated near Paisley, Grey Co., Ontario. In his teens he went to British Columbia where he worked on ranches and in mines before becoming a rural schoolteacher. He gained more experience in ranching and prospecting in Alberta and Mexico and then went to Chicago University where he earned a B.Sc. in architecture. He practiced his profession until the first World War, when he was sent overseas and was wounded in France. After the war, Stephen settled in Vancouver, where he took an active part in social and labour movements. He was first vice-president of the Child Welfare Association of B.C. and later served as president. He taught literature and history in the city school system. His writing and political activities occupied him until his death in July 1942. In the later 1920s he was associate editor of a weekly newspaper, "The Western Tribune". Stephen was also president of the Vancouver Poetry Society. He joined the CCF because of his advocacy of a "popular front" with the Communists. He was president of the League Against War and Fascism. In the later 1930s, Stephen organized various groups which raised funds for the people of Spain and China, as well as protesting against fascism: Spanish Defence Fund, China Aid Council, Medical Aid for China Committee, and the Embargo Council. A.M. Stephen became ill with pneumonia in March 1942 and died on 1 July 1942. Most of his works were published by J.M. Dent and Sons, a Vancouver firm whose vice-president was William Gordon Stephen, brother of A.M. Stephen. His most significant works are: The Rosary of Pan, 1923, poetry; The Voice of Canada, 1926, anthology of verse; Golden Treasury of Canadian Verse, 1927; Land of Singing Waters, 1927, poetry; The Kingdom of the Sun, 1927, novel; The Gleaming Archway, 1929, novel; Classroom Plays from Canadian History, 1929; Brown Earth and Bunch Grass, 1931, poetry; Canadian Industrial Plays, 1931; Verendrye: A Poem of the New World, 1935; Lords of the Air: Poems of the Present War, 1941.
Pearl Steen was born in Victoria and educated in Vancouver. She has long been active in women's organizations. Beginning in 1935 she was named president of the Vancouver Business and Professional Women's Club and is also a past president of the National Council of Women, Vancouver Council of Women and the Vancouver Women's Canadian Club. In addition, she was president of the Point Grey Conservative Association in 1936-1937 and was an unsuccessful candidate in the 1952 provincial election. She also served on the Vancouver School Board from 1947 to 1952, being Chairman in 1950. In 1958 she was member of the B.C. Centennial Committee and a delegate to the UN in 1960. In 1967 she was Vancouver's Good Citizen.
Born in Michigan, Stark moved to California in his 20s. He worked as a postcard photographer in Marin County from the 1920s to the early 1950s, photographing many of the western states.
Edmund Spillman was a pioneer painter and decorator in Vancouver who arrived here in 1890 or 1891. His decorating firm functioned as late as 1917.
John James Southcott was a native of Plymouth, England. He emigrated to London, Ontario, where he married Annie Caldwell in 1874. They settled in Vancouver in 1889 where J.J. operated a wholesale tea business. He died at the age of 83.
Norman Smith was a timber cruiser; he worked at his father's firm, Eustace Smith Ltd.
Jack Smith was born in Regina in 1910 and moved to Burnaby in 1930 with his family (his father was George Beddoes Smith, a journalist) where he became a friend of the Harcourt brothers. Smith was trained as a photographer, eventually working with Jack Lindsay (1940), D'Arcy Photo Studio, Thomas Hamilton (1946), Don Coultman, Taylor Pearson, and Leo's Cameras.