Robert Holloway (1832 - 1909)

Born 25 Dec 1832 in Norwich, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom

Died 21 May 1909 at age 76 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Biography

Robert and twin sister Margaret were born on Christmas Day, 1832, to Samuel Holloway and Mary Walker. They were both baptised the day they were born.

Father Samuel had been engaged with the 7th Hussars since age 17, and Robert's birthplace of Norwich was an accident of timing. The regiment had marched from Birmingham to Norwich earlier in the year, and relocated to Glasgow the following spring.^[1]

In spring 1834 half of the 7th Hussars was relocated to the Portobello Barracks at Dublin,^[2] the Holloways apparently among them. Father Samuel had suffered from attacks of gout, and was granted a medical discharge at Dublin in autumn 1837.

The family remained in Dublin while father Samuel, a master tailor, established a business at 23, St. Andrew-Street. During this period sister Agnes was added to the family. Also, eight-years-elder brother Arthur entered service with the same 7th Hussars while they were deployed to Quebec during the Lower Canada Rebellion. This, along with father Samuel's 1841 bankruptcy, presumably drew the family to relocate to Montreal in the early 1840s.

Robert was not yet 14 years old when he engaged as an apprentice with successful Scottish-Canadian printer Rollo Campbell in winter 1846. Robert trained as a compositor.^[3] Father Samuel apparently passed away before 1851, as the census collected that year listed Robert, 19-year-old printer, living with his widowed mother and sister.^[4]

Mother Mary passed away in summer 1857. By 1858 Robert had married Margaret Lennon, and their first child, daughter Mary Jane, was born in winter 1859. The 1861 Canada East census found the family of three living in Montreal.^[5] Another daughter, Emily, was subsequently added to the family.

Eariy in 1862 he was attacked by the gold fever and came overland to Victoria, walking across the plains from Fort Garry, over the Yellowhead Pass to the Fraser River. From there he travelled by water to Quesnel, and again taking the trail arrived at Victoria late in the year...^[3]

During the 1860s Robert alternated residence between Victoria and the Cariboo, by spring 1868 owning the Cariboo Sentinel newspaper.^[6] Months later a fire destroyed most of the buildings in Barkerville, and the paper was relocated to nearby Richfield.^[7] The Sentinel closed permanently in autumn 1875, and Robert returned to Victoria.

Robert's family had grown during his time in BC, with the 1881 census finding all eleven living together in the James Bay Ward.^[8] In addition to the two Montreal-born daughters, the group included daughters Martha and Agnes, sons Robert, William, and George, and daughters Constance and Louise. The residence was at the corner of Belleville and Menzies,^[9] which in the early 1880s would have been adjacent to the birdcages, where Robert worked at the provincial government printing office. Evidently before taking this job, Robert had worked for the British Colonist.^[7]

In a stark contrast to the prior decade, the 1891 census found Robert and wife Margaret living alone.^[10]

Robert Holloway passed away in spring 1909.^[11][7]

Research Notes

• A few notes for ^[3] :
  • The article states he was born in Norwich on Christmas Day, 1831, but in fact he was born in 1832, as verified by the baptism record and the fact his father's regiment was in Birmingham in late 1831, but in Norwich in late 1832.
  • The article states he came to Canada when about six years old, but he would have been at least eight, given his father's Dublin bankruptcy proceedings in 1841.
  • The article's description of Robert's 1862 passage closely matches that described in Overland to Cariboo : an eventful journey of Canadian pioneers to the gold-fields of British Columbia in 1862, although this book does not specifically mention the Holloways. It appears rather likely Robert, and perhaps his entire family of four, was part of this expedition.

Sources

1. ↑ "THE ARMY", Mayo Constitution, April 1, 1833, page 4
2. ↑ "THE ARMY", Dublin Morning Register, June 3, 1834, page 4
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} "ROBERT HOLLOWAY", Victoria Daily Times, September 22, 1906, page 8, https://archive.org/details/victoriadailytimes19060922/page/n7/mode/1up
4. ↑ 1851 Canada East Census, Montreal, sheet 117, http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=census&id=23086446&lang=eng
5. ↑ Canada East Census 1861, Montreal, St. Antoine, sheet 306, http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=census&id=44255168&lang=eng
6. ↑ (e.g. masthead), Cariboo Sentinel, May 25, 1868, page 1, https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0171144
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} "Another Pioneer Passes Away", Victoria Daily Times, May 21, 1909, page 1, https://archive.org/details/victoriadailytimes19090521/mode/1up
8. ↑ Canada Census 1881, British Columbia, District No. 190, S. District C James Bay Ward, page 53, lines 21-25; page 54, lines 1-6
9. ↑ British Columbia Directory, 1882-3, page 46, https://bccd.vpl.ca/1882-1883/British_Columbia_Directory/jpeg/0022_Victoria_-_Names_Page_25.jpeg
10. ↑ Census of Canada, 1891, British Columbia, District No. 4 Victoria City, S. District James Bay Ward Division No. 9, page 9, lines 20-21, http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=census&id=23972280&lang=eng
11. ↑ Province of British Columbia, Death Record, reg. no. 1909-09-022122

• Fourth Census of Canada, 1901, British Columbia, District No. 4 Victoria, S. District No. D, Polling sub-division No. 1, Victoria City, page 7, lines 15-17, http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=census&id=33539623&lang=eng