DCB/DBC Mobile beta
+

As part of the funding agreement between the Dictionary of Canadian Biography and the Canadian Museum of History, we invite readers to take part in a short survey.

I’ll take the survey now.

Remind me later.

Don’t show me this message again.

I have already taken the questionnaire

DCB/DBC News

New Biographies

Minor Corrections

Biography of the Day

LÉPINE, AMBROISE-DYDIME – Volume XV (1921-1930)

b. 18 March 1840 in St Boniface (Man.)

Confederation

Responsible Government

Sir John A. Macdonald

From the Red River Settlement to Manitoba (1812–70)

Sir Wilfrid Laurier

Sir George-Étienne Cartier

Sports

The Fenians

Women in the DCB/DBC

The Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences of 1864

Introductory Essays of the DCB/DBC

The Acadians

For Educators

The War of 1812 

Canada’s Wartime Prime Ministers

The First World War

Original title:  Original Digital object not accessible

Source: Link

DRIARD, SOSTHENES MAXIMILIAN, hotelier; b. 1819 at Chapelle-la-Reine (Department of Seine et Marne), France; d., probably a bachelor, on 15 Feb. 1873 at Victoria, B.C.

Sosthenes Maximilian Driard was one of those Frenchmen who, as a result of the revolution of 1848, the downfall of Louis-Philippe, and the ensuing economic depression in France, decided to emigrate to the “New World.” Driard is said to have settled initially in New Orleans but in 1853 he was certainly in San Francisco. At that time, in association with Jules Rueff and others, Driard founded a charitable organization called Maison d’Asile, designed to assist Frenchmen not eligible for help from the French Benevolent Society. Driard, and also Rueff (who later moved to Victoria, B.C.), were among its first directors.

Driard, according to his obituaries, was attracted to British Columbia in 1858 by news of the Fraser River gold rush; the first mention of his presence in Victoria is in 1859 when he advertised the Colonial Restaurant in the Victoria Gazette. Edgar Fawcett, a well-known pioneer, described the Colonial Hotel in the 1860s as “one of the swell places of that day” and its owner as “very corpulent and asthmatic.” In 1871 Driard purchased the St George Hotel on View Street. With two additional storeys, numerous alterations, and new furnishings, the hotel, renamed Driard House, was opened in May 1872, advertising accommodation for 100. Driard died nine months later at the age of 54; the hotel, luxurious and with a fine cuisine, was subsequently owned by his nephew Louis Lucas and a partner, Louis Redon, eventually passing to the Hartnagles.

Driard was a member of the French Benevolent Society of Victoria, formed early in 1860. The society founded a hospital in Victoria and initiated a system of medical benefits at a low monthly fee. There were no restrictions as to the nationality of its subscribers. Driard was also a member of Victoria Lodge, Free and Ancient Masons (an unusual proceeding for a Roman Catholic), probably drawn to freemasonry by his benevolent and charitable disposition. He was also one of the charter members and a director of the British Columbia Pioneer Society. In his will he remembered relatives (most of whom were in France), the sisters of St Ann, and the French Benevolent Society; if he died in B.C., four baskets of champagne were to be given to his brother masons. At his death he was described in one account as “intelligent and assiduous at his business,” in another as “much esteemed and respected for his charitable nature and many other good qualities.”

Madge Wolfenden

British Columbia Law Courts (Victoria), will of Sosthenes Driard (no.1804). PABC, letter of S. Driard to the governor, 27 Oct. [1868]. Daily British Colonist and Victoria Chronicle, 10 Aug. 1870; 4 May 1872; 16, 17, 18 Feb. 1873. Victoria Daily Standard, 15, 17, 18 Feb. 1873. Victoria Gazette, 3 Sept. 1858, 29 Oct. 1859. Daniel Lévy, Les Français en Californie (San Francisco, Calif., 1884), 201. A. P. Nasatir, French activities in California, an archival calendar-guide (Stanford, Calif., London, [1945]), 37. W. E. Ireland, “The French in British Columbia,” BCHQ, XIII (1949), 67–89.

General Bibliography

Cite This Article

Madge Wolfenden, “DRIARD, SOSTHENES MAXIMILIAN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 10, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed March 18, 2024, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/driard_sosthenes_maximilian_10E.html.

The citation above shows the format for footnotes and endnotes according to the Chicago manual of style (16th edition). Information to be used in other citation formats:


Permalink:   http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/driard_sosthenes_maximilian_10E.html
Author of Article:   Madge Wolfenden
Title of Article:   DRIARD, SOSTHENES MAXIMILIAN
Publication Name:   Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 10
Publisher:   University of Toronto/Université Laval
Year of publication:   1972
Year of revision:   1972
Access Date:   March 18, 2024