Sir Robert Bond

Sir Robert Bond (February 25, 1857 – March 16, 1927) was the last Premier of Newfoundland Colony from 1900 to 1907 and the first prime minister of the Dominion of Newfoundland from 1907 to 1909 after the 1907 Imperial Conference conferred dominion status on the island. He was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, as the son of merchant John Bond. Bond grew up in St. John’s until 1872 when his father died and left the family a good deal of money. He went to England where he was educated and came back to Newfoundland and articled under Sir William Whiteway.

Political career

He got involved in politics in 1882 when he ran for the House of Assembly in Fortune Bay. He was speaker of the House of Assembly before the Whiteway government was defeated in 1885. When Whiteway came back into power in 1889; Bond was made Colonial Secretary. He tried to negotiate free trade with the United States but it failed because of Canada’s objection.

The government was defeated by judicial means in 1894 but came back to power shortly after because of the bank crash of 1894. Bond became leader of the Liberal Party after Whiteway lost the 1897 election. He became Premier in 1900 after the Conservatives under Sir James Winter lost a vote of confidence. As Prime Minister he once again tried to negotiate free trade with the United States. It failed because of the objections of US senator Henry Cabot Lodge. Teddy Roosevelt tried to intervene but was not successful and it ended the friendship between the two nations. Relations between the United States and Newfoundland deteriorated to the point where in November 1905 in Bonne Bay local fisherman clashed with Americans trying to buy bait on shore. In 1904 Bond was re-elected with a clear majority. He went on to settle the French Shore issue which gave Newfoundland full control over the island. Following the 1907 Imperial Conference, Newfoundland and the other self-governing British colonies were given dominion status and Bond formally became the first prime minister of the Dominion of Newfoundland.

In 1907, his Attorney General Sir Edward Patrick Morris walked across the floor and started his own party called the Peoples Party. In the 1908 election the two parties came to a tie getting 18 seats each out of the 36 seats. Bond was asked by the Governor if he could form a government and said that he could not because he would have to elect a government member as Speaker. Morris was asked and said he could and was sworn in as Prime Minister. His government failed as soon as Parliament was convened.

In the 1909 election Morris won because he controlled government funds. Bond again led the Liberals into election in 1913 in an alliance with the Unionist Party of William Coaker. They failed to defeat Morris and Bond resigned as Liberal Leader in January 1914. In 1919 and again in 1923, the Liberals tried to persuade him to return. Bond responded with the prophetic response “If only I had the strength, how the fitters would fly; My poor country Newfoundland, the last stage”. Bond died on his country estate in Whitbourne at the age of 70.

Honours

Bond received several honours during his premiership. On 24 October 1901 Bond was invested as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) during the visit to St John’s of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later King George V and Queen Mary), and in 1902 he was sworn to the imperial Privy Council. He was also given the freedom of the city of Edinburgh in 1902 and of the City of London, Manchester, and Bristol in 1907. On 26 July 1902 he was awarded an honorary LL.D. by the University of Edinburgh.

 

Manon Rhéaume

Manon Rhéaume (born February 24, 1972) is a Canadian ice hockey goaltender. An Olympic silver medalist, she achieved a number of historic firsts during her career, including becoming the first and only woman ever to play in a National Hockey League exhibition game.

In 1992 Rhéaume signed a contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL, appearing in a preseason exhibition game in 1992. She spent five years in professional minor leagues, playing for a total of seven teams and appearing in 24 games. She also played on the Canada women’s national ice hockey team, winning Gold Medals at the IIHF Women’s World Championship in 1992 and 1994, and the Silver Medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics.

Early life

Rhéaume was born in Lac-Beauport, Quebec to Nicole and Pierre Rhéaume. She has one older brother, Martin, and one younger, Pascal, who was a center for the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.

Playing career

She played for the Sherbrooke Jofa-Titan squad in the League Régionale du Hockey au Féminin in the province of Québec. Rhéaume was signed to the Trois-Rivières Draveurs in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, one of Canada’s top junior ice hockey leagues, for the 1991-1992 season, becoming the first woman ever to play in a men’s Junior A hockey game.

In 1992 she tried out for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and was signed as a free agent. This was the first time a woman tried out for an NHL team or signed a pro-level hockey league contract. She played one period in an exhibition game against the St. Louis Blues, allowing two goals, and played in another exhibition game against the Boston Bruins in 1993.

Also in 1992 she was selected for the Canada national women’s ice hockey team. She won gold medals at the 1992 and 1994 IIHF Women’s World Championships, and was named to the All-Star team both years. She won the Silver Medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.

In 1992 she was signed by the Atlanta Knights of the International Hockey League (IHL). Her first appearance against the Salt Lake Golden Eagles marked the first time a woman appeared in a regular season professional game. She played for seven different teams between 1992 and 1997, including Atlanta, the Knoxville Cherokees, Nashville Knights, the Las Vegas Aces, the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks, Las Vegas Thunder, and the Reno Renegades, appearing in a total of 24 games. While in Atlanta, Manon wrote her autobiography – Manon: Alone In Front Of The Net. Rhéaume initially retired from professional hockey in 1997.

Later life

For the 1999-2000 season, she was the goaltending coach of the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs women’s ice hockey program. In 2000 she entered into the business world, serving as marketing director for Mission Hockey in Irvine, California, for three years, developing and promoting girls’ hockey equipment. She later worked in marketing at the Powerade Iceport in Milwaukee and with the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

In October 2008, the IHL’s Port Huron Icehawks announced that they going to have Manon Rhéaume take part in their training camp activities and will play for at least a period of the team’s exhibition season opener. On April 3, 2009, Rhéaume suited up for one game with the Flint Generals IHL team. She has been with the practice team since January, filling in for their regular goalie. Rhéaume is the third woman to play for the Generals.

She played for the Minnesota Whitecaps in 2009, and helped lead them to the Clarkson Cup finals. On March 19, the Whitecaps, with Rhéaume in net, beat the Montreal Stars in a playoff game by a score of 4-3 in overtime, with Kim St. Pierre in net for the Stars. During the 2008-09 WWHL season, Rhéaume’s Whitecaps took two of three games from the Calgary Oval X-Treme. Those losses snapped a string that saw the X-Treme go two years without tasting defeat in the regular season.

Media and popular culture

She guest-starred as herself in the made-for-TV movie A Beachcombers Christmas with Tiger Williams and Jyrki Lumme. At the height of her popularity, she was approached to pose for Playboy Magazine, which she refused.

In 2011, she took part in the Quebec TV show Le défi des champions (Champions’ Challenge), a show that trained eight Quebec athletes (such as Isabelle Charest, Bruny Surin, Marc Gagnon, Marie-Andrée Lessard, Étienne Boulay, Nathalie Lambert and Mathieu Dandenault) to the art of the circus. Manon performed very well in each of her disciplines.

Personal life

Manon Rhéaume was married to Gerry St-Cyr, a roller hockey player and minor league hockey player in June 1998, whom she later divorced. Gerry and Manon have one son, Dylan. In 1999, she was hired by Mission Hockey as head of global marketing for women’s hockey. One of her projects was helping develop hockey skates for women. Rhéaume formed the Manon Rhéaume Foundation in 2008, which provides scholarships for young women.

 

Lois Maxwell

Lois Maxwell (14 February 1927 – 29 September 2007) was a Canadian actress, mainly known for her portrayal of Miss Moneypenny in the first 14 James Bond films, from 1962 to 1985.

