1856 Vancouver Island election explained

Members elected to the First House of Assembly of Vancouver Island which sat from August 12, 1856, to December 7, 1859.[1] The election was two years before the first newspaper started so there is no known record of the vote totals.

This was not a free election. There were property qualifications for candidates (to run, you had to have at least 300 pounds of freehold land) and for voters (to vote, you had to own at least 20 acres).

Only 40 could vote In the whole colony.[2]

A mix of multi-member districts and single-member districts:

Victoria 3 members

Esquimalt 2 members

Sooke 1 member

Nanaimo 1 member.

Likely block voting was used in the multi-member districts and first-past-the-post voting in the single member districts, if a vote was held at all.

Constituency

Victoria District

Esquimalt District

Sooke District

Nanaimo District

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Archived copy . 2012-05-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130521031853/http://archives.leg.bc.ca/EPLibraries/leg_arc/document/ID/LibraryTest/1784259026 . 2013-05-21 . dead .
  2. Book: Hill, Douglas . The Opening of the Canadian West . 99.