Thomas Sinclair GORE Jr.

  General Notes:

FAMILY:
-- Thomas' father by the same name, Thomas Sinclair Gore (1820-1858), was an Irishman who founded the town of Gore's Landing at Rice Lake, Ontario, Canada in 1841.
-- After Thomas' father's death, Thomas' mother Harriette Sarah (Hitchcock) Gore was remarried to Frederick William Barron who turned Harriette's large home in Gore's Landing, along the banks of Rice Lake, into a school for boys from the upper class.
-- Thomas' brother William Sinclair Gore (1842-1919) moved from Ontario, Canada to British Columbia, Canada in 1875 (at age 35) while a dominion land surveyor working on the westward railroad surveys. At the age of 38 William was appointed Surveyor-General for the Province of British Columbia, Canada, a position he held twice for 20 years, the record for this post in the British Columbia government. William was responsible for preliminary land surveys conducted at the north end of Vancouver Island and for several years was the Minister of Lands and Words. It was he who prepared the specifications for the present legislative buildings in Victoria. In 1891, William was appointed Deputy Minister/Commissioner of Lands & Works for the Province of British Columbia. William's many interests included bicycling, golf and canoeing. He was Commodore of the Victoria Yacht Club and designed and built class winning yachts. In his later years, he was secretary of the Corporation of British Columbia Land Surveyors.
-- Thomas' nephew by the same name, Thomas Sinclair Gore (1869-1955), was an architect who designed, built and owned the renowned Hotel Geneve in the historic "Zona Rosa" district of Mexico City (see: www.hotelgeneve.com.mx/en/).
-- Thomas' nephew Arthur Sinclair Gore (1879-1976), was a draftsman who started the Electric Blueprint and Map Company in 1907 (at age 28), one of the first engineering supply and blueprint firms, with branches in both Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia. Arthur Gore's home in Victoria, British Columbia (built in 1912 by famed Canadian artichitect Samuel Maclure) eventually became a designated Heritage Site in 1988.

NOTEWORTHY: A surveyor by profession, Thomas photographed the arrival of the first Canadian Pacific Railway train at Port Moody on July 4, 1886. He was mentioned as an amateur photographer in the Colonist in February 1886. He was later active in the Vancouver Island Arts and Crafts Society.

  Research Notes:

-- British Columbia Archives, Visual Records call no. A-09737
-- 1861 Census of Canada (Hamilton Township, Northumberland, Ontario, Canada)
-- 1881 Census of Canada (Hamilton Township, Northumberland, Ontario, Canada)
-- 1901 Census of Canada (Victoria, B.C., Canada)
-- British Columbia, Canada, Death Index (1872-1990)

Thomas married Julie ARBUELD in 1905.