If you drive the Coquihalla highway near Hope watch for Juliette Bridge, Romeo Road, Shylock Road, Portia Creek, and the Othello Tunnels. You might wonder what these names from Shakespeare's plays are doing in British Columbia. It turns out that when the Kettle Valley Railway was built around the 300 year anniversary of Shakespeare the Engineer building the railway was an avid reader of Shakespeare. Thus thanks to Andrew McCullough the railway stations after Hope were Othello, Lear, Jessica, Aurum, Shylock, Portia, Iago, Romeo, Coquihalla, and Juliette. Over the years various other features have taken on Shakespearean names.
The Bunsby Islands were named in 1862 by Captain Richards, RN, after Captain John Bunsby, an amusing character in Charles Dickens' novel "Domby and Son" published in 1848. Captain Bunsby's vessel was the brig, Cautious Clara, hence the association in this neighbourhood of the names Cautious Point and Clara Islet. Two other "Dickens" names were also given in this vicinity: Gay Passage after Walter Gay, nephew of Old Sol Gills, the instrument maker; and Cuttle Group, after that genial mariner, Captain Cuttle. They are located on the West side of Vancouver Island on the E side of Checleset Bay, NW of Kyuquot Sound.
Garibaldi Secondary School, Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada