British Columbia Vehicle Registration Information
Nos. 1 - 1,397 (1904-1911)

A special thanks to the Royal BC Musuem & BC Archives for allowing the use of these photos,
which are of a Register which comprises part of the records of the Motor Vehicle Branch (File No. GR-0665, Volume No. 1).


To download the entire Register;
CLICK HERE!
As noted on the main page, when the Act to Regulate the Speed and Operation of Motor Vehicles on Highways was passed in 1904, Section 3 required the Superintendent of Provincial Police to issue for each registered motor vehicle a number, and to "cause the name of such owner, with his address and the number of his permit, to be entered in a book to be kept for such purpose.".
The book that the Superintendent selected for this purpose was a sleek black design that had approximately 195 pages and was wonderfully inscribed on the front cover.
This Register appears to have served its purpose well between 1904-06, but the entries become more compact by 1907 (i.e. every line on each page is now being utilised) and more chaotic by 1909 (i.e. with renewals and transfers, there is no longer any sequential ordering to the numbers).
Further on in the book, there appears to be an odd attempt at re-starting the numbering using both sides of an open page before running out of pages and recommencing at page 100; finally petering out on page 134 with registration No. 370.
Unfortunately, as of this writing (early 2017), this Register has been misplaced at the BC Archives and is not currently available for viewing by the public. Equally unfortunate, the photos that we here at BCpl8s.ca took of this Register in 2011 are of a very poor quality and with the Register currently missing, we have been unable to re-shoot it.


April 1910
(Page 44-45)

April 1910
(Page 46-47)

May 1910
(Page 48-49)

May 1910
(Page 50-51)

June 1910
(Page 54-55)

August 1910
(Page 60-61)

Sept. 1910 to
Oct. 1910
(Page 64-65)

Oct. 1910
(Page 66-67)

Oct. 1910 to
Nov. 1910
(Page 68-69)

Nov. 1910 to
Dec. 1910
(Page 70-71)

Dec. 1910 to
Feb. 1911
(Page 72-73)

Feb. 1911
(Page 74-75)

Feb. 1911
(Page 76-77)
The last number recorded on page 76 is the No. 1,397, which was issued on February 28, 1911, to W.C. Lawton(?) of Victoria. The following day, March 1, 1911, the new Act to Regulate the Use and Operation of Motor-vehicles was adopted by the provincial Legislature. It is assumed that this action explains the decision to cease recording vehicle registrations in this particular Register and that the Superintendent commenced a new list elsewhere.
What is less clear is why (or when?) the decisioin was made to undertake a double-entry system for registrations at page 172? Based upon the information contained in these entries, they appear to have commenced as soon as 1904 and were continued through to February of 1909 and the issuance of the No. 370.
As mentioned above, Provincial Police staff ran out of pages in the Register for the double-entry system in May of 1907 and chose to continue the list on page 100 for the No. 177 - hence the disjointed presentation of the pages below:

Nos. 1-16
(Page 172-173)

Nos. 17-32
(Page 174-175)

Nos. 33-48
(Page 176-177)

Nos. 49-64
(Page 178-179)

Nos. 65-80
(Page 180-181)

Nos. 81-96
(Page 182-183)

Nos. 97-112
(Page 184-185)

Nos. 113-128
(Page 186-187)

Nos. 129-144
(Page 188-189)

Nos. 145-160
(Page 190-191)

Nos. 161-176
(Page 192-193)

Go to Page 100
(Page 194)
 

Nos. 177-192
(Page 100-101)

Nos. 193-208
(Page 102-103)

Nos. 209-224
(Page 104-105)

Nos. 225-240
(Page 106-107)

Nos. 241-256
(Page 108-109)

Nos. 257-271
(Page 110-111)

Nos. 272-287
(Page 112-113)

Nos. 288-303
(Page 114-115)

Nos. 304-319
(Page 116-117)

Nos. 320-334
(Page 118-119)

Nos. 335-350
(Page 120-121)

Nos. 351-366
(Page 122-123)

Nos. 367-382
(Page 124-125)


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