Category Archives: Archival Moments

The crowded sidewalks of St. John’s

Archival Moments

15 May 1879

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives. A -2-35. Water Street, St. John’s, looking east.

On May 15, 1879 the Colonial Government of Newfoundland declared that they had had enough of the businessmen on Water Street obstructing the natural flow of pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks of the historic street. It appears that the businessmen were hindering traffic by placing their wares in “boxes, barrels, and packages” on the sidewalks.

To show that they saw this as a very serious matter, constables dragged before the Police Court in St. John’s “forty two (42) representatives of the business houses on Water Street.” The parade of businessmen to the Police Court included according to the local St. John’s newspaper, The Evening Telegram, “men in the highest social and commercial positions in the country.”

The Telegram continued:

“It was certainly unique to see so many of our leading civilians arraigned at the bar of justice, and we must confess that our feelings were truly indescribable when we entered the court room and glanced around.”

The Evening Telegram reporter seemed to be enjoying the spectacle observing with some embellishment that:

“There they were, men in the highest social and commercial positions in the country, philanthropists, merchant princes and politicians of the first order; constrained by the omnipotent mandate of the presiding genius of the magisterial bureau. In short they were there on a charge of violation of the following the Municipal Regulations Act.”

The particular act that they were dragged before the courts to answer too was the regulation or act that read:

“Any person who shall place or deposit on any sidewalk in any of the said places, except in transit, any boxes, barrels, packages, or any other matter or thing, so as to obstruct free passage on the said side walk, shall for very offence forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding twenty five dollars.”

Water Street, St. John’s was the hub of the cultural, social and economic activity in St. John’s in the 18th – 20th century.

In 1877, just two years before this mass arrest of the business leaders of St. John’s, Rochfort’s Business Directory, the “Business and General Directory Containing Classified Lists of Business Men of St. John’s” gave a detailed listing of all trades on Water Street and reported that there were on the historic street many different kinds of enterprises.

Some of the businesses on the historic street included: 3 Photographic studios, 8 Auctioneering houses, 4 Bakeries, 2 Blacksmiths, 3 Boarding houses, 15 Boot and Shoe Makers, 15 Butcher Shops, 3 China and Glassware Dealers, 4 Confectioners, 2 Coopers, 2 Dentists, 1 Distiller, 28 Drapers, 2 Engineers, 2 Furniture Dealers, 31 Grocers, 3 Hairdressers, 3 Harness Makers, 11 Hardware Dealers, 2 Hotels, 2 Joiners, 3 Leatherware Dealers, 4 Lumber Merchants, 32 General Merchants, 6 Millinery, I Painter, 2 Plumbers, 2 Pump and Lock Makers, 6 Stationers, 1 Stonemason, 19 Tailors, 7 Tin, Sheet and Iron and Copper Workers, 8 Watchmakers, and 50 Wine and Spirit Retail Stores.

With so many businesses being located on Water Street vying for the attention of the same customers it was not surprising that they should position their products on the sidewalks to try and lore customers into their shops!!

Do you have any problems navigating the sidewalks in St. John’s?

Recommended Archival Collection: City and Town Directories held in archives give incredible insights into the business life of Newfoundland communities. A few of the directories that should be consulted when doing research are Hutchinson’s Directory of Newfoundland (1864); Lovell’s Directory for Newfoundland (1871); McAlpine’s Directory for Newfoundland (1871); and Rochfort’s Directory of Newfoundland (1877).

Recommended Museum Exhibit: At the Rooms: Here, We Made a Home The Elinor Gill Ratcliffe Gallery – Level 4.

“Be Sober and Watch” – Take “The Pledge”

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

May 12, 1985

The Pledge Card

On May 12,1985 the members of the Total Abstinence and Benefit Society (TABS) met in St. John’s and dissolved the Society by a resolution of its members. The society had been formally established in St. John’s by the Revered Kyran Walsh in 1841.

