Adopted 1 May 1934 on National Defence sheet 415d, as labelled on J.D. Pemberton's 1855 map Southeastern Districts of Vancouver Island.

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office

"Named c1845 by the Hudson's Bay Company, after Dr. William Fraser Tolmie (1812-1888), a medical officer in the service of [the Company].Born at Inverness, Scotland, 3 February 1912, and educated at Glascow. Botany was his special and favourite study. Joined the Hudson's Bay service in 1832 in London, and arrived at Fort Vancouver, Columbia River, via Cape Horn, in the spring of 1833. He was first stationed at Nisqually on Puget Sound, and at the latter end of 1833 was removed to Fort McLoughlin, now Bella Bella. In 1834 Dr. Tolmie assisted at the removal of Fort Simpson from the Nass River to its present site, now known as Port Simpson [subsequently renamed Lax Kw'alaams], returning to Fort McLoughlin at the close of the year, where he remained until February 1836. Then back to Fort Vancouver, where, settlers coming for medical advice as well as supplies, he was both doctor and trader. A visit to Scotland, via the Columbia and Rocky Mountains, was made in 1841, and the return journey via Cape Horn, in 1843. In 1850 he married Jane, eldest daughter of the late John Wark, chief factor [trader], Hudson's Bay Company. Dr. Tolmie was appointed chief factor in 1856, residing in Victoria, and was placed upon the board of management of the Hudson's Bay Company's affairs. Retired from the service in 1860, and became a member of the Legislative Assembly, which position he occupied for five years. His diaries, kept for many years, and from which the writer has obtained valuable information, are now in possession of his son, Mr. John Tolmie, of Cloverdale, Victoria. Dr. Tolmie died 8 December 1888."

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)

"Scottish physician in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company, who first came to this coast in 1833. His diaries from 1830 to 1843 (published by Mitchell Press in 1963) reveal a very serious-minded, not to say priggish, young Scot with keen scientific interests, and a firm resolve never to take an Indian wife.... His son, Simon Fraser Tolmie, was the Conservative Premier of British Columbia from 1928 to 1933."

Source: Akrigg, Helen B. and Akrigg, G.P.V; 1001 British Columbia Place Names; Discovery Press, Vancouver 1969, 1970, 1973.

"Commemorates Dr. William Fraser Tolmie, in charge of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company at Nisqually at the time of naming. Appears as Mount Tolme [sic] on Admiralty Chart #1911 Strait of Juan de Fuca, 1847, surveyed by Kellet in 1846." (provided September 2006 by Saanich Municipal Archives, as compiled by Jack McIntyre, archivist.)

Source: included with note

"Pkaals was given by Songhees Elders Sophie Mishael (1960) and Ned Williams (1960) as the name of Mount Tolmie. In 1952, Jimmy Fraser gave the same name for 'a beach outside Cadboro Bay'." (from The Fort Victoria Treaties by Wilson Duff, BC Studies/Provincial Museum; fall 1969, p. 50, map on p.28) [note that PKOLS is identified as the traditional name of Mount Douglas, 4+ km north of here, by Tsawout Hereditary Chief Eric Pelkay, 2013.]

Source: included with note