In the early 1800s, fur trading companies established British authorities in what was then called the Columbia District. In 1858, once the border for Canada had been realized, British Columbia became a colony. It is there, at 1516 Fairfield Road in Victoria, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island, Canada, where Ross Bay Cemetery lies. Established in 1872, the cemetery is known today for its rumored hauntings. Many claim they’ve seen spirits wandering among the graves. David Fee is one of these spirits, a man murdered on the steps of St. Andrew’s Cathedral in 1890 on Christmas Eve. His unjust and unnecessary murder was so public that his funeral was the most attended in Victorian history.

The cemetery is home to many famous individuals, including politicians, soldiers, and artists, including Sr. James Douglas, a knight, Robert Dunsmuir, an industrialist, and Emily Carr, an artist and author. However, maybe the most significant of them all is Isabella Mainville Ross. Born in...

The first photograph was taken by Louis Daguerre in France and William Henry Fox-Talbot in Britain in 1831. Photography was an exciting development at the time. Since the looks of families and individuals were preserved only by expensive paintings, photography was a cheaper and more accurate option. Many families were photographed, specifically children. The only problem this posed was the slow shutter speed on cameras at the time meant people had to stay very still for a significant amount of time in order for the picture to turn out. This resulted in “hidden mother” photography, a practice that began with mothers hiding behind plants and curtains and the such in order to hold their kids still until the photo was finished. 

In the Victorian era, photos of the deceased were commonplace and became more of a tradition than a pseudo-practice. This was done not only because it was a way to immortalize loved ones, but because corpses stayed so perfectly still, the pictures came...

The woman question of the Victorian era was the questioning of how women fit into society, mostly concerning political and legal rights, especially for women without husbands or without high-class status. The dilemma was so widespread and well known, that reportedly " Queen Victoria herself reflected these two sides of the question, as she was often depicted as and presented herself in terms of the ideal wife and mother even as she reigned as the monarch." (The Saylor Foundation.) This fact about the Queen is extremely interesting, due to knowing that she is the complete top-tier of class and power in the nation, but still was the ideal mother and lady, suggests that perhaps she believed that women did in fact have the potential the have those freedoms and fit nicely into society.

This explains many of the advancements in women's rights, including women's suffrage, The Married Woman's Property Act, and the improvement of conditions both at home and work for women under...