Arthur Vipond, pioneer photographer

Arthur Vipond was born in 1832 in Etherby, Durham, England and completed a course in photography at the South Kensington Museum in 1858. Vipond sailed to Vancouver Island with the Royal Engineers later that year.

The series of 6 unsigned photographs contained in this collection are, in the expert opinion of the B.C. Archives, to be the work of Arthur Vipond. Vipond continued to photograph Victoria well into the 1870's although by 1874 he is listed in the city directory as a "machinist and gunsmith" living on Yates Street. Vipond died on November 12, 1889 and is buried in Ross Bay Cemetery.

These photos are from the US Library of Congress "British North America Boundary Commission" series and are of excellent quality. The BC Archives also holds copies of these images but unfortunately the images provided to the public are of much poorer quality.

Created by Steve Clifford