Sidney Island
Feature Type:Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh.
Status: Official
Name Authority: BC Geographical Names Office
Relative Location: Off E side of Saanich Peninsula, N of Victoria, Cowichan Land District
Latitude-Longitude: 48°36'37"N, 123°18'02"W at the approximate centre of this feature.
Datum: WGS84
NTS Map: 92B/11
Origin Notes and History:

Adopted in the 10th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 30 June 1911, as labelled on British Admiralty Chart #1911, 1865 et seq.

Source: BC place name cards, files, correspondence and/or research by BC Chief Geographer/Geographical Names Office.

Labelled "Sallas Island" on 1849 edition of British Admiralty Chart #1911, from 1847 surveys by Captain Kellett, U.S.Exploration Expedition; labelled "Sidney Island" on 1865 edition of the same chart, reflecting more detailed hydrographic surveys in 1858 by Captain Richards, RN.

Source: BC place name cards, files, correspondence and/or research by BC Chief Geographer/Geographical Names Office.

"Named Sallas Island by the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, circa 1850, and known by this name to the early settlers for years. On 22 May 1860 there was a sale by auction in Victoria of real estate on Sallas Island, offered by the HBC at the upset price of six shillings an acre.... (Victoria Colonist 24 May 1860). In the same newspaper, 1 June 1865, Sallas Island is said to be the property of Mr. George Hunter Cary, of Victoria, attorney general, and it was sold about that date to Messrs. Weissenberger and Schlosser for colonization purposes. Named Sidney Island in 1859 by Captain Richards, RN."

Source: Walbran, John T; British Columbia Coast Names, 1592-1906: their origin and history; Ottawa, 1909 (republished for the Vancouver Public Library by J.J. Douglas Ltd, Vancouver, 1971)

"... There was a Captain F.W. Sidney employed as a [hydrographic] surveyor during the years 1842-69..." (information from the Admiralty, sent via Commonwealth Records Office, London, to the Geographic Board of Canada)

Source: included with note

Catherine Island was the Hudson's Bay Company name for Sidney Island. (from SHALE: Journal of the Gabriola Historial & Museum Society; Nick Doe editor)

Source: included with note