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| Ross Bay Cemetery (detail of HP42413 - BC Archives) |
Ross Bay Cemetery (RBC) is not the oldest or the largest cemetery in the province of British Columbia, but it is perhaps the best example of a Victorian-era romantic cemetery. Lots of well-known people are buried here. RBC also has many well-preserved gravestones that show the monument styles of the late nineteenth and the twentieth centuries. From RBC’s opening in 1873 until now, almost 28,000 people have been buried in its 35,000 plots.
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| Ross Bay Cemetery (detail of HP42413 - BC Archives) |
After Fort Victoria was founded, a small graveyard was opened at what is now the southwest corner of Douglas St. and Johnson St. In 1855, a new cemetery was opened, the Quadra Street Cemetery, now known as the Old Burying Ground (or Pioneer Square). When the old cemetery was closed, most of the bodies were moved from there to Quadra Street to make way for buildings and roads. The last burial in the Quadra Street Cemetery was in 1873. It closed when Ross Bay Cemetery opened. Only a few of the approximately 1000 burials in the Old Burying Ground on Quadra Street were moved to Ross Bay.
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| Views of Ross Bay Cemetery (Click to see larger versions) |
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As the Quadra Street Cemetery was filling up, the city looked for a good location for a new, larger cemetery. The original site the city chose for Victoria’s new cemetery was 47 acres just outside the city near Ogden Point. The land was given to Victoria’s Cemetery Trustees in 1872 and was to have 12 acres cleared for use right away. Many people opposed this site, including Dr. J.S. Helmcken. They said it was too valuable to use for a cemetery, and it was a health risk because it was on the city’s windward side. Taking the protests of the citizens to heart, the city sold some of the land. It then bought 13 acres of cleared land at Ross Bay from Robert Burnaby (the man for whom the municipality of Burnaby would be named) for $300 per acre. By October 1872, the site was being laid out and drained, and by the following March, plots were being offered for sale.
The cemetery was named Ross Bay Cemetery because it is beside Ross Bay. The bay was named after Isabella Ross who had purchased the land in the 1850s.
Go here for a gallery of images of Ross Bay Cemetery.
In 1893 the city bought the western portion of the cemetery but did not open it for burials until 1900. Then in 1906, the city bought property owned by the Roman Catholic Church along the eastern side of the cemetery for $1.00. This eastern land was originally owned by Isabella Ross, as was all the land that made up the eastern two-thirds cemetery. Today, Ross Bay Cemetery is 27.5 acres (11 hectares).