She began her film career in the late 1940s, and won the actress Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her performance in That Hagen Girl (1947). Following a number of small film roles, Maxwell became dissatisfied and travelled to Italy, where she worked in film from 1951 to 1955. After her marriage, she moved to the United Kingdom, where she appeared in several television productions.

As Maxwell’s career declined, she lived in Canada, Switzerland and the UK. In 2001, she was diagnosed with bowel cancer, and moved to Western Australia, where she lived with her son until her death in 2007, aged 80.

Life and career

Early life

Born Lois Ruth Hooker in Kitchener, Ontario, to parents who were a nurse and a teacher, Maxwell was raised in Toronto and attended Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute. Dissatisfied with the yields of babysitting jobs, she set her sights on something more lucrative and landed her first job working as a waitress at Canada’s largest and most luxurious summer resort, Bigwin Inn, on Bigwin Island in Lake of Bays, Ontario.

During World War II, she ran away from home, aged 15, to join the Canadian Women’s Army Corps, a unit formed to release men for combat duties. CWAC personnel were secretaries, vehicle drivers and mechanics, who performed every conceivable non-combat duty. Maxwell quickly became part of the Army Show in Canada. Later, as part of the Canadian Auxiliary Services Entertainment Unit, she was posted to the United Kingdom, where she performed music and dance numbers to entertain the troops, often appearing alongside Canadian comedians Wayne and Shuster.

Her true age was discovered when the group reached London. To avoid repatriation to Canada, she was discharged and subsequently enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where she became friends with fellow student Roger Moore.

Career

Moving to Hollywood at the age of 20, Maxwell won the actress Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her role in the Shirley Temple comedy That Hagen Girl (1947). In 1949, she participated in a Life magazine photo layout, in which she posed with another up-and-coming actress, Marilyn Monroe. It was at this time that she changed her surname from Hooker to Maxwell, a name borrowed from a ballet dancer friend. The rest of her family also took this name.

Most of Maxwell’s work consisted of minor roles in B films. Tiring of Hollywood, she moved back to Europe, living in Rome for five years from 1950 to 1955. There she made a series of films, and at one point became an amateur racing driver. One of her Italian films was a 1953 adaptation of the opera Aida, in which Maxwell played a leading role, lip-synching to another woman’s vocals and appearing in several scenes with a pre-stardom Sophia Loren.

While visiting Paris, she met her future husband, the TV executive Peter Marriott; they married in 1957 and moved to London, where both their daughter Melinda and son Christian were born (in 1958 and 1959).

During the 1960s, Maxwell appeared in many other TV series and films in both the UK and Canada, and was the star of Adventures in Rainbow Country later that decade. She also guest-starred in episodes of The Saint and The Persuaders!, both of which starred Roger Moore, and provided the voice of Atlanta for the Supermarionation science-fiction children’s series Stingray. She had a secondary role in Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita (1962). In 1965, Maxwell had a guest appearance in “Something for a Rainy Day”, an episode of the ITC series The Baron, as an insurance investigator.

Role as Miss Moneypenny

Maxwell lobbied for a role in the James Bond film Dr. No (1962), since her husband had suffered a heart attack and they needed the money. Director Terence Young, who had once turned her down on the grounds that she “looked like she smelled of soap”, offered her either Miss Moneypenny or Bond’s girlfriend, Sylvia Trench, but she was uncomfortable with the idea of a revealing scene outlined in the screenplay. The role as M’s secretary guaranteed just two days’ work at a rate of £100 per day; Maxwell supplied her own clothes for the filming.

In 1967, Maxwell angered Sean Connery by appearing in the Italian spy spoof Operation Kid Brother with his brother, Neil, and Bernard Lee (who played M). The same year, she portrayed Moneypenny in a made-for-TV special, Welcome to Japan, Mr. Bond.

In 1971, the role of Moneypenny was nearly re-cast after Maxwell demanded a pay raise for Diamonds Are Forever; Moneypenny’s undercover policewoman’s cap disguises the hair Maxwell had already dyed in preparation for another part. However, she stayed on as Moneypenny when her former classmate, Roger Moore, assumed the role of 007 in Live and Let Die (1973). She reprised her character, weeping for the death of Bond, in a short scene with Lee in the French comedy Bons baisers de Hong Kong (1975).

During the filming of A View to a Kill (1985), her final appearance as Moneypenny, producer Cubby Broccoli pointed out to her that they were the only cast or crew members from Dr. No who had not yet left the series. Maxwell asked that Moneypenny be killed off, but Broccoli re-cast the role instead. Maxwell’s final Bond film was also Moore’s last outing; they were succeeded by Caroline Bliss and Timothy Dalton for the final two Bond films of the 1980s.

According to author Tom Lisanti, Maxwell’s Moneypenny was seen as an “anchor”, and her flirtatious relationship with Bond provided the films with dramatic realism and humanism; for Moneypenny, Bond was “unobtainable”, freeing the characters to make outrageous sexual double entendres. At the same time, however, her character did little to imbue the series with changing feminist notions.

Later life

In 1973, Maxwell’s husband died, having never fully recovered from his heart attack in the 1960s. Maxwell subsequently returned to Canada, settling in Oakville, Ontario, and spending her summers at a cottage outside of Espanola, Ontario, where she wrote a column for the Toronto Sun under the pseudonym “Miss Moneypenny” and became a businesswoman working in the textile industry. In 1994, she returned to the UK once again to be nearer to her daughter, retiring to a cottage in Frome, Somerset.

Death

Following surgery for bowel cancer in 2001, Maxwell moved to Perth, Australia, to live with her son’s family. She remained there, working on her autobiography, until her death at Fremantle Hospital on 29 September 2007.

Of his friend’s death, Sir Roger Moore said to BBC Radio 5 Live, “It’s rather a shock. She was always fun and she was wonderful to be with and was absolutely perfect casting […] It was a great pity that, after I moved out of Bond, they didn’t take her on to continue in the Timothy Dalton films. I think it was a great disappointment to her that she had not been promoted to play M. She would have been a wonderful M.”

 

Kenneth Christopher McKinstry

Kenneth Christopher McKinstry (February 12, 1967 – January 23, 2006) was a researcher in artificial intelligence. He led the development of the MISTIC project which was launched in May 1996. He founded the Mindpixel project in July 2000, and closed it in December 2005. McKinstry’s AI work and similar early death dovetailed with another contemporary AI researcher, Push Singh and his MIT Open Mind Common Sense Project.

Life

McKinstry was a Canadian citizen. Born in Winnipeg, he resided several years in Chile. Since 1999, he lived in Antofagasta as a VLT operator for the European Southern Observatory. At the end of 2004, he moved back to Santiago, Chile.

Suffering from bipolar disorder, McKinstry had an armed standoff with police in Toronto in 1990.

He was known on the Internet for discussing his drug use and making extravagant claims about his technology. He claimed that he became a millionaire at the age of 17 from inventing a copy protection scheme “marketed under the names oxylok, prolock, and mediaguard.”, however this claim has never been verified.

In 1997, Chris McKinstry started an online soap opera entitled CR6. Like many other dot-coms, the start-up failed after several months. McKinstry claimed to have lost $1 million in the CR6 failure, and the many people he recruited to build the soap opera, including photographers, writers, a director, and several prominent businesses, never received any of the money owed them for their work.

Before his death McKinstry designed an experiment with two cognitive scientists to study the dynamics of thought processes using data from his Mindpixel project. This work has now been published in Psychological Science in its January, 2008 issue, with McKinstry as posthumous first author.

McKinstry is the subject of an upcoming documentary called The Man Behind the Curtain which recounts his innovative work and his mental battles.

