This portion of the interview pertains to Alfred Bingham's employment just as the Depression hit. Alfred tells antecdotes, both amusing and disturbing, about working at a ranch out in Coquitlam.
This portion of the interview pertains to Alfred Bingham's employment just as the Depression hit. Alfred tells antecdotes, both amusing and disturbing, about working at a ranch out in Coquitlam.
Recording is a taped interview with Alfred Bingham by SFU graduate student Bettina Bradbury June 10, 1975. Major themes discussed are: the Depression, Pioneers, and the Co-operative Movement. To view "Narrow By" terms for each track expand this description and see "Notes".
Biographical Notes
Alfred "Alf" Bingham was born in England in 1892 and moved to Canada in 1912. His first job in Canada was laying track for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR) from Edmonton to McBride in 1912. His second was in Vancouver at the Rat Portage Mill on False Creek, working on the Resaw machine. He quit after one week due to poor working conditions.
After taking part in the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike as a delegate of the Retail and Mailorder Union (A.F.L.) on the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council, Alfred moved to Burnaby where he and fellow Burnaby residents Angus McLean and Percy Little worked ten hour days to build a Shingle Mill on the edge of Burnaby Lake for Simpson & Giberson. George Green, carpenter and millwright (author of “The History of Burnaby”) also helped in the construction of the mill. Alfred built his own home from lumber cut from the mill in the Lochdale area on Sherlock Street between Curtis Street and Kitchener Street.
On April 10, 1920 Alfred married Mary Jane “Ada” Reynolds. Alfred and Ada often took in foster children during their marriage. Due to her nursing experience, Ada was often called upon to deliver babies in the Burnaby area.
Alfred and Ada Bingham were instrumental members of the Army of the Common Good, collecting vegetables and grains from growers in the area and even producing over 125 tons of vegetables from its own gardens to feed children and youth suffering from the lack of resources during the Depression years. The army was in operation for ten years and during that time the members organised the Credit Union movement of British Columbia and drew up the Credit Union act thorough the Vancouver Co-operative Council. They also started Co-Op stores and the Co-Op Wholesale Society.
Alfred was also Secretary of the Burnaby Housing committee and in 1946 he became the Secretary of the North Burnaby Labour Progressive Party (LPP).
Mary Jane “Ada” (Reynolds) Bingham died on August 9, 1969. Her husband Alfred died on April 29, 1979.
Bettina Bradbury teaches history and women's studies at York University. She is the author of Wife to Widow. Lives, Laws and Politics in Nineteenth-century Montreal. (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, June 2011), 520p; Working Families. Age, Gender and Daily Survival in Industrializing Montreal. (Toronto: Canadian Social History Series, McClelland and Stewart, 1993); (Republished Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1996) (3rd edition, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007). These interviews were undertaken after she completed her MA at Simon Fraser University in 1975 with the support of an LIP grant.
Interview was digitized in 2010 allowing it to be accessible on Heritage Burnaby. The digitization project was initiated by the Community Heritage Commission with support from City of Burnaby Council and the BC History Digitization Program of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia. It was recognized by the Heritage Society of BC with an award in 2012.
Agreement between His Majesty the King in the Right of the Province of British Columbia and the Corporation of the District of Burnaby re Allotment Under the Better Housing Act
Item is a thirty-nine page booklet describing and illustrating British Columbia Electric Railway Company operations and development in the Lower Mainland between 1910 and 1923.
Item is a thirty-nine page booklet describing and illustrating British Columbia Electric Railway Company operations and development in the Lower Mainland between 1910 and 1923.
Composite photograph of students of the British Columbia School of Pharmacy and Science. Names are listed beneath each of the oval photographs (grouped in four rows). In the top row (from left) are; F. McIntosh "Mat. Med + Botany", O.P. Harrison, H.E. Falk, I.M. Wilson, E.G. McDonagh, G.H. Goodard,…
Composite photograph of students of the British Columbia School of Pharmacy and Science. Names are listed beneath each of the oval photographs (grouped in four rows). In the top row (from left) are; F. McIntosh "Mat. Med + Botany", O.P. Harrison, H.E. Falk, I.M. Wilson, E.G. McDonagh, G.H. Goodard, P.J. Bain "Principal". Second row; A. McLennan, C.C. Denny, W.G. Smith, L.P. Landry, E.J. Harrison, B.M. Adams, H.D. Hipwell, and A.W. Barr. Third row; H.L. Fee, C.D. Houghland, A.R. Bush, R.W. Smith, W. James, B.A. McKeown, W.K. Corning, S.R. Davies and G.W.H. Stearman. Bottom row; G. Baillie "Pharmacy + Physics", A.H. Blumenauer, D.J. Bailey, J.Q. Adams, G.P. Doran and S. Foulds "Chemistry".
