Masonic British Columbia Premiers

British Columbian Premiers

British Columbia has had thirty-three Premiers since joining Confederation in 1871 — thirteen of them were freemasons.


13/11/1871- 23/12/1872	.	John Foster McCreight	.			(b.1827-d.1913)	1	Resigned after vote of non-confidence.

23/12/1872- 11/2/1874	.	Amor De Cosmos	.			(b.1825-d.1897)	1	Resigned to contest federal election. Vacated seat.

11/2/1874- 1/2/1876	.	George Anthony Walkem	.			(b.1834-d.1908)	1 &2	Resigned after vote of non-confidence (lost legislative support in fall 1875 election).
25/6/1878- 13/6/1882	.	.	.				3	Resigned upon appointment to B.C. Supreme Court. Vacated seat.

13/6/1882- 29/1/1883	.	Robert Beaven	.			(b.1836-d.1920)	4	Resigned after vote of non-confidence.

1/51887- 1/8/1889	.	Alexander Edmund Batson Davie	.			(b.1847-d.1889)	5	Died in office.

4/3/1895- 15/8/1898	.	John Herbert Turner	.			(b.1834-d.1923)	7	Dismissed by Lieutenant-Governor following apparent electoral defeat.

21/11/1902- 1/6/1903	.	Edward Gawler Prior	.			(b.1853-d.1920)	9	Dismissed by Lieutenant-Governor for conflict of interest.

1/6/1903- 15/12/1915	.	Sir Richard McBride	.		Con	(b.1870-d.1917)	9-13	Resigned to become Agent-General. Vacated seat.

15/12/1915- 23/11/1916	.	William John Bowser	.		Con	(b.1867-d.1933)	13th	Resigned after party defeat in September 1916 election but waited until November because of delay in counting soldiers' votes.

23/11/1916- 1/3/1918	.	Harlan Carey Brewster	.		Lib	(b.1870-d.1918)	14	Died in office.

20/8/1927- 2/8/1928	.	John Duncan MacLean	.		Lib	(b.1873-d.1948)	16	Resigned after personal and party defeat in July 1928 election.

29/12/1947- 1/8/1952	.	Byron Ingemar Johnson	.		Lib	(b.1890-d.1964)	21-22	Resigned after personal and party defeat in June 1952 election.

1/8/1952- 15/9/1972	.	William Andrew Cecil Bennett	.		SC	(b.1900-d.1979)	23-29	Resigned after party defeat in August 1972 election.
.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.

Tabulated information supplied by British Columbia Archives.
Biographical notes excerpted from "Portraits of the Premiers," by Sydney W. Jackman [Gray’s Publishing Ltd., Sidney, B.C.: 1969.]
Masonic information derived from "History of Grand Lodge of British Columbia, 1871-1970, compiled by John T. Marshall. [pp. 619-622.] Copies can be viewed in the Grand Lodge Library.

© 1871-2023 Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon A.F. & A. M. Updated: February 28, 2001
www.freemasonry.bcy.ca/history/bc_premiers.html