Internet suicide

On January 20 2006, two postings appeared on McKinstry’s weblog. In one, entitled “Very Serious Thoughts on Suicide”, he said, “Why am I writing this? Just as a matter of record, to prove I was here and ahead of all of you. Time to go,” and then quoted a dozen aphorisms about suicide, such as “Suicide is man’s way of telling God, ‘You can’t fire me — I quit.’” (attributed to Bill Maher).

The other posting, entitled “So what exactly does a web suicide note look like?”, was a suicide note. Chris wrote, “I am tired of feeling the same feelings and experiencing the same experiences. It is time to move on and see what is next if anything.” The suicide posting ended, “This Louis Vuitton, Prada, Montblanc commercial universe is not for me. If only I was loved as much a Montblanc pen…”

Chris McKinstry was found dead in his apartment on January 23 2006 with a plastic bag over his head and “a hose that was connected to the gas pipe.”

Comparisons with Push Singh

There has been some public note of the similarity between the suicide of Chris McKinstry and that of Push Singh, another AI researcher, a little over a month later. Both of their AI projects, McKinstry’s Mindpixel project and Singh’s MIT-backed Open Mind Common Sense, had similar trajectories over the last six years. (Wired News) Both McKinstry and Singh were Canadians at some point (although Singh was born in India) of approximately the same age who had been in contact over the years in the same AI communities (AI Usenet 2000) regarding their similar projects. Both were heterodox AI researchers who were pursuing closely themed endeavours and beta software projects.

 

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir(26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.

After a brief legal career Buchan simultaneously began both his writing career and his political and diplomatic career, serving as a private secretary to the colonial administrator of various colonies in Southern Africa. He eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort in the First World War. Once he was back in civilian life Buchan was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities, but he spent most of his time on his writing career, notably writing The Thirty-Nine Steps and other adventure fiction. In 1935 he was appointed Governor General of Canada by King George V, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of Canada Richard Bennett, to replace the Earl of Bessborough. He occupied the post until his death in 1940. Buchan proved to be enthusiastic about literacy, as well as the evolution of Canadian culture, and he received a state funeral in Canada before his ashes were returned to the United Kingdom.

Early life and education

Buchan was the first child of John Buchan—a Free Church of Scotland minister—and Helen Jane Buchan. Born in Perth, Buchan was brought up in Kirkcaldy, Fife, and spent many summer holidays with his grandparents in Broughton, in the Scottish Borders. There he developed a love of walking, as well as for the local scenery and wildlife, which often featured in his novels; the name of a protagonist in several of Buchan’s books—Sir Edward Leithen—is borrowed from the Leithen Water, a tributary of the River Tweed.

After attending Hutchesons’ Grammar School, Buchan was awarded a scholarship to the University of Glasgow at age 17, where he studied classics, wrote poetry, and became a published author. With a junior Hulme scholarship, he moved on in 1895 to study Literae Humaniores (the Oxonian term for the Classics) at Brasenose College, Oxford, where his friends included Hilaire Belloc, Raymond Asquith, and Aubrey Herbert. Buchan won both the Stanhope essay prize, in 1897, and the Newdigate Prize for poetry the following year, as well as being elected as the president of the Oxford Union and having six of his works published. It was at around the time of his graduation from Oxford that Buchan had his first portrait painted, done in 1900 by a young Sholto Johnstone Douglas.

Life as an author and politician

Buchan entered into a career in diplomacy and government after graduating from Oxford, becoming the private secretary to Alfred Milner, who was then the High Commissioner for Southern Africa, Governor of Cape Colony, and colonial administrator of Transvaal and the Orange Free State, putting Buchan in what came to be known as Milner’s Kindergarten. He also gained an acquaintance with a country that would feature prominently in his writing, which he resumed upon his return to London, at the same time entering into a partnership in the Thomas Nelson & Son publishing company and becoming editor of The Spectator. Buchan also read for and was called to the bar in 1901, though he did not practise as a lawyer, and on 15 July 1907 married Susan Charlotte Grosvenor—daughter of Norman Grosvenor and a cousin of the Duke of Westminster. Together, Buchan and his wife had four children, Alice, John, William, and Alastair, two of whom would spend most of their lives in Canada.

Buchan wrote Prester John in 1910, the first of his adventure novels set in South Africa, and the following year he suffered from duodenal ulcers, which also inspired one of his characters in later books. At the same time, Buchan ventured into the political arena, and ran as a Unionist candidate in a Scottish Borders constituency; he supported free trade, women’s suffrage, national insurance, and curtailing the powers of the House of Lords, though he did also oppose the welfare reforms of the Liberal Party, and what he considered to be the “class hatred” fostered by demagogic Liberals such as David Lloyd George.

With the outbreak of the First World War, Buchan went to write for the British War Propaganda Bureau and worked as a correspondent in France for The Times. He continued to write fiction, and in 1915 published his most famous work, The Thirty-Nine Steps, a spy-thriller set just prior to World War I. The novel featured Buchan’s oft used hero, Richard Hannay, whose character was based on Edmund Ironside, a friend of Buchan from his days in South Africa. A sequel, Greenmantle, came the following year. Buchan then enlisted in the British Army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Intelligence Corps, where he wrote speeches and communiqués for Sir Douglas Haig. Recognised for his abilities, Buchan was appointed as the Director of Information in 1917, under the Lord Beaverbrook—a job that Buchan said was “the toughest job I ever took on”—and also assisted Charles Masterman in publishing a monthly magazine that detailed the history of the war, the first edition appearing in February 1915 (and later published in 24 volumes as Nelson’s History of the War). It was difficult, given his close connections to many of Britain’s military leaders, for Buchan to be critical of the British Army’s conduct during the conflict.

Following the close of the war, Buchan turned his attention to writing on historical subjects, along with his usual thrillers and novels. By the mid-1920s, he was living in Elsfield and had become president of the Scottish Historical Society and a trustee of the National Library of Scotland, and he also maintained ties with various universities. Robert Graves, who lived in nearby Islip, mentioned his being recommended by Buchan for a lecturing position at the newly founded Cairo University and, in a 1927 by-election, Buchan was elected as the Unionist Party Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities. Politically, he was of the Unionist-Nationalist tradition, believing in Scotland’s promotion as a nation within the British Empire. Buchan remarked in a speech to parliament: “I believe every Scotsman should be a Scottish nationalist. If it could be proved that a Scottish parliament were desirable… Scotsmen should support it.” The effects of the Great Depression in Scotland, and the subsequent high emigration from that country, also led Buchan to reflect in the same speech: “We do not want to be like the Greeks, powerful and prosperous wherever we settle, but with a dead Greece behind us,” and he found himself profoundly affected by John Morley’s Life of Gladstone, which Buchan read in the early months of the Second World War. He believed that Gladstone had taught people to combat materialism, complacency, and authoritarianism; Buchan later wrote to Herbert Fisher, Stair Gillon, and Gilbert Murray that he was “becoming a Gladstonian Liberal.”

After the United Free Church of Scotland joined in 1929 with the Church of Scotland, Buchan remained an active elder of St. Columba’s Church in London, as well as of the Oxford Presbyterian parish. In 1933 and 1934, Buchan was further appointed as the King George V’s Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Beginning in 1930, Buchan aligned himself with Zionism and the related Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group. In recognition of his contributions to literature and education, on 1 January 1932, Buchan was granted the personal gift of the sovereign of induction into the Order of the Companions of Honour.

