John Boles Gaggin, magistrate, was born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1830 or 1831.
After service with the Royal Cork Artillery, he decided to emigrate to
British Columbia and arrived at
Victoria on 10 April 1859. In June,
James Douglas appointed him chief constable at
Yale and in October magistrate and assistant gold commissioner at
Port Douglas.
On 23 November 1863,
Douglas suspended Gaggin, on the grounds that he had been tampering with his accounts. Although exonerated of the charge on 12 December,
Douglas did not remove the suspension until 3 March 1864. In January 1866 his position at
Port Douglas was abolished and Gaggin was appointed magistrate for Kootenay, under the supervision
of Peter O'Reilly. But in November of that year, Gaggin was dismissed from his post. He died on 27 May 1867 at Wild Horse Creek.