Exhibit: Goldfinger: Charles Sydney Goldman
Sometime-British Columbian resident Major Charles Sydney Goldman, a “self-made” man, was caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair in January 28th, 1904. One hundred and ten years later, an exhibit and discussion featuring this historic figure was held at the Lake Country Museum.1
Charles Sydney Goldman was perhaps one of the British Columbia’s most enigmatic historic figures. A German of Jewish ancestry, he left Germany for England, where he married the granddaughter of Sir Robert Peel. His next move was to South Africa, where he made a fortune in ostrich farming and gold mining. A major in the British forces during the Boer War, he assisted Winston Churchill as a war correspondent. He then moved to British Columbia, where he founded Nicola Stock Farm (now Nicola Ranch) in Merritt. He wrote a lengthy account of the Boer War, edited and translated several other historic works, as well as being a collector of Pre-Raphaelite art. One of his legacies still enjoyed by the public is Monck Provincial Park on the shore of Nicola Lake.
1 Goldfinger: Charles Sydney Goldman Exhibit opening was February 9, 2014.