In 1935, Buchan’s literary work was adapted to the cinematic theatre with the completion of Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, starring Robert Donat as Richard Hannay, though with Buchan’s story much altered. This came in the same year that Buchan was honoured with appointment to the Order of St. Michael and St. George on 23 May, as well as being elevated to the peerage, when he was entitled by King George V as Baron Tweedsmuir of Elsfield in the County of Oxford on 1 June. This had been done in preparation for Buchan’s appointment as Canada’s governor general; when consulted by Canadian prime minister Richard Bennett about the appointment, the Leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, William Lyon Mackenzie King, had recommended that the King allow Buchan to serve as viceroy as a commoner, but George V insisted that he be represented by a peer.

Buchan’s name had been earlier put forward by Mackenzie King to George V as a candidate for the governor generalcy: Buchan and his wife had been guests of Mackenzie King’s at his estate, Kingsmere, in 1924, and Mackenzie King, who at that time was prime minister, was impressed with Buchan, stating, “I know no man I would rather have as a friend, a beautiful, noble soul, kindly & generous in thought & word & act, informed as few men in this world have ever been, modest, humble, true, man after God’s own heart.” One evening in the following year, the Prime Minister mentioned to Governor General the Lord Byng of Vimy that Buchan would be a suitable successor to Byng, with which the Governor General agreed, the two being friends. Word of this reached the British Cabinet, and Buchan was approached, but he was reluctant to take the posting; Byng had been writing to Buchan about the constitutional dispute that took place in June 1926 and spoke disparagingly of Mackenzie King.

Governor General of Canada

It was announced from the Canadian prime minister’s office on 10 August 1935 that the King had approved Bennett’s recommendation of Buchan as the viceregal representative by commission under the royal sign-manual and signet. Buchan then departed for Canada and was sworn in as the country’s governor general in a ceremony on 2 November 1935 in the salon rouge of the parliament buildings of Quebec. Buchan was the first viceroy of Canada appointed since the enactment of the Statute of Westminster on 11 December 1931 and was thus the first to have been decided on solely by the monarch of Canada in his Canadian council.

Buchan continued writing during his time as governor general, but he also thereafter took his position as viceroy seriously and from the outset made it his goal to travel the length and breadth of Canada, including, for the first time for a governor general, the Arctic regions; he said of his job: “a Governor General is in a unique position for it is his duty to know the whole of Canada and all the various types of her people.” Buchan also encouraged a distinct Canadian identity and national unity, despite the ongoing Great Depression and the difficulty which it caused for the population. Not all Canadians shared Buchan’s views; he raised the ire of imperialists when he said in Montreal in 1937: “a Canadian’s first loyalty is not to the British Commonwealth of Nations, but to Canada and Canada’s King,” a statement that the Montreal Gazette dubbed as “disloyal.” Buchan maintained and recited his idea that ethnic groups “should retain their individuality and each make its contribution to the national character,” and “the strongest nations are those that are made up of different racial elements.”

The following year proved to be a tumultuous one for the monarchy that Buchan represented. In late January, George V died, and his eldest son, the popular Prince Edward, succeeded to the throne as Edward VIII, while Rideau Hall—the royal and viceroyal residence in Ottawa—was decked in black crepe and all formal entertaining was cancelled during the official period of mourning. As the year unfolded, it became evident that the new king planned to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson, which caused much discontent throughout the Dominions. Buchan conveyed to Buckingham Palace and British prime minister Stanley Baldwin Canadians’ deep affection for the King, but also the outrage to Canadian religious feelings, both Catholic and Protestant, that would occur if Edward married Simpson. By 11 December, King Edward had abdicated in favour of his younger brother, Prince Albert, Duke of York, who was thereafter known as George VI. In order for the line of succession for Canada to remain parallel to those of the other Dominions, Buchan, as Governor-in-Council, gave the government’s consent to the British legislation formalising the abdication, and ratified this with finality when he granted Royal Assent to the Canadian Succession to the Throne Act in 1937 . Upon receiving news from Mackenzie King of Edward’s decision to abdicate, Tweedsmuir commented that, in his year in Canada as governor general, he had represented three kings.

In May and June 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth toured the country from coast to coast and paid a state visit to the United States. The royal tour had been conceived by Buchan before the coronation in 1937; according to the official event historian, Gustave Lanctot, the idea “probably grew out of the knowledge that as his coming Coronation, George VI was to assume the additional title of King of Canada,” and Buchan desired to demonstrate with living example—through Canadians seeing “their King performing royal functions, supported by his Canadian ministers”—the fact of Canada’s status as an independent kingdom. Buchan put great effort into securing a positive response to the invitation sent to King George in May 1937; after more than a year without a reply, in June 1938 Buchan headed to the United Kingdom for a personal holiday, but also to procure a decision on the possible royal tour. From his home near Oxford, Buchan wrote to Mackenzie King: “The important question for me is, of course, the King’s visit to Canada.” After a period of convalescence at Ruthin Castle, Buchan, in October, sailed back to Canada with a secured commitment that the royal couple would tour the country. Though he had been a significant contributor to the organisation of the trip, Buchan retired to Rideau Hall for the duration of the royal tour; Buchan expressed the view that while the king of Canada was present, “I cease to exist as Viceroy, and retain only a shadowy legal existence as Governor-General in Council.” In Canada itself, the royal couple took part in public events such as the opening of the Lions Gate Bridge in May 1939.

Another factor behind the tour was public relations: the presence of the royal couple in Canada and the United States, was calculated to shore up sympathy for Britain in anticipation of hostilities with Nazi Germany. Buchan’s experiences during the First World War made him averse to conflict, he tried to help prevent another war in coordination with United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mackenzie King. Still, Buchan authorised Canada’s declaration of war against Germany in September, shortly after the British declaration of war and with the consent of King George; and, thereafter, issued orders of deployment for Canadian soldiers, airmen, and seamen as the titular commander-in-chief of the Canadian armed forces.

These duties would not burden Buchan for long, as, on 6 February 1940, he suffered a severe head injury when he fell during a stroke at Rideau Hall. Two surgeries by Doctor Wilder Penfield of the Montreal Neurological Institute were insufficient to save him, and his death on 11 February was eulogised on the radio by Mackenzie King: “In the passing of His Excellency, the people of Canada have lost one of the greatest and most revered of their Governors General, and a friend who, from the day of his arrival in this country, dedicated his life to their service.” The Governor General had formed a strong bond with his prime minister, even if it may have been built more on political admiration than personal friendship; while Mackenzie King appreciated his “sterling rectitude and disinterested purpose,” despite being wary of Buchan’s vices (such as his penchant for titles),

After lying in state in the Senate chamber on Parliament Hill, the state funeral for Buchan was held at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Ottawa. Buchan’s ashes were returned to the UK aboard the cruiser HMS Orion for final burial at Elsfield, his family estate in Oxfordshire.

Legacy

In his last years, Buchan, amongst other works, wrote an autobiography, Memory Hold-the-Door, as well as works on the history and his views of Canada. He and Baroness Tweedsmuir together established the first proper library at Rideau Hall, and, with his wife’s encouragement, Buchan founded the Governor General’s Literary Awards, which remain Canada’s premier award for literature.

Buchan’s 100 works include nearly thirty novels, seven collections of short stories, and biographies of Sir Walter Scott, Caesar Augustus, and Oliver Cromwell. Buchan was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his biography of the Marquess of Montrose, but the most famous of his books were the spy thrillers, and it is for these that he is now best remembered. The “last Buchan” (as Graham Greene entitled his appreciative review) was the 1941 novel Sick Heart River (American title: Mountain Meadow), in which a dying protagonist confronts the questions of the meaning of life in the Canadian wilderness. The insightful quotation, “It’s a great life, if you don’t weaken,” is famously attributed to Buchan, as is, “No great cause is ever lost or won, The battle must always be renewed, And the creed must always be restated.”

