Viewing Object

Object Description

Object Name

Print, Photographic

Object ID

1979.014.003

Title

Portrait of BCPP Commission Forbes Cruickshank, 1940s.

Date

[194-?].

Description

1 bust portrait : col. ; in off-white matte of Commissioner Forbes Cruickshank, of the British Columbia Provincial Police. Cruickshank is wearing a brown or possibly green cap with yellow brim and a BCPP logo in the centre. He is also wearing a black tie, a collared shirt, and a BCPP jacket decorated with a blue, white, and red ribbon bar, and black and yellow shoulder marks.

People/Subject

Cruickshank, Forbes

Forbes Cruickshank was an inspector with the BC Provincial Police (The BCPP was disbanded in 1950 when the RCMP took over policing in much of the province) (see HPC Record HPC-45/931). The BCPP had a constabulary formed at Fort Langley with the founding of the colony of British Columbia in 1858. The authorities were eager to police a flood of pistol-packing gold prospectors from California.

Forbes Cruickshank, an inspector with the BCPP, became famous for solving the mystery of the Beryl G, a vessel found abandoned with her decks specked by bloodstains. The owner and his son were missing. With a hat and a camera as clues, the inspector tracked down Harry Sowash and Owen (Cannonball) Baker, who were hanged for murder.

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