Heritage Register
Victoria West

601 Raynor Avenue (ex-650 McPherson Av)

Built 1911
Heritage-Registered

For: Arthur & Kitty Daniels

Designer: John Wendon Wiseman
Builders: Arthur Daniels, John Wendon Wiseman & Arthur Weight

ARCHITECTURE:

This house and 607 Raynor Av next door, constructed for two related families, are Edwardian Vernacular Arts & Crafts. They are both front-gabled, 1½ storeys, with large cross-gabled dormers and box bays on each side. This house differs in having a third box bay in front. Both have squared Palladian windows in the front gables. 601 still has its original full-length finials in the gables and whalebone bargeboards. The recessed entry on the right has two heavy chamfered square posts and two pilasters with a solid double-bevelled balustrade. The turned stairway, now with square balusters, originally had a solid shingled stepped balustrade. The gables and foundation are shingled; the body is clad in double-bevelled siding.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1911-40: Arthur John Daniels (b. Battlesbridge, Essex, ENG, 1877-1955) and Kitty Louise (née Jolly, b. Glympton, Oxon, ENG, 1871-1949) married in Essex in 1902. Arthur came alone to Canada in 1906 to look for work. He did odd jobs in Manitoba, then answered a newspaper ad for Bullen’s Shipyards and came to Victoria in early 1907. He sent for his family and they arrived in May 1907. Arthur, a shipwright and joiner, worked for BC Marine Railway Co (lovingly called Bullen’s Shipyards), which became Yarrow’s Ltd in 1914. From 1910 Arthur was foreman shipwright and joiner, and later dockmaster. He retired in 1949 after docking 2,784 vessels. His most memorable docking was the Queen Elizabeth in 1942.

The Daniels had five girls, the first two born in Grays, Essex, the others in Victoria: Ellen “Rachel” married Horace William Baker in 1927. Madge taught five years at Oyster River, Tappen, and at Oaklands School in Victoria. She then married teacher Archibald “Jack” Fouracre in 1928 and moved to Nanaimo. Kittie Muriel died aged 20 of endocarditis in 1929 while a nurse in training at Royal Jubilee Hospital. Musician Mary “Maquinna” “Tim” married accountant William Ira Anderson in 1943. Barbara Jean “Bob” married Kenneth Whitworth in 1941. Ken died in a marine accident and in 1957 Barbara married Keith Oxby Henderson.

Living with the Daniels in 1911 were Arthur’s brother Sydney George, a contractor, and John “Wendon” Wiseman (607 Raynor Av), designer and contractor, who was Kitty’s nephew. He came to Victoria in 1910 and helped build the house. In 1912-13 Arthur’s family emigrated from England and 12 people lived at 601 for some time. Syd Daniels volunteered for WWI in 1915 and his brother Alexander Nicholas was conscripted in 1917. Both died of Spanish Influenza in the summer of 1918 and are buried in Canadian War Graves. Syd was with the 3rd Field Ambulance, CAMC, and is buried in Aubigny, France. Alex was with the Regimental Depot, BC, Canadian Infantry, and is buried in Rawreth, Essex, England.

The Daniels were active members of Vic West Methodist Church; many church meetings and work parties were held in the kitchen of 601. Rachel was widowed with a small son, Roy Baker, in 1940, and moved back in with her family. They rented out 601 and moved to 1385 Rockland Av to give Maquinna a central studio for her piano students, but within a year she joined the RCAF. The Daniels sold 601 Raynor in 1943 and bought 94 Linden Av.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1941-42: Robert Newsom and Grace de la Tour Grubb married in Vancouver in 1927. Grace’s family came to BC in 1898, Robert’s to Victoria from Galiano Island in 1907. He trained in the first class at Victoria Normal School, now Camosun College, and began teaching in Victoria in 1924. From 1945 to 1960 Robert was principal at Quadra Elementary School (3031 Quadra St, Quadra-Hillside).

1943-51: Charles William Shubrook (b. London, ENG, 1893-1951) and Daisy May (née Playford, b. ENG 1896-1974). Charles came to Canada in 1911. He was living in Cranbrook, BC, and working as a logging camp “cooker” when he signed up for WWI in June 1916. He was sent overseas with the 225th Battalion, CEF. Charles later worked as a federal government elevator operator. Daisy left the house shortly after Charles’s death.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Vic West History

• Vic West Heritage Register

• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume One: Fernwood & Victoria West