Tweedsmuir Provincial Park in British Columbia, now divided into Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park and Tweedsmuir North Provincial Park and Protected Area, was created in 1938 to commemorate Buchan’s 1937 visit to the Rainbow Range and other nearby areas by horseback and floatplane. In the foreword to a booklet published to commemorate his visit, he wrote, “I have now travelled over most of Canada and have seen many wonderful things, but I have seen nothing more beautiful and more wonderful than the great park which British Columbia has done me the honour to call by my name”.

 

Timothy Eaton

Timothy Eaton (March 1834 – January 31, 1907) was a Canadian businessman who founded the Eaton’s department store, one of the most important retail businesses in Canada’s history.

Early life and family

He was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland. His parents were Scottish Protestants, John Eaton and Margaret Craig. As a 20-year-old Irish apprentice shopkeeper, Timothy Eaton sailed from Ireland to settle with other family members in southern Ontario, Canada. On 28 May 1862, Eaton married Margaret Wilson Beattie. They had five sons and three daughters. Among the sons were John Craig Eaton and Edward Young Eaton. One of the daughters, Josephine Smyth Eaton, survived the sinking of the RMS Lusitania off the Irish coast in 1915. His granddaughter, Iris Burnside, was lost.

T. Eaton Co. Limited

In 1865, with the help of his brothers Robert and James, Timothy Eaton set up a bakery business in the town of Kirkton, Ontario, which went under after only a few months. Undaunted, he opened a dry goods store in St. Marys, Ontario. In 1869, Eaton purchased an existing dry-goods and haberdashery business at 178 Yonge Street in Toronto. In promoting his new business, Eaton embraced two retail practices that were ground-breaking at the time: first, all goods had one price (no haggling) with no credit given, and second, all purchases came with a money-back guarantee (a practice expressed in what would become the long-standing store slogan of “Goods Satisfactory or Money Refunded”).

Starting in 1884, Timothy Eaton introduced Canada to the wonders of the mail-order catalogue, reaching thousands of small towns and rural communities with an array of products previously unattainable. In these tiny communities, the arrival of Eaton’s catalogue was a major event. More than clothing, furniture, or the latest in kitchen gadgetry, the catalogue offered such practical items as milking machines, in addition to just about every other contraption or new invention desirable. And, when rendered obsolete by the new season’s catalogue, it served another important use in the outdoor privy of most every rural home.

Timothy Eaton spawned a colossal retail empire that his offspring would expand coast to coast, reaching its high point during World War II, when the T. Eaton Co. Limited employed more than 70,000 people. Although Timothy Eaton did not invent the department store, nor was he the first retailer in the world to implement a money-back guarantee, the chain he founded popularized both concepts and revolutionized retailing in Canada.

Death and legacy

Timothy Eaton died of pneumonia on January 31, 1907 and is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto. He was succeeded by his son, John Craig Eaton.

In 1919, two life-sized statues of Timothy Eaton were donated by the Eaton’s employees to the Toronto and Winnipeg stores in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the company. For years, it was tradition for customers in both Toronto and Winnipeg to rub the toe of the statue for good luck. The Toronto statue is now housed by the Royal Ontario Museum, and the Winnipeg statue sits in the city’s new arena, the MTS Centre, in almost exactly the same spot where it stood in the now demolished Eaton’s store (albeit one storey higher). Museum-goers in Toronto and hockey fans in Winnipeg continue to rub Timothy’s toe for luck.

In 1985, his great-great granddaughter, Nancy Eaton, was murdered by a childhood friend, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, in Toronto, was erected in 1914.

The town of Eatonia, Saskatchewan was named after Timothy Eaton.

The ground of Ballymena RFC, originally the sports grounds of the Mid-Antrim Sports Association is called Eaton Park.

 

Jack Pickford

 

Jack Pickford (August 18, 1896 – January 3, 1933) was a Canadian-born American actor and film director, brother of early filmstar Mary Pickford.

After their father deserted the family, all three Pickford children had to take work as child actors. When Mary broke into films, Jack went to Hollywood with her, but was never in her league. When she signed her first $1 million contract, he was mostly playing the boy-next-door in B-films. Some claimed that he had great talent, but suffered from living in her shadow. At any rate, his life of drink, drugs, syphilis and scandal ruled out any career success, and his three marriages to showgirls all ended in failure. Pickford died in Paris of progressive multiple neuritis, aged thirty-six.

Early life

Born John Charles Smith in Toronto, Ontario, to John Charles Smith and Charlotte Hennessy Smith in 1896. His alcoholic father left the family while Pickford was a young child. This incident left the family impoverished. In desperation Charlotte Hennessy allowed Pickford and his two sisters Gladys and Lottie to appear onstage. This proved a good source of income and by 1900 the family was based in New York City acting in plays across the United States.

Due to the work the family was constantly separated until 1910 when Gladys signed with Biograph Studios. By that time his sister ‘Gladys Smith’ had been transformed into Mary Pickford (Marie her middle name, Pickford an old family name). Following suit, the Smiths changed their stage names to ‘Pickford’.

Soon after signing with Biograph, Mary secured jobs for all the family, including the then-fourteen-year-old Jack. When the Biograph Company headed West to Hollywood, CA, only Mary was to go, until Jack pleaded he could join the company as well. Much to Mary’s protest, Charlotte threw him on the train as it left the station. The company arrived in Hollywood where Jack acted in bit parts during the stay.

Mary soon became a well-known star, and by 1917 had signed a contract for $1 million with First National Pictures. As part of her contract, Mary saw to it that her family was brought along, giving the now-named “Jack Pickford” a lucrative contract with the company as well.

Acting career

By the time he signed with First National, Pickford had played bit parts in 95 shorts and films. Though Pickford was considered a good actor, he was seen as someone who never lived up to his potential. In 1917 he starred in one of his first major roles as “Pip” in the adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, as well as the title role in Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer.

After his stint in the Navy, Pickford continued making films. By 1923, his roles had gone from several a year to one. In 1928, he finished his last film, Gang War, as Clyde Baxter. Through the years he dabbled in writing and directing; however, he never pursued either form further.

Most of his films were considered B movies, though he was able to make a name for himself. Pickford’s image was that of the All-American boy or the boy next door.

Tabloid life

Despite his image of the “boy next door,” Pickford’s private life was one of alcohol, drugs, and womanizing, culminating in the severe alcoholism and syphilis that would eventually kill him. In the early days of Hollywood, movie studios were able to cover up almost all of their stars’ misbehavior, but within the Hollywood crowd, Jack Pickford’s behind-the scenes antics made him a legend in his own time. He spent money frivolously and frequently had to suffer the humiliation of asking his mother or sister for money. As his reckless lifestyle worsened, the number of movies he made declined and, therefore, his own income.

In early 1918, after the United States entered World War I, Pickford joined the United States Navy. Using the famous Pickford name, he soon became involved in a scheme that allowed rich young men to pay bribes to avoid military service, as well as reportedly procuring young women for officers. For his involvement, Pickford came close to being dishonorably discharged; it is speculated that Mary arranged for him to give evidence to the authorities in exchange for a medical discharge. However, this was never proven.

Pickford’s relationships were cause for tabloid scandal. All three of his marriages were to former Ziegfeld girls who had become popular movie stars. The most infamous scandal was the death of his first wife, Olive Thomas, in 1920. Both Pickford and Thomas were constantly traveling and had little time to spend together. For many years the Pickfords had intended to vacation together and with their marriage on the rocks, the couple decided to take a second honeymoon.

