ARCHITECTURE:
This is another of the Edwardian Four-Squares that were so popular on Trutch St before WWI. Like others, this hip-roofed 2-storey has a pair of cantilevered box bays on the front façade. The entrance porch is on the left side with front facing-steps. The entrance itself is recessed and modern metal railings are used at both upper and lower levels of the plain open porch.The lower section is shingled and the upper has half-timbering under bellcast eaves. A central hip-roofed dormer is pierced by a red brick corbelled chimney. Windows are multi-panes over single-panes in groups of three in the box bays and pairs above. The faux balconies are at odds with the style.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
Edwin Hillier Hiscocks (1849-1922) had the 10-room frame dwelling built for $4,000. The house remained in the family until 1971.
Edwin was a druggist with Dean & Hiscocks at 627 Yates St. Born in Wigan, Lancashire, England, Edwin came to Victoria shortly after graduating from the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in 1874. He made the trip around Cape Horn on the barque Hermione, of which his brother was captain, arriving in Victoria in 1875. He worked for A.J. Langley (1133 Fort St, Fairfield) for 20 years before establishing his firm with Willis Melford Dean in 1895. In 1877 he married Elizabeth Partridge (1857-1926) who was born in Norfolk, England, and came to Victoria with her parents in 1861. Elizabeth was an active worker at Christ Church Cathedral until her death.
Edwin and Elizabeth had three daughters and two sons. The eldest daughter, Mary Beatrice (1878-1961), married master mariner Thomas Corrance in 1898, then James David Coutts in Vancouver in 1928. Elizabeth Jane Hiscocks (1880-1956) never married and worked as a housekeeper. She lived in the house until she died.
The other four children remained in the house with their parents. Edwin Alfred “Ted” Hiscocks (1883-1936) studied pharmacology at the University of Toronto and graduated in 1910. Upon his return to Victoria, he joined Dean & Hiscocks. After the death of his father, Ted assumed control of the business with Dean, and after Dean died in 1924, he partnered with A.M. Clearihue. Ted never married and lived at the family home until his death.
Younger brother Robert Hillier Hiscocks (1887-1967) was a dockyard worker at the HMC Dockyard for many years, and served with the Forestry Corps during WWI. He was a long-standing member of Native Sons of BC, Post No. 1, and in 1962 was made a life member. He was also a life member of United Commercial Travellers. He never married, and lived here until he died in 1967.
Sophie Florence Hiscocks (1885-1971) was the last of the Hiscocks siblings. She was a school teacher, and she, too, never married. This house was sold after her death.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:
• This Old House, Victoria’s Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Four: Fairfield, Gonzales & Jubilee
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