How Belcarra ended up in British Columbia!
IN the late 1800s, William Norman Bole, who was born in Castlebar on December 8, 1846, became a distinguished lawyer in British Columbia, Canada, and gained the title of a parcel of land, in lieu of legal fees, which he named Belcarra, writes Tom Gillespie.
According to Sean Nestor in Belcarra, the Bole family originated in Knappagh, Westport. They owned the Castlebar loyalist newspaper The Mayo Constitution, the editor of which was William Hamilton Maxwell, who was a clergyman and author.
Maxwell was the Protestant Rector at Belcarra and as a frequent visitor to editor Maxwell, it is surmised that William Norman Bole took a liking to the place-name and decided to name his new Canadian township Belcarra. It is believed that Carraholly Point near Belcarra, British Columbia, is probably named after Carrowholly, Westport.
Barbara and Dave McNulty have written extensively for Mayo Genealogy Group on William Norman Bole.
He was the son of John Bole and Elizabeth Jane Argyle, and was educated in Dublin, graduating in law at Trinity College. In 1877, he arrived in San Francisco, en-route to Queensland but, having missed his ship, Bole changed his plans and travelled to Victoria, Canada. Although still intending to travel to Australia, he was persuaded to stay in British Columbia, there being no other lawyer in New Westminster, and to commence practice there. The temporary arrangement became permanent, and Bole soon became the senior member of the New Westminster bar.
He married Florence Blanchard Coulthard on February 26, 1881, and they had two sons, Garnet Seymour, who died in childhood, and John Percy Hampton Bole (1882–1966).
In 1884 Bole became New Westminster’s first police magistrate, and in 1886 he was elected New Westminster’s representative in the BC Legislature where he 'manfully stood-up for the rights of his constituency’.
He was appointed a QC in 1887, became a Bencher of the Law Society in 1888, and a year later County Judge of the Supreme Court.
One of Bole’s more famous trials concerned the defence of a fellow Irishman, John Hall, who was the first white settler in the area of British Columbia known as Indian Arm, and was accused of murdering the mother of his common-law Indian wife.
Hall found a plot of wilderness beauty lying north of the Burrard Inlet and east of the North Arm (Indian Arm). The beautiful property was once known as Dead Horse Bay. He applied for Lot 229 in early 1870 and in September of the same year the application was registered.
Hall built a house, planted a garden and an orchard on a piece of land partially cleared earlier by Indians. He then took a common-law wife, a young Indian maiden from a nearby reservation. On October 18, 1882, neighbours dropped in to John’s house for an hour or two of partying and drinking. John Hall’s mother-in- law and her sister Chelta canoed over from the north shore so that Mary could visit with her grandchildren.
However, in a row over money it was alleged that Hall shot his mother-in-law. He was arrested and charged with her murder to which he pleaded ‘not guilty’.
When William Bole was assigned to defend John Hall, it was common practice at the time to use goods or property to part pay any legal fees, and when Bole had visited the murder site, he immediately fell in love with the area. A deal was struck whereby the title to the land was transferred to Bole 'in payment for legal services rendered’.
The trial took place in New Westminster before Judge H.P.P. Crease on November 27, 1882, before a jury of six people. John Hall did not testify on his own behalf, but Mr. Bole put several witnesses on the stand to testify to Hall’s good character. He also used a witness who testified that the type of rifle John Hall owned was prone to malfunction.
The witness said it was difficult to tell whether such a rifle was loaded or not. Such information was offered to suggest that perhaps the murder had been accidental.
Apparently Hall’s faith in his lawyer’s reputation was not misplaced for rather than face the gallows, as was the more frequent punishment following a murder charge, Hall was found guilty of manslaughter.
The judge’s journal shows that Bole noted Hall to be 63 years old, a good churchgoer and that he left two orphan children. The jury sentenced him to seven years of hard labour.
Soon after the trial Bole placed money in a bank account for John Hall to use upon his release from prison. Thus it was that William Bole acquired the deed to D.L. 229, and subsequently named his new property Belcarra. Bole obtained a further 100 acres of Dead Horse Bay, incorporating it into Belcarra.
It is not known how long or often the family stayed at Belcarra, nor whether they built a house there. Probably the land at Belcarra was a summer retreat for the Bole family, as it was for many other well-to-do Vancouverites.
According to Belcarra Town Council, British Columbia, Judge Bole's choice of the name of Belcarra appealed to many and was to be adopted officially over a century later by local residents for British Columbia’s newest municipality.
At that time it was assumed that the name had been invented by William Bole, but the local council learned from a visiting priest from Ireland that there is a village called Belcarra lying only a few miles from the town of Castlebar, the birthplace of the judge.
In 2007 Bruce Drake, a councillor from Belcarra B.C., and his family visited Ireland and his hometown and Belcarra, Co. Mayo, were officially twinned.
* I am indebted to the National Museum of Ireland’s website www.ouririshheritage.org for the details on Judge Bole.