Helmcken House Historic Site

John Sebastian Helmcken arrived in Fort Victoria in 1850 to work as a physician for the Hudson’s Bay Company and remained there for the rest of his life, marrying Cecilia Douglas, the eldest daughter of Governor James Douglas. The young couple had a small log cabin built there in 1852 next to their in-laws home, and as the family grew the house also grew larger. It is one of the oldest houses in western Canada. Helmcken practiced medicine during the fur trade, the gold rush, and the colonial era, and he helped create its modern, professional form in British Columbia. As a politician, he served in the first Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island in 1856 as the first Speaker. Initially an opponent of Confederation, he went with the Ottawa delegation in 1870 to negotiate the terms by which British Columbia would join Canada. After this, he retired from politics and returned to medicine and his family, living in this house until his death in 1920. In 1939, the family transferred the house and Helmcken’s memoirs to the provincial government.

British Columbia · Canada