THE PEMBERTON FAMILY

Children of Frederick Bernard Pemberton and Mary Ann Dupont Bell. Left to right: Philippa Despard, Frederick Despard (d. 1917), Warren Colclough (d. 1916), Armine Morris (d. 1960). In the garden of Gonzales on the occasion of the wedding of Hugo Robert Walter Beaven to Ada Pemberton, September 1902.
IMAGE E-02711 COURTESY OF ROYAL BC MUSEUM, BC ARCHIVES

Joseph Pemberton, Surveyor General, who always endeavoured to induce both sides to agree! In medio tutissima, his motto.

—The Reminiscences of Dr. John Sebastian Helmcken, ed. Blakey Smith

The booming of cannon announced their arrival in March 1864.

Joseph and Teresa Pemberton, newly wed, were well aware that the pomp and ceremony surrounding the approach of the Brother Jonathan was not for them. Among their fellow passengers from England was the new governor of Vancouver Island, Arthur Edward Kennedy, his wife, and two pretty daughters, and they were the centre of all the attention.

Kennedy, a retired British army officer, had an Irish background that initially had endeared him to Pemberton, who had similar roots. Most people were now wondering how the new governor would adapt to the social structure of the raw, young colony he was about to lead.

When the Brother Jonathan arrived in Esquimalt Harbour, the party was transferred to the gunboat Grappler for the final leg of the long journey to Victoria, and Teresa Pemberton realized that she was more concerned with how she would adapt. She was, after all, of very distinguished birth, being one of the German Grautoffs and the granddaughter of Justinius Ritze of Baireuth, who had served under no less than Princess Wilhelmina herself. Teresa carried her heritage well with an inborn aristocratic, elegant bearing. German society, of which her parents had been a part, was often austere and solemn, but at the same time had a certain magnificence. Would the colony of Vancouver Island, about which her new husband had written such glowing reports, hold charms for her?

She recalled her first meeting with Joe Pemberton in London and their mutual attraction. She had avidly read his Facts and Figures Relating to Vancouver Island. His writings were considered to be exceptional, and many said that his descriptive words equalled his talents and skills as a surveyor. He had a remarkable grasp of the location and the times; much later his book would be described as a “literary gem.”

But, at that time, Teresa Jane Pemberton was so in love with Joe that she did not need any convincing as to his abilities. She already knew he was destined for great things. Together they would, she felt sure, carve a place for themselves in the history of the province.

And she was, of course, quite right.