In 1889, Henry Ogle Bell-Irving acquired options on nine operating fish canneries: seven on the Fraser River and two on the Skeena River. On 14 april 1891, Bell-Irving purchased a Prospectus for $330,000. Later that year on the 22 December, the Anglo-British Columbia Packing company was incorporated in Middlesex, England. Bell-Irving's firm, then named Bell-Irving and Patterson, was appointed first Managing and Selling Agents. They maintained a head-office for the company in Vancouver, and titular head-office in London, England.

In 1894, the Anglo-British Columbia Packing Company began expansion of their operations by constructing the Good Hope Cannery on Rivers Inelt. In 1895, H.O. Bell-Irving and Company assumed sole Managing and Selling Agent responsibilities. Also in that year, the Anglo-British Columbia Packing Company established the Fidalgo Island Packing Company, which remained a subsidiary until 1964, when it was sold.

In 1931, after the death of H.O. Bell-Irving, the management of the Anglo-British Columbia Packing Company was assumed by Bell-Irving's son Richard and Peter Traill, both former directors. In 1966, the company expanded its operations to Caraquet, New Brunswick, where it built a herring reduction plant. The Anglo-British Columbia Packing Company sold the salmon cannery business in1969,yet continued to operate the herring reduction plant until 1974, when the company folded completely.

For further information see also:
Lyons, Cicely. Salmon, Our Heritage: The Story of a Province. And an Industry. Vancouver: Mitchell Press, 1969; and

Newell, Dianne, ed. The Development of the Pacific Salmon-Canning Industry: A Grown Man's Game. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1989.