It was not the first movement to introduce the philosophy of temperance in St. John’s and by extension the rest of the Newfoundland.

Edward Wix the Church of England Missionary had helped organize a temperance society which met almost every month between 1833 and 1838 and published the Newfoundland Temperance Journal.

Members of the TABS enrolled under the society’s motto of “Be Sober and Watch”, and had taken “the pledge” to abstain from alcoholic beverages.

The words of the famous “pledge” which members took was:

“I pledge myself with the Divine Assistance that as long as I shall continue a member of this Society I will abstain from all intoxicating liquors unless for medical or religious purposes and that I will discountenance intemperance in others.”

The society was a well established sponsor and host for numerous literary and musical and theatrical events. The logic of the society was to provide a good alcohol free venue to counter the appeal other entertainments.

In the 1930’s TABS was very optimistic about their future building their new hall at 344 Duckworth Street in, St. John’s, at the time the largest Art-Deco style building ever erected in the city. The building is best remembered as the Capital Theatre (Henry Street entrance) and CBC Radio Building.

When the Society was dissolved in 1985 the Registration Books, Minute Books and other related material was deposited in the Archives of the R.C. Archdiocese.

Recommended Archival Collection: At the Rooms Provincial Archives explore: MG 599: Sons of Temperance, Twillingate; the collection consists of minutes of meetings, re: list of officers, parades, general business and MG 1009: Sons of Temperance, St. John‘s Division No. 3: Minutes of the Sons of Temperance for 1865-1867 beginning with the inaugural meeting. Minutes include lists of officers including ages and occupations of members, resolutions, finances, quarterly reports, membership fees, expenditures, etc.

Recommended Song: Murphy Broke The Pledge (Irish Descendants) based on the Johnny Burke Ballad, Murphy Broke the Pledge [1851-1930] of St. John’s, NL (1894). This variant arranged by the Irish Descendants (Rollin Home, 1998) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAUzJmUkC7A

The stories of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians during the First World War

Photo Credit: CIBC senior vice-president and Eastern Canada region head Sylvain Vinet (left) and The Rooms director Anne Chafe at the launch of the companion catalogue for the exhibition of the same name, “Beaumont-Hamel and the Trail of the Caribou.” – Juanita Mercer

The stories of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians during the First World War at The Rooms’ are now available in print.

The award-winning exhibition, and now this publication, both document the effects of the First World War on the province — on those who fought, on the families and communities left behind, and on the politics, economy and future of the province.

“May the force be with you.” Newfoundland and the Force of Music

Photo Credit: American composer John Williams in 1952 at the Atlantic Films studio on Prescott Street in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Behind Williams are Ralph Blei, sound engineer, and Margeurite Reid, scriptwriter. (The Rooms Provincial Archives Division, A 68-51 / AFE)

“May the 4th be with you.” What started as pun affectionately shared by fans has become a complete Star Wars holiday: Star Wars Day, a special once-a-year celebration of the galaxy far, far away.

Fans of the movie franchise are celebrating because Friday is May the Fourth, which sounds like the famous line from the movie, “May the force be with you.”

What would Star Wars be without Newfoundland influenced music?

The renowned American composer of Star Wars, John Williams said he has many fond memories of his two years in St. John’s, Newfoundland, the first time he had ever travelled outside the United States of America. He found Newfoundlanders to be friendly and welcoming, and many of his Air Force buddies became lifelong friends.

He also became well-known in St. John’s for being able to arrange many kinds of music and songs for the Air Force Band.

In 1952, Williams came to the attention of Atlantic Films, a Newfoundland production company which had been commissioned by Premier Joey Smallwood to make Newfoundland tourism films.

His initiation in film was in Newfoundland. Williams has said after his experience in Newfoundland he developed and refined his musical composition style, and returned to the United States to work in Hollywood film orchestras.

Williams’ scores for the Star Wars movies count among the most widely known and popular contributions to modern film music.