In August 1920 the pair headed for Paris, hoping to combine a vacation with some film preparations. On the night of September 5, 1920, the couple went out for a night of entertainment and partying at the famous bistros in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris. Returning to their room in the Hôtel Ritz around 3:00 a.m., Pickford either fell asleep or was outside the room for a final round of drugs. It was rumored Thomas may have taken cocaine that night, though it was never proven.

An intoxicated and tired Thomas ingested a large dose of mercury bichloride, which had been prescribed for Pickford’s chronic syphilis. She had either thought the flask contained drinking water or sleeping pills; accounts vary. The label was in French, which may have added to the confusion. She was taken to the American Hospital in the Paris suburb of Neuilly, where Pickford, together with her former in-law Owen Moore, remained at her side until she succumbed to the poison a few days later. Rumors floated that she had either tried to commit suicide or had been murdered. A police investigation followed, as well as an autopsy, and Thomas’ death was ruled accidental.

Pickford brought Thomas’ body back to the United States. Several accounts state Pickford tried to commit suicide en route, but was talked out of it. According to Mary Pickford’s autobiography Sunshine and Shadows, “Jack crossed the ocean with Ollie’s body. It wasn’t until several years later that he confessed to Mother how one night during the voyage back he put on his trousers and jacket over his pajamas, went up on deck, and was climbing over the rail when something inside him said: ‘You can’t do this to your mother and sisters. It would be a cowardly act. You must live and face the future.'”

Personal life

Pickford was outlived by both of his sisters. From a young age he and Lottie had been closest; while Mary by her own admission assumed a “parental role.” Mary herself suspected there was some resentment towards her, though the family maintained close contact their entire lives.

Pickford was seen as someone with great talent, though he rarely had ambition to use it. Some believe that if he had not been Mary Pickford’s brother, he would have aspired to be a great actor in his own right. However, he enjoyed partying and a dangerous lifestyle far too much to focus on his talents. He suffered from alcoholism, which ran in the family. When he would run out of money he would head over to Pickfair and find the alcohol Mary had secretly hidden. He was a drug user as well, though the extent of this is not known.

Marriages

Pickford met actress and Ziegfeld girl Olive Thomas at a beach cafe on the Santa Monica Pier. Thomas was just as wild as Pickford, possibly having an alcohol problem herself. Screenwriter Frances Marion remarked “…I had seen her often at the Pickford home, for she was engaged to Mary’s brother, Jack. Two innocent-looking children, they were the gayest, wildest brats who ever stirred the stardust on Broadway. Both were talented, but they were much more interested in playing the roulette of life than in concentrating on their careers.”

Pickford eloped with Thomas on October 25, 1916 in New Jersey. None of their family was present with only Thomas Meighan as their witness. In a 1919 interview with Louella Parsons, Thomas expressed her desire to have children, “One of these days we are going to have a family. I love children.” The couple had no children of their own, though in 1920 they adopted her then-six-year-old nephew when his mother died.

Although by most accounts she was the love of Pickford’s life, the marriage was stormy and filled with highly-charged conflict, followed by lavish making up through the exchange of expensive gifts. In a March 1920 issue of Motion Picture magazine, Thomas said of the drama-fueled relationship, “He’s always sending me something and then I send him something back. You see, we have to bridge the distance in some way. At first I just couldn’t get used to the idea of living this way, but I suppose one gets used to anything, given time. When we were together we used to use up the time fighting over things. I’d say, ‘You were out with this person or that person,’ and he’d come back at me in the same way, and we’d have a lively time of it, but we’re over that now. We know that we can’t sit home by the fireside ALL the time just because we cannot be together.”

After Thomas’s death in 1920, Pickford married two more times. In 1922 he married celebrated Broadway dancer and former Ziegfeld girl Marilyn Miller. By most accounts he was not kind to her and the marriage was an abusive one. Miller eventually sought a French divorce in 1927.

His final marriage was to Mary Mulhern in 1930; though they never divorced, the pair was separated at the time of his death.

Death and legacy

In 1932, Pickford visited Mary at Pickfair. According to Mary, he looked ill and emaciated; his clothes were hanging on him as if he were a clothes hanger.^[4] Mary Pickford recalled in her autobiography that she felt a wave of premonition that came over her while watching her brother leave. As they started down the stairs to the automobile entrance, Jack called back to her, “Don’t come down with me, Mary dear, I can go alone.” As Mary stood at the top of the staircase, an inner voice spoke to her. “That’s the last time you’ll see Jack”, she remembered hearing it say.

Jack Pickford died in American Hospital of Paris on January 3, 1933. The cause for his death was listed as “progressive multiple neuritis which attacked all the nerve centers”. Mary Pickford arranged for his body to be returned to Los Angeles, California, where he was interred in the private Pickford plot in Glendale, California’s Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Jack Pickford has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1523 Vine Street.

 

Welland Canal

The Welland Canal has gone through many incarnations in its history. Today, five distinct canal-construction efforts are recognized. The retronym First Welland Canal is applied to the original canal, constructed from 1824 to 1829 and 1831 to 1833.

Pre-canal times

The Great Lakes form an excellent navigation route into the interior of North America. Downstream from Niagara Falls, ships can reach the port city of Montreal without encountering major difficulties. Upstream, the lakes are navigable all the way to the western end of Lake Superior. Early on during the European settlement of North America, lack of other infrastructure made the Great Lakes the premier route to reach the interior of the continent, and later to ship materials and goods from the new frontiers.

The Niagara Falls stood as a mighty barrier. To bypass it, a portage road between Queenston, Ontario and Chippawa was used, but the solution was far from optimal. The cargo had to be unloaded, carried 18 km up the Niagara Escarpment, then loaded onto different ships to continue on its way.

The relatively narrow Niagara Peninsula, situated between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, was a natural match to the idea of bypassing the Falls. Indeed, the idea of a canal across the Peninsula was examined as early as 1799, when a group headed by Robert Hamilton, a Queenston merchant, unsuccessfully petitioned the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada. Hamilton’s plan called for a canal to be constructed between Fort Erie and, perhaps unsurprisingly, Queenston.

In 1816, a young man called William Hamilton Merritt bought a rundown sawmill on the Twelve Mile Creek, and added a grist mill and a store. The Twelve flowed from its source south of the Escarpment to Lake Ontario, but its water levels varied considerably, creating difficulties for Merritt and his mills. In 1818, when the flow was especially low, Merritt pursued the idea of bringing water to his mills from the Welland River.

On a bigger scale, the Erie Canal, dug from the Hudson River through northern New York, was about to reach Lake Erie. The impending completion meant the cargo from upper Great Lakes was about to head down the canal and Hudson River to New York City, bypassing its previous destination, Montreal. At the time, a considerable rivalry existed between Montreal and New York for cargo headed to Europe via ocean-going vessels. All of these factors contributed to the construction of the Welland Canal.

Planning

In 1818, William Hamilton Merritt borrowed an instrument called a water level from Samuel Beckett, a mill owner in St. Johns. Along with George Keefer, John DeCew, and a couple of other neighbours he set out to survey a potential route for a water canal. From the headwaters of the Twelve Mile Creek near present-day Allanburg, they planned a line three kilometers south to meet with the Welland River. A ridge was encountered along the way, and using the instrument, the surveyors calculated it to be 10 meters high. It was actually double that height; the reason for the error is not known.

