History of Lulu Island
History of Lulu Island by Thomas Kidd
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Thomas Kidd, ca. 1880. |
Thomas Kidd was one of Richmond's prominent European settlers. Born in Ireland in 1846, Kidd left home at 17, heading first to New Zealand and then to California. He arrived in Victoria, British Columbia in 1874 and then went to New Westminster where he met Samuel Brighouse and W.J. Scratchley and came with them to Lulu Island to take up farming. Mr. Kidd was active in his fledgling community; he was elected councillor in Richmond's second election, and later served as Richmond's Reeve, as a School Trustee, and as Richmond's first MLA in 1894. He was known as a kind and helpful neighbour, and as a learned man with a great thirst for knowledge and an appreciation for literature.
In 1927, Mr. Kidd published a book about the early history of European settlement of Lulu Island in which he described the growth of the community, the character of the settlers, and the conduct of Richmond's first governing councils. The book also contained several poems written by Kidd, including one titled "Lulu Island" from which the phrase "Child of the Fraser" was borrowed. In 1973, History of Lulu Island and Occasional Poems was reprinted with the title History of Richmond Municipality. In 2007, with only a few copies of the reprint remaining in their possession, the Friends of the Richmond Archives and the City of Richmond Archives decided to print a third edition and to make it available on the City of Richmond Archives' web pages
Click on the link below to read Thomas Kidd's History of Lulu Island and learn more about the early history of Richmond from a man who witnessed much of it firsthand.