Other contributions of John Williams include: Jaws and Superman and Schindler’s List and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

May the force be with you.

Watch and Listen: In 1952, John Williams came to the attention of Atlantic Films, a Newfoundland production company which had been commissioned by Premier Joey Smallwood to make Newfoundland tourism films. Watch this film that John William’s arranged the music for : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3Yd3o-_00w

Body dropped on the doorstep of the magistrate

Archival Moment

29 April 1834

Photo Credit: Gibbeting is the use of a gallows-type structure from which the dead or dying bodies of executed criminals were hung on public display to deter other criminals

On the evening of 29 April 1834, a large crowd gathered in Harbour Grace to cut down the gibbeted body of Peter Downing a convicted murderer.

Downing was convicted in early April for the brutal murders of a school teacher (Mr. Bray) , his infant son and a servant girl. For his crimes Downing was sentenced to be hanged, dissected and gibbetted.

For much of the month of April the people of Harbor Grace were forced to look on the gibbeted body of Downing.

The residents of Harbour Grace, approximately one thousand, had had enough, they removed the partially decomposed body of Downing, paraded it through the town, past the Court House, and dropped it on the doorstep of a magistrate, Dr. Stirling, along with a note, signed by anonymous which read:

Dr. S. This is your man you were the cause of bringing him here take and bury him or Look Out should you be the cause of allowing him to be put up again we will mark you for it, so do your duty and get him out of sight.

truly a friend,

Anonymous Carbonear

Dissection and gibbeting were punishments that had long been established in England and her colonies for crimes of traitors, murderers, highwaymen, pirates, and sheep stealers. The intention was that the body of Peter Downing would be left as a grim reminder and would stay on the gibbet for a year or more until it rotted away or was eaten by birds. Gibbeting was formally legalised in Britain by the Murder Act of 1752.

Gibbeting was not generally accepted by the people in Newfoundland. Many were offended by the sight and odor of a decaying body, others believed that the decaying bodies spread disease, others felt that being hung by the neck till dead was enough, even a criminal should meet his Creator in his full body.

In Harbour Grace, Dr. Sterling heeded the content of the note from the angry citizens. The decayed body of Peter Downing was buried immediately at the Court House, and no attempts were made to have the incident investigated or the body gibbeted again.

In Newfoundland “gibbetting” is well documented. In St John’s, Gibbet Hill, a small peak close to Signal Hill, takes its name from the practice. The location was very intentional. Anyone looking towards Signal Hill would see the ‘gibbeted bodies.” A reminder to heed the laws of the colony!

Newfoundland for a number of years held the dubious distinction of being the last place in the British Empire to proceed with gibbetting. The last man believed to be gibbetted in England was William Jobling on August 21st 1832. The last man in the British colonies was likely John McKay, in 1837. He was gibbeted on a tree near Perth, Tasmania.

Recommended Archival Collection: At the Rooms Provincial Archives take some time to explore the records of the Office of the Colonial Secretary. This office served as the official repository for Newfoundland state records and as the registry for varied legal and statistical documents, the collection includes extensive holdings relating to all aspects of Newfoundland political, economic, community and social life. In particular take some time with GN 2/2 this series consists of correspondence, reports, petitions, and records related to the operations of government in Newfoundland. The records include summaries of court cases.

Recommended Reading: Plebian Collective Action in Harbourt Grace and Carbonear, Newfoundland, 1830 – 1840, Linda Little (1984) . Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Recommended Activity: Visit Gibbet Hill in St. John’s, imagine the horror the gibbetted bodies struck in the hearts of the citizens of St. John’s as they stared at the decaying bodies overlooking their town.

Fish Plentiful, But No Salt

Photo Credit: The Rooms; Spreading fish on a flake. VA 15A 13.4

The St. John’s newspaper, The Evening Telegram, reported on June 19, 1923 that families in St. Mary’s and Placenta Bay were all facing a rough summer. In interviews with Mr. Edward Francis Sinnott, Member for the district of Placentia and St. Mary’s, it was reported that he had received messages from St. Bride’s, Placentia Bay last night stating that fish had struck in plentiful, but owing to the lack of salt the men can not engage in catching same.

