Vancouver / Names / P / Primrose

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Primroses

In the city directories 1940 · five people at three addresses

The directories print five people named Primrose at three addresses in 1940 in three of the city's neighbourhoods. No first name or initials tie one address to another: we can't tell if they're one family. The most under one roof: three Primroses at 2156 Kitchener in 1940.

Reserve this family's book, freeThe name in every directory we hold from 1901 to 1945, at every address, each line with its page, to read here or save as a PDF. About $29 when orders open.

Where the Primroses lived

Each pin is on its own block, numbered as the households below. Today's land, parks, main roads and local areas: City of Vancouver Open Data (Open Government Licence – Vancouver).
  1. 1

    1056 Hamilton Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • P B Primrose, a manufacturers agent 1940

    Next door in 1940: pacific brewers agts at 1040 and Warehouses Central at 1058. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    2156 Kitchener Street

    Grandview-Woodland, 1940

    • Mrs A V Primrose, widow of R G 1940
    • Gerald E D Primrose, an apprentice at Nicholson Ltd 1940
    • Neil Primrose, a student at UBC 1940

    Next door in 1940: H F Koelkenbeck at 2148 and J Pennyway at 2164. The block, door by door

  3. 3

    3433 Oxford Street

    Hastings-Sunrise, 1940

    • P B Primrose, a manufacturers agent 1940

    Next door in 1940: H T Batchelor at 3425 and D B Mathieson at 3467. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for two of the five: an apprentice and a manufacturers agent. One is a widow, listed under her own name.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Downtown, Grandview-Woodland and Hastings-Sunrise. Each neighbourhood's page shows its trades, its people and every street in it, the way the directory printed them.

The story, address by address

In 1940 the directory lists P B Primrose, a manufacturers agent, at 1056 Hamilton Street. Mrs A V Primrose is listed at 2156 Kitchener Street in 1940. The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists A Vera Primrose there as the householder, widow of R G, with Gerald E D Primrose, an apprentice at Nicholson Ltd, and Neil Primrose, a student at UBC.

P B Primrose is listed at 3433 Oxford Street in 1940; the 1940 line is marked *: some member of the family owns the property, to the best of our knowledge (the directory's own mark). The 1940 name section lists Percy B Primrose there as the householder, a manufacturers agent.

Today

2156 Kitchener still has its building from before 1946, dated 1923 by the City's record; the City no longer lists 1056 Hamilton and 3433 Oxford, so those buildings are probably gone (inferred).

Every line as printed

All 7 lines printed under the name through 1945, each with its page at the Vancouver Public Library.
1940

British Columbia and Yukon Directory, street section

The book of the Primroses

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Primrose name in each Vancouver directory we hold from 1901 to 1945: everyone printed under it at every address, their work from the name sections, who lived next door, and the page behind every line, to read here or save as a PDF to print or give.

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Another name, or a house

Sources

Henderson's and successor city directories for Vancouver, read by us line by line: the street sections for 1905, 1915, 1925, 1935, 1940 and 1945, and the name section for 1930 and 1940 where we've read it (Vancouver Public Library, BC City Directories). Names are shown through 1945, as printed. Close spellings are grouped, as on the house pages, since a family's name was often spelled differently from one year to the next; one name can still be several families, and we join lines only where the first names or initials agree. Many Chinese, Japanese and other residents weren't named by the canvassers, so they can't be listed by name: their houses' pages say where. More family names under P. Want a name removed? Tell us.