Collection 2007.17 - James Joseph Claxton Photograph Collection

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

James Joseph Claxton Photograph Collection

General material designation

  • Graphic material

Parallel title

Other title information

Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

Level of description

Collection

Reference code

2007.17

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

Statement of projection (cartographic)

Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1920-01-01 - 1982-12-31 (Creation)
    Creator
    Claxton, James Joseph

Physical description area

Physical description

140 photographs : b&w . - 0.5 cm textual records

Publisher's series area

Title proper of publisher's series

Parallel titles of publisher's series

Other title information of publisher's series

Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series

Numbering within publisher's series

Note on publisher's series

Archival description area

Name of creator

(22 Aug 1910 - 24 May 1996)

Biographical history

James Joseph Claxton was born in Ireland on August 22, 1910 and immigrated to Canada as a teenager. Despite a love for his adopted country, he never forgot his Irish roots. In 1941, he joined the Irish Fusiliers of Canada (Vancouver Regiment) where he was able to serve the British Commonwealth along side his many Irish-Canadian compatriots. The following year, his regiment was deployed for active overseas combat in North Africa, Italy and North Western Europe. At the end of World War II, Claxton returned to British Columbia where he explored this province by settling for a time in Kamloops, Kelowna, Salmon Arm and finally Burnaby. He owned a jewellery store in the New Westminster area for several years in which he showcased his extensive collection of Royal Irish Constabulary badges and ephemera. Claxton was an active leader for the Salmon Arm Boys Scouts of Canada group, and was a member of both the Irish Fusiliers Association and the Toc H (an international charity and membership movement that emerged from a soldiers' club in Belgium during World War I). He also served aboard the M.S. Columbia III (ca. 1960) – one of the last ships then maintained by the Anglican Church’s Columbia Coast Mission. This mission provided religious, medical and social services to remote coastal settlements, logging camps and First Nations communities along the inner coast from 1905 to the late 1960s. James Joseph Claxton passed away at the Royal Columbian Hospital, New Westminster at the age of 86. He was cremated and buried at sea off the northern tip of Vancouver Island at Cape Caution.

Scope and content

Collection consists of 140 photographs pertaining to the life and pursuits of James Joseph Claxton over the course of sixty years. Subject areas identified within this collection include: quartz and placer mining in the Cariboo; Kingcome Village; the Royal Irish Contabulary; Roderick's Jewelers, New Westminster; the "M.S. Columbia III"; Kwakiutl petrographs in Fort Rupert; totem poles at Alert Bay; and the Salmon Arm Boy Scouts of Canada group.

Notes area

Arrangement

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

    Location of originals

    All originals are housed at the Northern BC Archives & Special Collections

    Availability of other formats

    .tiff & .jpg

    Restrictions on access

    None.

    Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

    Personal or academic use of photographic materials is welcomed under the standard fair use and educational use clauses of Canadian Copyright Law. Commercial use is, however, forbidden without the express permission of the copyright holder. For information on obtaining written permission from the copyright holder, please contact the Northern B.C. Archives and Special Collections.

    Finding aids

    Item level descriptions available.

    Associated materials

    Related materials

    Accruals

    No further accruals expected.

    Alternative identifier(s)

    Standard number

    Standard number

    Access points

    Name access points

    Genre access points

    Control area

    Sources

    “Toc H” located at http://www.toch-uk.org.uk/index.html (accessed April 18, 2011); “Irish Military Diaspora” located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_military_diaspora (accessed April 18, 2011)
    “Irish Regiments of The British Army” located at http://irishregimentsofthebritisharmy.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=28452208 (accessed April 18, 2011). “Remembering Columbia’s Glory Days” by Jeanette Taylor published in the “Columbia River Mirror” (Oct. 20, 2006) located at http://www.porthardy.ca/siteengine/activepage.asp?PageID=21 (accessed Nov. 17, 2009).

    Accession area