Christ Church Cathedral (Victoria, British Columbia)

Christ Church Cathedral (Victoria, British Columbia)
Christ Church Cathedral
Location	930 Burdett Avenue Victoria, British Columbia V8V 3G8
Denomination	Anglican Church of Canada
Website	http://www.christchurchcathedral.bc.ca/
Administration
Deanery	Tolmie
Diocese	British Columbia
Province	British Columbia and Yukon
Clergy
Bishop(s)	The Rt. Rev. Dr. Logan McMenamie
Dean	The Very Rev. Margaret Ansley Tucker
Laity
Director of music	Canon Michael G. Gormley

Coordinates: 48°25′20″N 123°21′33″W / 48.42222°N 123.35917°W / 48.42222; -123.35917

Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria, British Columbia is the cathedral church of the Diocese of British Columbia of the Anglican Church of Canada.

The Hudson's Bay Company hired Robert John Staines, graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, to teach the children of Fort Victoria, and offered him a further stipend to take Holy Orders and serve as chaplain to the fort as well. He arrived at the fort with his wife Emma and servants in 1849, none too impressed with the rustic conditions at this remote trading post. For their part, the small fort community became increasingly dissatisfied with his teaching skills and manner, such that he was discharged in 1854. He in turn set off for London to grieve the Company's land policies at the Colonial Office on behalf of fellow settlers.

Staines had begun construction of a church building in 1853, and had held Anglican services in the messroom of Fort Victoria and aboard visiting ships pending its completion. The Company appointed Edward Cridge, a college friend of Staines, as his replacement. Cridge and his new wife Mary arrived via Cape Horn from England on April 1, 1855. The population of Victoria was then about 200. The company church was finally ready for use on August 31, 1856 and was initially known as the Victoria District Church, and later as Christ Church.

Beginning in 1858, Victoria was overrun with gold seekers on their way to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. Hundreds of makeshift structures went up and several years of intense growth ensued. On July 7, 1858, Cridge wrote to the Colonial and Continental Church Society requesting two missionary clergy to help. In due course two appeared who were posted to New Westminster and Langley.