4th Parliament of British Columbia

The 4th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia sat from 1882 to 1886. The members were elected in the British Columbia general election held in July 1882.^[1] Robert Beaven formed a minority government in 1882. The Beaven government fell on a Motion of no confidence in January 1883.^[2] William Smithe formed a new government later that month.^[3]

Robert Beaven, premier of British Columbia 1882-1883

There were four sessions of the 4th Legislature:^[4]

Session	Start	End
1st	January 25, 1883	May 12, 1883
2nd	December 3, 1883	February 18, 1884
3rd	January 12, 1885	March 9, 1885
4th	January 25, 1886	April 6, 1886

John Andrew Mara served as speaker.^[5]

Members of the 4th Parliament

The following members were elected to the assembly in 1882:^[1]

Member	Electoral district	Party	First elected / previously elected
George Cowan	Cariboo	Independent	1877
Robert McLeese		Government[a]	1882
Charles Wilson		Opposition[b]	1882
John Grant	Cassiar	Opposition	1882
William Munro Dingwall	Comox	Government	1882
William Smithe	Cowichan	Opposition	1871
Hans Lars Helgesen	Esquimalt	Government	1878
Charles Edward Pooley		Opposition	1882
Robert Leslie Thomas Galbraith	Kootenay	Government	1877
Edward Allen	Lillooet	Opposition	1882
Alexander Edmund Batson Davie		Opposition	1875, 1882
Robert Dunsmuir	Nanaimo	Opposition	1882
William Raybould		Opposition	1882
James Orr	New Westminster	Opposition	1882
John Robson		Opposition	1871,[c] 1882
William James Armstrong	New Westminster City	Government	1871, 1881
James Cunningham (1884)		Government	1884
Robert Franklin John	Victoria	Opposition	1882
George Archibald McTavish		Opposition	1882
Robert Beaven	Victoria City	Government	1871
Theodore Davie		Opposition	1882
Simeon Duck		Independent	1871, 1882
Montague William Tyrwhitt-Drake		Opposition	1882
Preston Bennett	Yale	Opposition	1878
John Andrew Mara		Opposition	1871
Charles Augustus Semlin		Independent	1871, 1882
George Bohun Martin (1882)		Opposition	1882

By-elections

By-elections were held for the following members appointed to the provincial cabinet, as was required at the time:^[1]

• William James Armstrong, Provincial Secretary,^[6] elected September 18, 1882
• Simeon Duck, Minister of Finance,^[7] elected April 15, 1885
• Alexander Edmund Batson Davie, Attorney General,^[8] acclaimed March 31, 1883
• William Smithe, Premier,^[3] acclaimed March 31, 1883
• John Robson, Provincial Secretary, Minister of Finance and Agriculture and Minister of Mines,^[9] acclaimed March 31, 1883

By-elections were held to replace members for various other reasons:^[1]

Electoral district	Member elected	Election date	Reason
Yale	George Bohun Martin	October 13, 1882	death of P. Bennett on August 9, 1882
New Westminster City	James Cunningham	April 21, 1884	W.J. Armstrong appointed sheriff April 5, 1884

Notes

1. Government candidates supported the Beaven administration
2. opposed to the Beaven administration
3. Nanaimo