Amor Island

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Named after Amor De Cosmos, an early British Columbia politician, and second Premier of the province. De Cosmos lost the 1882 federal election, and retired to Victoria. Although widely regarded as a stirring orator, effective debater, and a man of great intellectual depth, De Cosmos had always been considered eccentric. Contemporaries paint a portrait of an isolated person (he never married and had few intimate friends) with grandiose manners, prone to public outbursts of tears, and a fierce temper that sometimes degenerated into fist-fights. He had unusual phobias - including a fear of electricity. As he grew older, his eccentricities intensified, he became increasingly incoherent, and by 1895 he was declared of "unsound mind". He died two years later and is buried in Victoria's Ross Bay Cemetery. This island and its neighbors were considered far enough from electrical devices and transmission lines to be a peaceful prospect for the statesman.