John Sebastian Helmcken

"I have always been and possibly still am - friendly with everyone - with plenty of good feeling and common honesty - but curiously never had any intimate friend - and intimacy - no one to rush to pour out your heart and receive his in exchange...perhaps had too many friends and not one in particular. Well I am old now, and my passionate character has toned down!"

Notes

John Sebastian Helmcken arrived at Fort Victoria an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company as a surgeon and clerk. He left England because his financial situation dictated his not being able to set up his own practice there. Helmcken remained an employee of the HBC until 1885, and was physician to the jail in Victoria from 1851 to 1910. In 1852 he married Cecilia Douglas, James Douglas' first daughter; although she only lived until 1865, she had seven children, only three of whom survived. In 1856 he was elected Speaker for the first Legislative Assembly and he remained in the position for ten years. He is in the middle of the bottom row in the photograph.