The De Cosmos Enigma

Book Review

By Ted Ross
The De Cosmos Enigma by Gordon Hawkins, Vancouver BC, Ronsdale Press, 2015, 170 pp., bibliographic references and index, illus., $17.95, ISBN 978-1-55380-353-9

Who was this man? He was an instigator of the union of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, second premier of British Columbia, proponent for our province's entry into Canadian Confederation, champion of responsible government, and yet forgotten by historians. This is the question Gordon Hawkins sets out to answer in his fascinating account of William Alexander Smith, born in 1825, grown up in Windsor, Nova Scotia, and who would become Amor De Cosmos, in a name change accomplished in California, before his arrival in Victoria in 1858.

In writing about De Cosmos, Hawkins notes, "While his political life can be traced in some detail, almost nothing is known of the personality behind the public performance. No personal papers exist. Access to the inner man is blocked." The author does not let this stop him though. Through extensive research he assembles a framework of the world around his subject at the times and places where Smith/De Cosmos was present.

In the course of this biography we are taken through the man's life, from his youth in Nova Scotia, his crossing of the continent by wagon train to California shortly after the gold rush, and the life he set up there. We see his establishment as a photographer and his early contacts with gold. His brother Charles appears in California and follows De Cosmos to Victoria.

In 1858 Amor De Cosmos is in Victoria and founds the British Colonist in December of the year. His introduction into the established society of Victoria and the ripples he caused in that entitled pond are nicely told. The political era begins. Hawkins takes us episode by episode through these tumultuous times. In one instance he says, "It revealed two of his less appealing qualities -- his lack of a sense of proportion and an imperious insistence that a battle once begun must end in only his victory."

Life was political for the rest of De Cosmos' time. His involvement in the union of the Colony of Vancouver Island with the Colony of British Columbia is covered as is his term as premier. We also see the work to join Canadian Confederation and De Cosmos as member of parliament for Victoria.

This book is an excellent read and catches you right up, but keep a bookmark in the footnotes page, because there is much to be found there. You will come away with a new respect for Amor De Cosmos, but the Chapter 9 summary puts an honest aspect on the man from our author's point-of-view.

Gordon Hawkins' credentials are extensive. Born in England in 1921, he has degrees from the London School of Economics and the University of Toronto. He served in naval intelligence in World War Two, worked for the Institute of Adult Education and the CBC, and then in public and international affairs. He subsequently moved to New York and worked for the United Nations. In his later years he has developed a keen interest in British Columbia and Victoria history. In his nineties now, he lives in Victoria.

The book is available from local booksellers and on-line from Amazon Books.