On July 4, 1818, Merritt organized a meeting in St. Catharines. The outcome was a petition sent to Upper Canada Legislature to provide for construction of a canal between the Twelve Mile Creek and Welland River. Unlike Merritt’s original water-canal plan, the petition included plans for allowing boats to cross the Niagara Escarpment. In 1823, Hiram Tibbetts, an engineer, was employed to make a formal survey for the route. He suggested to dig a channel four feet below the surface level of Welland River between present-day Port Robinson and Allanburg, and then follow the Twelve Mile Creek northwest to DeCew’s Falls (where George DeCew owned a mill). There, it was suggested to descend the escarpment by an incline railway and continue along the creek to Port Dalhousie to reach Lake Ontario.

On January 19, 1824, an act of the Legislature formed the Welland Canal Company, with a capitalization of $150,000 and Merritt as the financial agent. As part of his fundraising duties, he travelled extensively, including the United States and Great Britain.

Later in 1824, a revised route was put forward for the canal. It travelled from Port Robinson to Allanburg like the previous one, but from there went north and descended the escarpment by a series of canal locks in present-day Merritton. The canal then followed a local creek before joining the Twelve Mile and continuing on to Port Dalhousie. (With this new route, John Decew, one of the original canal proponents would become an opponent, when he realised that the new route would not only bypass his property, but divert water from his mill.)

Construction

On November 30, 1824, approximately 200 people gathered near Allanburg to witness the sod-turning for the construction. Soon, contracts for the work were let out, but the actual construction didn’t start until July 1825. Wherever possible, natural waterways were used, but this was not possible for the construction of the canal between Port Robinson and Allanburg. In what was called the Deep Cut, a channel over three kilometers long was cut, sometimes as deep as 20 meters. No less than 750,000 cubic meters of earth was removed.

Prior to the construction of the Welland Canal, the main settlements in the area were located along Lake Ontario and Niagara River, as the interior of the Niagara Peninsula remained hard to reach and rural areas, if that. As the construction progressed, however, shantytowns to house the labourers and their families were established along the way, giving birth to communities that later became Port Dalhousie, Merritton, Thorold, Allanburg and Port Robinson.

As the Deep Cut progressed, plans were being made for an alternate route to Lake Erie. The original motivation behind the canal was to bring water to mills, and this was met by constructing a canal to the Welland River. However, as the plans evolved to include a ship route, they were accommodated by simply following the Welland River until it emptied into the Niagara River. This was suboptimal for a number of reasons, the main one being the strong current of Niagara and the proximity of the towering Niagara Falls that made the journey hard and uncomfortable. Due to this, a second route was planned to diverge from the canal at Port Robinson. It would follow the Welland River southwest, then branch off, following Forks Creek and a 20 kilometre channel cut through present-day Wainfleet and the Wainfleet Marsh to reach Grand River and Lake Erie.

In September 1827, work on the Deep Cut was paused due to heavy rains. Many workers were transferred to construction of the canal in Wainfleet, and have made significant progress before Deep Cut work was resumed the following April.

However, the rains continued. On November 9, 1828, just two weeks’ worth of work before completion of the Deep Cut, the banks of the cut near Port Robinson collapsed into the excavated channel, killing an unknown number of workers below. More landslides followed, and it soon became evident that making a cut deep enough as to use the Welland River as the source of canal water would not be possible. An alternate, sufficiently high source of water was necessary.

Feeder Canal

Since the construction of a channel towards Grand River was already underway at the time of the Deep Cut failure, a dam across the mouth of the Grand was proposed soon after, in December 1828. From there, a channel could be dug to feed this level to the Welland Canal proper. An aqueduct would be used to cross the Welland River.

The dam was relocated eight kilometers inland by naval authorities, mindful of its safety in times not long after the War of 1812. The settlement by the dam later evolved into present-day Dunnville. From there, the Feeder went southeast to Stromness, before turning northeast in a straight cut across the Wainfleet Marsh. Interestingly, the location chosen for the aqueduct across Welland River was not Port Robinson. Although the Welland Canal and River first met in Port Robinson, it was decided to dig the canal essentially parallel to the river for a couple of kilometers upstream before crossing it. The aqueducts of three subsequent canals were later built in the same spot.

Once again, many of the Deep Cut labourers were transferred to the Feeder cut. The digging was finished in the span of 177 days, which was a large achievement at the time. Lake Erie water was let into the Feeder and Welland Canals in November 1829.

As with other locations in the peninsula, shantytowns sprung up along the Feeder Canal. These later developed into places like Dunnville, Wainfleet and Welland, among others.

The Welland Canal was officially opened on November 30, 1829, exactly five years after the first turning of the sod. Two schooners, Annie and Jane from York, Upper Canada and R.H. Broughton from Youngstown, New York, left Port Dalhousie on Lake Ontario and arrived in Buffalo on the eastern end of Lake Erie two days later. Annie and Jane returned to Lake Ontario along the same route four days later.

On to Lake Erie

As mentioned before, the route to Lake Erie afforded by the canal, following the Welland and Niagara Rivers, was difficult and slow. The Feeder connected directly to Lake Erie, but it was long, and, not intended as a ship canal, of insufficient capacity. Over the course of the canal’s first full navigation season in 1830, it became evident that a more direct route was necessary.

In March 1831, a location called Gravelly Bay (now Port Colborne) was chosen as the new Lake Erie terminus for the canal. It was one of the closest points on the Lake Erie shore, and also offered a natural harbour for the ships waiting to enter the canal. The new part of the canal was to run in a fairly straight line, except for a stretch where it followed a local ravine and a creek to minimise required excavation of hard rock in the area.

The Welland Canal Company obtained a loan of 50,000 pounds from the Province of Upper Canada. Construction started soon after, but it was delayed by rain, difficulty in clearing land, and a cholera outbreak in 1832. Neither the Wainfleet Marsh nor the rock south of it were easy to dig in, but work was accelerated during mild weather of late 1832 and early 1833.

On June 1, 1833, the schooner Matilda, headed for Cleveland from Oakville, became the first ship to travel through the new channel.

Completion

Overall, the combined Welland and Feeder Canals stretched 44 kilometres (27 mi) between the two lakes, with 40 wooden locks. The minimum lock size was 33.5 m by 6.7 m (110 ft by 22 ft), with a minimum canal depth of 2.4 m (8 ft).

Today, very little of the First Canal is evident. Much of the Feeder Canal, however is still present today in Wainfleet township.

 

Amor De Cosmos

Amor De Cosmos (August 20, 1825 – July 4, 1897) was a Canadian journalist, publisher and politician. He served as the second Premier of British Columbia.

Early life

Amor de Cosmos was born William Alexander Smith in Windsor, Nova Scotia to United Empire Loyalist parents. His education included a stint at King’s College in Windsor, following which, around 1840, he became a mercantile clerk in Halifax, Nova Scotia. There he joined the Dalhousie University debating club, and came under the influence of the Nova Scotia politician and reformer, Joseph Howe. In 1845, he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in 1852 he emigrated to Kanesville, Iowa where he established a daguerreotype gallery. But the following year the lure of the California Gold Rush beckoned, and Smith continued west, heading overland to Placerville, California. Here he set up a new studio and prospered taking pictures of the miners and their operations. Joined by his brother the pair moved northwest to Oroville, California, where they engaged in various unspecified entrepreneurial ventures. In 1854, Smith successfully petitioned the California State Assembly to have his name changed to “Amor De Cosmos” (inaccurately translated as “Lover of the Universe”), to pay tribute, as he said, “to what I love most…Love of order, beauty, the world, the universal.”

