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Oak Bay Rose Garden
(Windsor Park, Newport & Currie Road)
In 1937 as a memorial to her late husband Hugo Beaven, Ada Beaven offered
to provide 500 good-quality plants to establish a rose garden at Windsor
Park.
Hugo Beaven was the son of the Honourable Robert Beaven, who was Mayor
of Victoria and served as fifth Premier of British Columbia (1882-1883).
For 40 years Hugo
Beaven worked for the Canadian Bank of Commerce, retiring as manager of the Douglas
Street branch. He was a member of the Victoria Golf Club, and was a keen hunter
and fisherman, but his main interest was horticultural. The rose garden at his
residence at Arden at 1176 Beach Drive (now Whitehall Apts) was widely known
for the number and excellence of its blooms. He acted a judge in many leading
rose shows and was responsible for introducing many new varieties to the city.
Mr. Beaven died on May 18, 1937, at the age of 69.
Ada Beaven was the daughter of Joseph Despard Pemberton, whose estate encompassed
much of the land in south Oak Bay. Windsor Park and Arden were part of that original
1200 acre Pemberton estate.
The Oak Bay Rose garden along with the native Plant garden are part of a tangible
legacy Ada Beaven left to Oak Bay and, at her death, tributes reveal a truly
remarkable citizen.
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She
was known in the community as a generous, kindly and public spirited
woman who was interested in the whole human story. A person of lively
intellect and much interested in current events. Her
good works were performed quietly and without ostentation, supporting
the Canadian institute for the blind, the Veterans' Hospital, salvation
Army sunshine Camp, Victoria Art Gallery, protestant orphanage, and
goodwill enterprises
She was a well known figure in the Village, supporting local merchants and driving
through Oak Bay in her electric car, until a few days before her death in July
1958 at the age of 91. |
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