The message further stated “that a serious situation has arisen in the Bay because of the shortage of salt and supplies in the district. Already many fishermen have been compelled to bar up their houses and leave the country because of impending conditions.”

The news of the first sign of fish in this section was always welcome in past seasons, but not so today when anxious fishermen who have large families dependent upon them can only wait and hope for relief. The shortage of salt is serious to these people, who are thus prevented from securing good catches at this season when fish is so plentiful.

The response of some Irish Newfoundlanders to the Great War

April 30, 1917

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives Division A 58-152, For Victory, a Newfoundland infantryman in field dress standing in front of an unfurled Red Ensign containing the Great Seal of Newfoundland.

On April 30, 1917 Revered Daniel O’Callaghan, Parish Priest of the the R.C. Parish in Flatrock wrote to Archbishop Edward Patrick Roche of St. John’s complaining:

“ For months the people in Flatrock have been subjected to a deal of scornful remarks, and to unfair and unjust treatment from so-called patriots because our men have not volunteered.” Father O’Callaghan was particularly incensed that “the Flatrock men have been refused berths to the ice-fields”

The letter is evidence that those who did not volunteer in the war effort were discriminated against.

The Irish born O’Callaghan had at the beginning of WWI discouraged the men of Flatrock from volunteering for the war effort. He is reputed to have told his parishioners that there was no pride “in standing under the British rag.”

Born in South Down, Ireland in 1875, Daniel O’Callaghan, the young Irish Priest in Pouch Cove may have been taking his lead from what his ‘clerical’ contemporaries were doing in his home country, Ireland. Within the Roman Catholic Irish hierarchy, there was disunity and a lack of a common purpose about the war. The leading archbishops in Ireland in 1914, Archbishop Michael Logue of Armagh and Archbishop William Walsh of Dublin were not in favour of the war or were at best ambivalent and refused to support recruiting or indeed lend any support at all to recruiting. The bishop of Limerick, Bishop Edward Thomas O’ Dwyer, was openly anti-British.

The refusal of the “so called patriots” to give a berth on the ships going to the ice fields to prosecute the seal fishery would have meant economic hardship for the Flatrock men.

O’Callaghan is also given credit for establishing the tradition of having the famous Regatta Crews from Outer Cove carry there boat to Quidi Vidi Lake in St. John’s on Regatta Day. Many saw it as a ploy to keep the crew members away from drink on the big day.

Recommended Reading: “Lives Recalled: Deceased Catholic Priests Who worked in Newfoundland 1627-2010” by Rev. Francis A. Coady, St. John’s, NL.

Recommended Website: Find the Regimental Records of the men of the Newfoundland Regiment here. This is a work in progress not all records are on line. The Newfoundland Regiment and the Great War: http://www.rnr.therooms.ca/part3_database.asp

College built from Prison Stone

Archival Moment

April 27, 1857
St. Bonaventure’s College – The Old College

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives: E 35-28; St. Bonaventure’s College.

St. Bonaventure’s College, St. John’s known locally as (St. Bon’s) was designed by James Purcell and built by Patrick Keough. It is considered one of the most recognized educational facilities in the province.

In 1855 there was a public auction to sell more than 30,000 building stones from Waterford, Ireland, which had been imported to build the local penitentiary. The Catholic Bishop of the day, Right Rev. John Thomas Mullock, took advantage of plans to build a smaller penal institution and purchased sufficient surplus stones to construct a monastery.

On April 27, 1857 the bishop laid the cornerstone of the building, a year later, in March 1858, the new facilities opened. Dormitories were installed upstairs as the institution operated as a seminary.

