Thomas Harris (1817? – November 29, 1884http://search.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/sn-2004D11/view/Deaths/find-adv%2B%20givennames%3D(thomas)%20AND%20place%3D(victoria)%20AND%20surname%3D(harris)%20%2B%2B%2B%2B/1 ) was the first

mayor of Victoria, British Columbia This is a list of mayors of Victoria, the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The mayor leads Victoria City Council, the city's governing body, and is elected to a four-year term. The current mayor is Marianne Alto, who was ...

, serving from 1862 to 1865. Born in

Almeley Almeley (pronounced ) is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Almeley Wooton and Upcott. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 601. Location Almeley is in the west of the ...

, Herefordshire, Harris married Emily Dickinson, a widow, in Liverpool in 1848. Harris came to Victoria by way of California in 1858, at the height of the Cariboo gold rush. He ran a

slaughterhouse A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

for a time, then became a butcher shortly afterward and made his fortune. A jovial man who had an opinion on everything and wasn't afraid to tell whoever would listen, he was a likely candidate for election in 1862 when the town's father decided to incorporate the town. At election time, Harris won by "forest of hands" amid a group of 600 men. During his second official council meeting, the 300 pound (136 kg) Harris had a chair collapse under his own weight. In 1873, he was named sergeant-at-arms for the provincial legislature. He was named high sheriff for Vancouver Island in 1876. Harris Green, an area within Victoria, is named after him. His stepson Robert Dickinson took over the shop in New Westminster and served as mayor of that city.

References

Mayors of Victoria, British Columbia 1817 births 1884 deaths {{BritishColumbia-mayor-stub