The 1871 British Columbia general election was held from October to December 1871. Formerly a British colony, British Columbia became a province of Canada on July 20, 1871. An interim Cabinet was appointed by the lieutenant governor of British Columbia and election writs for the first general election as a province of Canada were issued to choose 25 members of the first provincial legislature from 12 ridings (electoral districts). These ridings were:
The election was held from October through December 1871, and was conducted by means of a show of hands on nomination day and, if required, an open poll book on polling day. There were no organized political parties.
Each voter could cast as many votes as there were seats to fill. Where multiple members were elected, the seats were filled through plurality block voting; elsewhere, first-past-the-post voting was used.[1]
Statistics
Votes: 3,804
Candidates: 46
Members: 25
Vancouver Island
Upper Island 310 votes, four seats (77.5 votes/seat)
New Westminster: 323 votes (2 seats 161.5 votes/seat)
New Westminster City: unknown at this time (vote was by acclamation)_
Note that these figures refer to votes actually cast, not the population per se nor the total of the potential voters' list.
Results by riding
Note: There is no arrangement to the ridings and members, other than by rough alphabetical order, as all were technically independents. Actual seating of the House or political alignments are not represented.
Results of British Columbia general election, 1871
Two sets of byelections were held to confirm appointments to the Executive Council (cabinet), as was the custom in earlier times. Ministerial candidates in this series of byelections were all confirmed by acclamation (so there were no actual polling dates). These byelections were:
Other byelections were also held due to deaths and other appointments; all were contested:
Cariboo – John George Barnston was elected to replace Cornelius Booth who was appointed to be Clerk of the Bench (provincial court) for the district of Kootenay on April 19, 1872
Lillooet – November 17, 1874. On September 26, 1874, MLAs William Saul and Thomas Basil Humphreys jointly resigned "over a dispute between the two gentlemen as to which represents the popular feeling of the district" (Victoria Colonist September 29, 1874). Humphreys was re-elected and William M. Brown was elected to replace William Saul in a tight three-way race.
Composition of House at dissolution
Note: Government/Opposition status applies to candidate at time of election in 1871, not at time of dissolution in 1875.
Composition of 2nd British Columbia Parliament at Dissolution, 1875
