Over thirty years ago, when the late Terry Reksten wrote More English than the English, her intent was to write for those who might not usually find pleasure in reading about the past. The result is an entertaining account of British immigrants trying to create a society based on nostalgic notions of their homeland.
This completely redesigned, updated, and expanded edition brings this fascinating social history of Victoria's early days back into print. Writer and historian Rosemary Neering has added new photos and updated the list of sixty-one historical sites. As in the original edition, More English than the English includes maps and a comprehensive cross-referenced list of sites for readers strolling the streets and pathways of the city, searching for evidence of the past both at surviving physical locations and in the stories that unfolded there.
Terry Reksten, Victoria's favourite historian, chronicles the feats and foibles of the men and women, many of them British immigrants, who created a special kind of society and a new city beside the Pacific. With insight and humour, Reksten opens a window on the way things used to be in a place at the far end of the Empire.
Deliberately selective and anecdotal, this is a delightful collection of stories and sagas of the people who fashioned a fort, a town, and finally, a city on the rocks and meadows of southern Vancouver Island. By focusing on the stories behind the acts and dates that are the mainstay of more formal history, Reksten strove to create a social history that portrayed the spirit of the times from the mid-nineteenth century into the 1930s.
Terry Reksten was born in England in 1942 and came to British Columbia in 1947. She studied English and History at the University of British Columbia, graduating in 1963. Terry maintained an active interest in British Columbia history and heritage preservation and was a founding member of the Hallmark Society and the Crystal Gardens Preservation Society. In 1985, she was named an Honorary Citizen of the City of Victoria in recognition of her writing and her work in heritage preservation. Reksten's first book, Rattenbury, received the province's top literary award for "an outstanding contribution to the field of literature pertaining to the understanding and enjoyment of British Columbia." Terry went on to produce six more books of history and biography, including The Dunsmuir Saga, The Empress Hotel, and her final book, The Illustrated History of British Columbia (2001). Terry passed away in July 2001.
