Accession Number

2025.001a-b

Description

One cast bronze plaque (Chenhall term: plaque) mounted on a French-polished mahogany panel: (a) the panel 47cm X 31.2cm X 1.9cm; (b) the bronze plaque 41cm X 25.1cm X .8cm.

Narrative

This bronze plaque was commissioned by The Castle Society’s Board of Directors on December 13, 1981 to honour the memory of the late James K. Nesbitt, the founding President of The Society for The Preservation and Maintenance of Craigdarroch Castle. ¹

The driving force behind the creation of the plaque was Society board member Don Stevens. He wrote the text for it and coordinated the casting. Society employee Bruce Davies arranged for retired Canada Coast Guard Captain James Thom to make the French-polished mahogany panel that the plaque is mounted to. Captain Thom’s son, Christopher Norman Thom, had been a Society employee in the early 1970s until June of 1975.

Don Stevens wrote an article about the late James K. Nesbitt that was published in the Islander supplement to Victoria’s Times Colonist newspaper on December 2, 1984. In closing, he wrote: “Many were the honors received, and achievements recognized in his later years. The work to which he dedicated the last part of his life will go on as he wished it. And when the annual general meeting of ‘his’ Society was held in January (1982), chaired by Mrs. Laundy and attended by Cec Wyatt, Inez Mitchell and others, the spirit of ‘Jimmy’ was there too – as ever vigilant and interested.”

1. Minutes of the December 13, 1981, meeting of the Board of Directors of The Society for the Preservation and Maintenance of Craigdarroch Castle. 

History of Use

This bronze plaque was cast by Smith Bros. Foundry Ltd. of Victoria, B.C. in 1982. The mahogany panel was made by James Thom in 1982. The mounted plaque was installed on the east wall of the Library in Craigdarroch Castle in 1983. It was removed from that wall in 1994 in preparation for the Life Safety Upgrading Project in the Castle. It has been in storage since then and will eventually be installed in The Castle Society/Victoria Conservatory of Music Gallery planned for room 206 on Craigdarroch’s second floor.

Date

1982

Dimensions

25.1 x 41 x 0.8 cm

Material

Metal, bronze; Wood, mahogany

Technique

Cast; Milled; Stained; French polished

Country of Origin

Canada