Bourne Family

Bourne family home, Sixth Street East.

Dates:

Henry Josiah Bourne: b. Rainham, UK, 1861 d. March 1905

Frank Herbert Bourne: b London, 1862 d. Vancouver, 1958

Edwards James Bourne: b. London, 1865 d. 23 September 1938

Cemetery Location:

Henry Josiah Bourne: Block C, Row 3, Plot 33

Frank Herbert Bourne: Block C, Row 3, Plot 32

Edward James Bourne: Block C, Row 3, Plot 31

Family memorial at Cemetery:  Red polished granite

Profiles:

Originating from England, the Bourne brothers were a pioneering merchant family who established their retail business in Revelstoke in the late 1900s.

The eldest Bourne brother, Henry Josiah Bourne, became postmaster for Upper Town in 1891 and Justice of the Peace in 1892.  He married Ella Miller in September 1895 and died in March 1905, after a long battle with lung disease.

Edward James Bourne moved to Revelstoke in 1890, where he was accountant for Bourne Bros. and managed the men’s furnishings department. He retired in 1938 and died 23 September 1938. 

The fourth brother, John Dupre Bourne, was storekeeper with CPR when he settled in Revelstoke around 1904, but moved to Vancouver around 1907. He died in August 1927, leaving behind a wife and six children.

The first Bourne Bros. store was in the 100 Block east on Victoria Road, followed by a large frame building constructed on the north side of the railway. In addition to groceries, general provisions, gents’ furnishings and hardware, the building also housed the Upper Town post office, which was opened in 1891.

In January 1901, Bourne Bros. sold their dry goods and clothing business to Reid and Young to concentrate on their growing grocery and hardware business, with newly established branches in Nakusp and New Denver. Henry and Frank Bourne’s partnership was dissolved in March 1905 after Henry’s death, but the business continued under the name Bourne Bros., with Frank Bourne as the sole owner. In 1912, the business was moved into the grand, newly built brick building on the corner of First Street and Campbell Avenue. In May 1918, the store was passed to a mortgage corporation in Vancouver.

Bourne Bros. Store, 1890s.