Seven years later in 1865 the college began to admit secular students and, in 1889, the Irish Christian Brothers assumed administrative responsibilities for the school.

The building is now known as the Old College or the Skinner Building and is located directly across the street from The Rooms.

Recommended Reading: Noble to the View: J. B. Darcy, Creative Publishers, St. John’s, 2007

St. George’s Day

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

April 23, 2018

St. George’s Day

St. George's Feast Day is April 23 but the holiday is on Monday, April 22.

St. George’s Feast Day is April 23 but the holiday is on Monday, April 20.

St. George’s Day is provincial holiday in Newfoundland and Labrador, observed on the Monday nearest April 23rd.

In Newfoundland and Labrador the holiday was born out of our sectarian history. The Roman Catholic’s of this place laid claim to St. Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland and the Protestants laid claim to St. George, Patron of England.

As a saint, or even a historical person, St. George and his exploits are of doubtful authenticity, the most popular of the legends that have grown up around him relates to his encounter with the dragon. A pagan town in Libya was victimized by a dragon (representing the devil), which the inhabitants first attempted to calm down by offerings of sheep, and then by the sacrifice of various members of their community. The daughter of the king (representing the Church) was chosen by lot and was taken out to await the coming of the monster, but George arrived, killed the dragon, and converted the community to Christianity.

Saint George has been adopted world wide as the saint fighting the evil and defending the good, in the end slaying the dragon (representing the evil).

King Richard I of England placed his crusading army under St. George’s protection, and in 1222 his feast was proclaimed a holiday. As the patron of England – it was only a matter of time that his patronage would also cover the New found land with the arrival of our English ancestors.

In Newfoundland and Labrador the tradition of St. George is not only confined to his feast day (April 23) but he also presents as one of the characters in the old mummering plays, historically performed over the Christmas season. In the mummering play he fights hand-to-hand with a Turkish Knight emerging as the hero.

In 1497, during the reign of Henry VII, the pennant of the Cross of St. George was flown by John Cabot when he sailed to Newfoundland. It was also traditional to wear a red rose on the lapel on St. George’s Day.

Interesting that St. George is the Patron of England, Ethiopia, Georgia, Germany, Gozo, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, and Portugal but only Newfoundland and Labrador honour the day with a holiday.

A great place to live!

The most widely recognized St George’s Day symbol is St George’s cross. This is a red cross on a white background, which is often displayed as a flag. It is used as England’s national flag, forming part of the Union Flag, the national flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Recommended Website: St George’s Day.com the website offering information on all things English, that celebrates English Heritage and actively promotes St George’s Day on the 23rd April. http://www.stgeorgesday.com/

Newfoundlanders serving with the Canadian Corps and at Vimy Ridge

Photo Credit: The Rooms: B-1-81 Mary Winter at Vimy, 1938

On April 9, 1917; 100,000 soldiers of the Canadian Corps advanced along the Vimy Ridge, France, in an attempt to drive the German Army away from the French city of Arras. It was the first time that all four divisions of the Canadian Corps attacked together – a feat that some said made Canada a nation.

At the crack of dawn on Easter Monday, April 9, 1917, all four divisions of the Canadian Corps came together for the first time and stormed the German-held ridge. By April 12, the Canadians captured Vimy and, as many historians say, forged a new sense of national identity.

3,296 Newfoundlanders working in Canada when the First World was declared signed up to fight with Canada under the flag of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF).

The price of the victory was 11,000 Canadian casualties, 3,600 deaths. There were about 20,000 German casualties

The history of Newfoundland’s involvement in the First World War is usually recorded separately from the Canadian story, given the province’s status then as a separate dominion. Yet the Canadian and Newfoundland wartime experiences were often intertwined, perhaps nowhere more so than at Vimy and Arras in April 1917.

On 9 April 1917, as the Canadian Corps surged over Vimy Ridge north of Arras, British Third Army attacked eastward from Arras, only a few miles away from Vimy Ridge. The Newfoundland Regiment formed part of that force.