Composite photograph of students of the British Columbia School of Pharmacy and Science. Names are listed beneath each of the oval photographs (grouped in five rows). In the top row (from left) are; C.S. Forrest, J.G. Saul, S. Smythe, W.A. Speck, G.E. Curtis, C.N. Clark, A.O. Blain, J.D. Witham and…
Composite photograph of students of the British Columbia School of Pharmacy and Science. Names are listed beneath each of the oval photographs (grouped in five rows). In the top row (from left) are; C.S. Forrest, J.G. Saul, S. Smythe, W.A. Speck, G.E. Curtis, C.N. Clark, A.O. Blain, J.D. Witham and J. Beddows. In the second row are; G.H. Kelly, R. Rennie, L.A. Pineo, D.J. Bailey, C. Hutchinson, L.A. Blain, B.A. McKeown, G.M. Harvey and A.W. Barr. In the third row are; R.V.R. Hood, J. R. Bradwell, G. Donovan and R. Cochrane. In the centre (in larger ovals) are; F. McIntosh "Mat. Med + Botany", P. J. Bain "Principal" and G. Baillie "Pharmacy + Physics." In the fourth row are; W.R. Hewitson, J.H. Sclater, L. Heyworth and L.C. Simpson. In the bottom row are; A.W. Kennedy, A.R. Bush, S.T. Chess, A. Cheeseman, W. Jude, J.B. Rountree, H.D. Robinson, L.B. Thompson and K.T. Stewart.
Copy scan of a certificate from the British Columbia Musical Festival. "This is to Certify that The Vancouver Scottish Orchestra / (Conductor, Thomas Shankie) / has been awarded First place in the competition for / Orchestras - Open - Holding the 'Gold Range' Challenge / Cup for 1926 / in the Briti…
Copy scan of a certificate from the British Columbia Musical Festival. "This is to Certify that The Vancouver Scottish Orchestra / (Conductor, Thomas Shankie) / has been awarded First place in the competition for / Orchestras - Open - Holding the 'Gold Range' Challenge / Cup for 1926 / in the British Columbia Musical Competition Festival, 1926."
File contains Union of B.C. Municipalities Constitution (1910 Amendment), correspondence regarding UBCM conventions and issues, Burnaby delegates reports, meeting minutes, brochures from UBCM conventions, and booklets of resolutions (1917, 1918).
File contains Union of B.C. Municipalities Constitution (1910 Amendment), correspondence regarding UBCM conventions and issues, Burnaby delegates reports, meeting minutes, brochures from UBCM conventions, and booklets of resolutions (1917, 1918).
4 plans on 4 sheets : col. lithographic prints ; 63.5 x 53.5 cm folded to 53 x 31.5 cm
Scope and Content
File consists of four pages of plans removed from a bound book containing a series of fire insurance plans of the Municipality of Burnaby. The first two pages are numbered "A" and "B" and are key plans from "GREATER VANCOUVER B.C. / VOLUME XV / Surveyed _ May 1927 / MUNICIPALITY OF / BURNABY", "PLA…
4 plans on 4 sheets : col. lithographic prints ; 63.5 x 53.5 cm folded to 53 x 31.5 cm
Material Details
Scales [1:1200] and [1:6000]
Scope and Content
File consists of four pages of plans removed from a bound book containing a series of fire insurance plans of the Municipality of Burnaby. The first two pages are numbered "A" and "B" and are key plans from "GREATER VANCOUVER B.C. / VOLUME XV / Surveyed _ May 1927 / MUNICIPALITY OF / BURNABY", "PLAN DEPT. FIRE BRANCH _ B.C. INSURANCE UNDERWRITERS ASSN.". Key Plan "B" covers plans: 1505; 1506; 1512 to 1516; 1540 to 1544; 1550 to 1557 and District Lots: 129 to 132; 135 to 138; 205 to 208 and 215 to 218. Key Plan "A" covers plans: 1501 to 1504; 1507 to 1511; 1517 to 1525; 1531 to 1539; 1545 to 1550 and District Lots: 116 to 127 and 186 to 189. Plan "1806" is part of "GREATER VANCOUVER B.C. / VOLUME XVIII / Municipality of Burnaby / May, 1927" and covers District Lot 153. Plan "1807" is from "GREATER VANCOUVER B.C. / VOLUME XVIII / Municipality of Burnaby / May, 1927" and covers District Lots: 99,149 and 152.