FRANCIS WILLIAM CAULFEILD
Visionary
By Philip Collings

Francis William Caulfeild was born in England in August 1843, in a family sufficiently well-to-do that he never had to work in an ordinary job for a day in his life. He was educated at Rugby School and Wadham College, Oxford, and thereafter devoted his early life to bringing up his four children, poetry, amateur painting, carving, and travelling. His interest in travelling is how West Vancouver comes into his life story.

In 1898, Mr. Caulfeild was making a leisurely tour of the farthest reaches of the then British Empire in the company of his daughter. At Vancouver they embarked in Captain Cates’ old boat the S.S. Defiant for a trip along the West Vancouver shore. In due course Captain Cates put them ashore at a lovely small cove tucked in behind the shelter of Point Atkinson, then called Skunk Cove and used to moor pilot boats awaiting incoming ships. Captain Cates picked them up on his return trip. The day’s stay in this unspoilt wilderness of rocky coast and forest made such an impression on Mr. Caulfeild that he was determined to buy the property and develop a village on the site. Indeed, the project was to occupy most of the remainder of his days. The cove became Caulfeild Cove and stamped his name permanently on the area.

Caulfeild had firm ideas about the nature of the development. He wanted it in the style of an English village, with a village green, and ivy-covered village church, and winding, narrow lanes following the contours of the land – rather than the standard North American grid system. He also wanted the foreshore preserved as a park, with public access to the sea. This, together with the much larger Lighthouse Park immediately to the west of the Cove would ensure that everyone could enjoy the scenery...