Professional Classes

Who made up the professional class in Nanaimo in 1891? The term professional refers to individuals with specialized training who provide a service deemed essential by society and whose occupation demands special qualifications, including licenses or certificates. For this study, we looked at individuals who were identified in the census and city directories as accountants, architects, land surveyors, and civil engineers; as notaries, lawyers, magistrates and county court judges; as clergymen, dentists, doctors, and pharmacists; and as school principals and school teachers. Individuals who were identified with these occupations comprised Nanaimo's professional class in 1891

There were seven accountants in Nanaimo in 1891: Mark Bate, Ward J. Bell, Wesley Bryant, Charles W. Durrant, Charles Hardy, William Manson, and J. E. Taggart. With one exception, they lived in the North Ward. Three of the accountants — Bate, Bell, and Bryant — were homeowners, the others were lodgers. With respect to religion, two were Anglicans, two Presbyterians, two Methodists, and one Unitarian. Their ages ranged from 19 to 30 years.

There were four architects in Nanaimo — David William Gordon, John J. Honeyman, Williams O'Dell, and Francis Gregg. They ranged from 29 to 54 years of age. Gordon was an Anglican-born Ontarian and was married twice, the first time to Emma Elizabeth Robb and the second to Katherine Statirah Shepard of Ontario. His home, called "Seaview," was located in the North Ward on Prideaux Street. John J. Honeyman was a Scottish Presbyterian who boarded with Alfred Dixon, a carpenter. Dixon lived in the North Ward on Vancouver Avenue. William O'Dell at 24 years of age was the youngest of the architects. He was an Ontario-born Presbyterian who boarded in the Middle Ward with Thomas Milne, a building painter. Francis Gregg, a Scottish Anglican, lived in the North Ward with his American-born wife Susan. Civil engineer Elijah Priest was an English Anglican. Priest and his wife and daughter lived in the North Ward. Lucy Mebius, a school teacher, boarded with the Priest family.

Of the three lawyers who lived in Nanaimo, two were single and one was married. Yet all three men owned homes in either the South or Middle Wards. Donald Smith of Nova Scotia was a Presbyterian whereas Charles Potts and Edmund Yarwood were English Anglicans. While it was not possible to ascertain the assessed value of these men's homes, the assessed value for Donald Smith's place of work was $1600.

Judge Eli Harrison was a 39-year old Anglican who had immigrated to Canada from England. He was married to 29-year old Eunice who came from Ontario. Together they had five children. When the census was taken in April 1891 they were living in an eleven-roomed house in Wellington, but not long after the family moved to a large home on Front Street in the North Ward. They employed a male Chinese by name of Gowey Ah. The Stipendiary Magistrate for Nanaimo was 50-year old Joseph Pryhs Planta, a former school teacher. Planta was born in Wales and was a member of the Church of England. His 45-year old wife Sarah was born in Australia and was a Baptist. Their two daughters, Lillian and Nellie, were Methodists.

Nanaimo's dentists lived in the North Ward. Herbert Hall was a Methodist from Ontario who owned a property on the corner of 4th and Vancouver Avenue where he lived with his wife and two children. He rented out a room to the city's other dentist, Mr. George Hall.

There were four doctors in Nanaimo and they ranged in age from 28 to 40 years. All of the doctors were married. Three of the four lived in the Middle Ward: Dr. Michael Callan owned two properties, one at the corner of Comox and Front Street and one on Front Street. Dr. Lewis Davis resided on Albert Street and Dr. Peter J. Rice lived on Wallace Street. Dr. Emil Praeger — who was the principal medical officer for the city's largest employer, the New Vancouver Coal Mining and Land Company — was the only doctor who lived in the North Ward. Dr. Praeger owned two properties in the North Ward and lived in a 10-room mansion called "Rockleigh." All of the physicians, except for Dr. Callin, were Anglicans. Dr. Callin, who was a Roman Catholic, came from Ireland, Dr. Praeger came from England, and Dr. Davis came from the United States. Dr. Rice was a native of Ontario.

During this period there were five ministers (a Methodist, a Baptist, a Presbyterian, and two Anglicans), and one Roman Catholic priest in Nanaimo. These men were the Reverend W. W. Baer of the Methodist Church, the Reverend G. E. Good of the Baptist Church, the Rev. Dr. Duncan McRae of the Presbyterian Church, the Reverend John Booth Good, rector of St. Paul's Anglican Church, and Ernest G. Miller, a minister at St. Paul's Anglican Church. Father Emil Sobry was in charge of St. Peter's, the Roman Catholic church. Miller, who was 25 years old, was the youngest of the group; J. B. Good, who was 52, was the oldest. With the exception of Miller, who boarded with a family in the South Ward, the ministers were married householders. They lived in the city's Middle and North Wards. The Protestant clergymen came from England and Ontario; the Roman Catholic priest was born in Belgium.

There were five pharmacists or druggists — Leslie Jones, Charles Vanhouten, Earnest Vanhouten, George Henry Blakeway, and Edwin Pimbury in Nanaimo at the time of the census. Two were Presbyterians and three were Anglicans. Four of the men were unmarried, one was a widower. They ranged in age from 19 to 56 years of age. Except for Jones, who had lodgings in the North Ward, they lived in Nanaimo's Middle Ward. Edwin Pimbury owned a large 14-room house situated on Commercial Street. The house stood on a waterfront lot with an assessed value of $2300. Mention might also be made of Thomas Hardy, who was listed in the census as a "botanical chemist" and was later recognized as a pharmacist by the provincial licensing board.

There were two school principals in Nanaimo — Walter Hunter at Nanaimo High School and John Shaw at the Boys' school. Both men lived in the North Ward and were householders who owned at least two lots of land, ranging in value from $350 to $550. John Shaw, the younger of the two at 27 years of age (Hunter was 38 at the time of the census), was the only one to have children. Both men were Presbyterians.

The ten teachers in Nanaimo were Isabel Brown, James Galloway, Abbie Gardiner, Marion Gordon, Pauline Haarer, Flora Hart, Lucy Mebius, Christina Pool, J. H. Secord, and William J. Spear. Only Spear was a householder, the others were lodgers. All of the teachers lived in respectable circumstances. Pauline Haarer and Christina Pool, for instance, lived with their widowed mothers, while Lucy Mebuis boarded with the family of civil engineer Elijah Priest. The teachers were young, between 16 and 23 years old, and they were all Protestants.

In 1891, only 47 individuals — out of a population of 4595 people — belonged to the professions identified above. Most of Nanaimo's professional people lived in fairly modest homes in the city's Middle Ward or North Ward. Only three householders — Dr. Praeger, the Rev. John Booth Good, and architect David Gordon — employed full-time live-in domestic servants. This relatively small group of professional men and women enjoyed high social status. They contributed to the well-being of the community through their investments, the services they provided, and their cultural activities and interests.