Reformer and journalist

In 1858, De Cosmos and his brother moved on again, this time heading north to British North America as they wished to live under the British flag once again. They also sensed an opportunity in the booming city of Victoria, capital of the Colony of Vancouver Island. The city, since 1843 a quiet village of about 300 until the spring of that year, was just entering an economic boom as it became a jumping-off point for miners headed to the New Caledonia (now mainland British Columbia) to participate in the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. De Cosmos founded a newspaper, The Daily British Colonist, which survives today in its current incarnation as the Victoria Times-Colonist.

De Cosmos was the editor of the Colonist through 1863, and quickly established himself as an opponent of the administration of Sir James Douglas, governor of the colony and the former Chief Factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company for Vancouver Island. De Cosmos decried the “family-company compact” of Hudson’s Bay men and Douglas associates who controlled the political and social affairs of the colony, even after Douglas’s retirement in 1864. This group generally distrusted representative government, and believed in maintaining a hierarchical social order.

De Cosmos was a liberal reformer cast in the mold of John Locke and John Stuart Mill. He argued passionately for unrestricted free enterprise, public education, an end to economic and political privileges, and — above all — the institution of responsible government through an elected assembly. However, true to the Victorian spirit of the age, De Cosmos was also a proponent of social progress through economic and population growth. He was a tireless advocate for economic diversification, being one of the first British Columbians to argue for a policy of encouraging development of the “three F’s” — farming, forestry, and fisheries — that would underpin the region’s economy for the next century.

Political career

As the child of American refugees, who had himself lived six years in the United States, De Cosmos developed a sharpened sense of nationalism. This was expressed in a growing protectionist economic sentiment, and the belief that the colonies of British North America needed to be self-supporting, develop a distinct identity, and form a political and economic union. From such policies, emerged the two great causes of his later career: the union of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, and the merged Colony of British Columbia’s entry into Confederation. To advance the first cause, De Cosmos left journalism and entered politics, becoming a member of the Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island from 1863 until its union with the Colony of British Columbia in 1866. He advanced the second cause through his position as a member of the assembly of the merged, larger British Columbia from 1867–68 and 1870–71, and as the leading force (with Robert Beaven and John Robson) behind the colony’s Confederation League. Through the instrumental role De Cosmos played in realizing these two goals, he earned for himself his reputation as British Columbia’s Father of Confederation.

At the time of British Columbia’s entry into Confederation on July 20, 1871, De Cosmos was the leading pro-Confederation figure in the new province. That year, he was elected to represent Victoria in both the provincial legislature and the House of Commons. Despite his prominence — or perhaps because of it — Lieutenant Governor Sir Joseph Trutch passed over De Cosmos for the job of Premier,^{[citation needed]} instead asking John Foster McCreight to assume the position. Undoubtedly, De Cosmos’ reputation as an iconoclast and his infamously volatile temperament did not endear him to the establishment.

McCreight resigned in 1872 on a motion of non-confidence, and on December 23, 1872, Trutch asked De Cosmos to form a new government as Premier. De Cosmos populated his cabinet with reformers, mostly born in North America, many of whom would come to dominate provincial politics for a generation. His government pursued an agenda of political reform, economic expansion, and the development of public institutions — especially schools. De Cosmos also focused on advancing the completion of the transcontinental railway promised under the Terms of Union. It was, however, De Cosmos’ attempt to alter the Terms of Union in order to obtain monetary guarantees from the federal government to complete a dry dock at Esquimalt that eventually led to accusations of impropriety, and ended his provincial political career. He speculated heavily in land and in Texada Island Iron mines, which brought further criticism, as he was a public official. Thus he ended his tenure as Premier on February 9, 1874.

Despite this setback, De Cosmos continued to be re-elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Victoria City. Consistent with federal promises to place the terminus of the transcontinental railway in Victoria, in Ottawa, De Cosmos pushed for completion, especially the Vancouver Island portion. De Cosmos also became an opponent of land concessions to First Nations in the province, seeing it as a hindrance to British Columbia’s economic growth and settlement by those of European descent. It is generally conceded that De Cosmos’s tenure as a member of the dominion parliament was undistinguished.

Retirement and death

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 insane. One of his more notable eccentricities was the founding of a hot food delivery company to prospectors in the Klondike Gold Fields. The difficult logistics of this service scared away investors and ultimately provided its downfall. He died in Victoria at the age of 71.

 

General Sir William Fenwick Williams

General Sir William Fenwick Williams, 1st Baronet(4 December 1800 – 26 July 1883) was a Nova Scotian and renowned military leader for the British during the Victorian era.

He is remembered for his gallant defence of the town of Kars during the Crimean War. He with other British officers inspired the poorly equipped Turkish soldiers to repel Russian attacks by General Murav’ev on the besieged town for three months causing 6,000 Russian casualties. They were forced to surrender due to starvation, disease and shortage of ammunition. However they surrendered on their own terms with the officers being allowed to retain their swords. Williams was imprisoned at Ryazan but he was treated very well and released at the end of the Crimean War in 1856. Before returning home he was introduced to Czar Alexander II. Many other honours were bestowed upon Sir William and it was particularly fitting that in 1865-7, he was appointed the first Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, where he had been born at the turn of the 19th century. The portrait by William Gush was painted for the Parliament House, Halifax, Nova Scotia and hangs to this day in Province House, Halifax.

Early life

He was born in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, the second son of Commissary-General Thomas Williams, barrack-master at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He was however widely rumoured to be the natural son of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn; this would make him Queen Victoria’s half-brother. Williams never denied this but it is not thought to be true.

Career

Williamse was educated at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich. He entered the Royal Artillery as second lieutenant in 1825. His services were lent to Turkey in 1841, and he was employed as a captain in the arsenal at Constantinople. He was British commissioner in the conferences preceding the treaty of Erzerum in 1847, and again in the settlement of the Ottoman-Iranian boundary in 1848 (brevet majority and lieutenant-colonelcy and CB).

Crimean War

Promoted colonel, he was British commissioner with the Turkish army in Anatolia in the Crimean War (Russian War) of 1854–56, and, having been made a pasha (general/governor/lord) with the degree of ferik (major-general), he practically commanded the Turks during the defence of Kars, repulsing several Russian attacks by the Russian general Muravyov. Muravyov initially had planned a direct assault on the city but due to the ferocity of the Turkish soldiers decided to limit Russian losses by changing his strategy into the siege of Kars (not to be confused with the Battle of Kars). The siege lasted five months. Cold, cholera, famine and hopelessness of succour from without, however, compelled Williams to make an honourable capitulation on 28 November 1855.

Williams had put up such an honorable defence of the city that Count Muravyov stated “General Williams, you have made yourself a name in history, and posterity will stand amazed at the endurance, courage and the discipline which the siege has called forth in the remains of the army.”

A baronetcy with pension for life, the KCB, the grand cross of the Legion of Honour and of the Turkish Medjidie, the freedom of the City of London with a sword of honour, and the honorary degree of DCL of Oxford University, were the distinctions conferred upon him for his valour.

Promoted major-general in November 1855 on his return from captivity in Russia, he held the Woolwich command, and represented the borough of Calne in parliament from 1856 to 1859.

In the lead up to the American Civil War, from 1859 to 1864, he held the position of Commander in Chief, North America, and was responsible for preparations for war with the United States in the case that relations broke down. The most severe strain in relations occurring during the Trent Affair.

He became lieutenant-general and colonel-commandant Royal Artillery in 1864, general in 1868, commanded the forces in Canada from 1859 to 1865.

Governorships

He held the governorship of Nova Scotia 1865–1867. Post Canadian Confederation in 1867, Williams was reappointed as the first Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia and the governorship of Gibraltar from September 1870 to 1876. He was made GCB in 1871, and Constable of the Tower of London in 1881.