Life and times of Dr. John Sebastian Helmcken

Abstract

Audio recording of Ainslie Helmcken's 1972 presentation to the Nanaimo Historical Society regarding his grandfather, Dr. John Sebastian Helmcken, who was an early medical doctor in Victoria, British Columbia. Mr. Helmcken's talk outlines his grandfather's arrival to the Colony of Vancouver Island in 1850, his experiences there, and his involvement in local politics, including when British Columbia joined Confederation in 1871. Mr. Helmcken also gives several anecdotes about some of his grandfather's contemporaries, including James Douglas, Amor De Cosmos, Roderick Finlayson, William John Macdonald, and Joseph Pemberton.