Ladysmith is a town located on the 49th parallel on the east coast of Vancouver Island British Columbia, Canada. The local economy is based on forestry, tourism and agriculture. A hillside location adjacent to a sheltered harbour form the natural characteristics of the community.

Ladysmith was founded by James Dunsmuir about 1898, a year after he built shipping wharves for loading coal at Oyster Harbour. Dunsmuir, owner of coal mines in the Nanaimo area, needed a location to house the families of his miners. He chose to build the community at Oyster Harbour, some twenty miles south of his Extension British Columbia mines. Many buildings were moved from Extension and Wellington by rail and by oxen.

Ladysmith, British Columbia was named after Ladysmith, South Africa, which was named after "Juana Maria de los Delores de Leon Smith" also known as "Lady Smith", the Spanish wife of Sir Harry Smith, the Governor of the Cape Colony. Dunsmuir thought this would be a fitting tribute at the conclusion of the Boer War. In addition to commemorating the end of the war by naming his town after Ladysmith, Dunsmuir also chose to name the streets of the community after generals who fought victoriously in the Boer War. Included in this honour are Generals Buller, Kitchener, Baden-Powell, Methuen and Symonds. The Town of Ladysmith was incorporated June 3, 1904.