The cost of victory was high – 5,008 soldiers were killed, including many of the Newfoundland members of the Canadian Corps.

Partial List of Newfoundlanders who served with the Canadian Corps killed at Battle of Vimy Ridge, April 1917

Corp. Harry Fowler, # 460060, killed in action on 10 Apr. 1917 , 44th Battalion , Vimy Memorial

Pte. Charles Forsey Hickman, # 871526, killed in action on 12 Apr.1917, 44th Battalion, Vimy Memorial

Pte. Dominic Bennett, # 488745, killed in action on 9 Apr. 1917 , 25th Battalion, buried in Thelus Military Cemetery

Pte. John George Baggs , # 715935, killed in action on 9 Apr.1917, Royal Canadian Regiment , buried in La Chaudiere Military Cemetery, Vimy

Pte. Frank Patrick Walsh, # 877659, killed in action on 9 Apr. 1917, 185th Overseas Battalion , Vimy Memorial

Pte. Wilfred Bennett, # 877516 , killed in action on 9 Apr. 1917, 73rd Battalion, Vimy Memorial

Sergt. James Maher, #178121, killed in action on 9 Apr.1917, 87th Battalion, buried in Canadian Cemetery No.2, Neuville -St. Vaast

Pte. Augustine Joseph Meehan, # A/36070, killed in action on 9 Apr. 1917, 4th Battalion , buried in Bois –Carre British Cemetery, Thelus

Pte. Thomas Whiteway, #761161, killed in action on 9 Apr. 1917, 121st. Overseas Battalion, buried in Villers Station Cemetery, Villers-Au-Bois

Pte. John Charles Cole , # 1075145, killed in action on 9 Apr., 1917, 67th Pioneer Battalion, Vimy Memorial

Pte. Stanley Frederick Cornick, # 208443, killed in action on 9 Apr. 1917, The Royal Canadian Regiment, buried in La Chaudiere Military Cemetery, Vimy

Pte. Edgar Leslie MacKay, # 208444, killed in action on 9 Apr. 1917, The Royal Canadian Regiment, Vimy Memorial

The Role of the Newfoundland Regiment

Photo Credit: The Rooms; A 157 -11 Men of Newfoundland Regiment who saved Monchy

The Battle of Arras commenced on April 9, 1917 and the Newfoundland Regiment soon found themselves in the thick of it. Just before midnight of April 14th, 1917 the Newfoundlanders moved forward in single file to the firing trenches on the eastern outskirts of Monchy-le-Preux, a small French village located about 8 km south east of Arras. In the inky darkness the men proceeded at a snail’s pace through the littered fields, picking their way among the dead horses which lay in disordered piles covered with a thin mantle of snow.

Later that day the Battalion counted its losses. The fatal casualties were exceeded only by the number of those who fell at Beaumont Hamel; and one-quarter of the Newfoundland officers and men who went into action at Monchy-le-Preux became prisoners of war.

The Newfoundland losses incurred from April 12 to 15, 1917, based on existing information, total 460 all ranks. Seven officers and 159 other ranks were killed (or died of wounds), seven officers and 134 other ranks were wounded and three officers and 150 men were taken as prisoners of war. Of these 28 died from wounds or other causes while in captivity.

Recommended Archival Collection: At The Rooms provincial Archives: [MG 836] The James Spearman Winter collection consists of draft version and article as published in The Veteran (Dec. 1938: p.13, ill.) describing an official visit to the Newfoundland War Memorials in France and Belgium, July 1938, by James Alexander Winter, Commissioner for Home Affairs. He was accompanied by his wife, Mary (Arnaud) Winter. Includes 20 photographs taken by James and Mary (Arnaud) Winter illustrating their trip.

Recommended Reading: The Royal Newfoundland Regiment in the Great War: A Guide to the Battlefields and Memorials of France, Belgium, and Gallipoli by Fran Gogos.