From a spectacular point of view St Andrew’s Ball last night surpassed all previous years. Windsor Hall was literally transformed into a fairyland, and this achievement was largely due to the simplicity of color scheme in the interior decorations of the hall. The delicate shades of green on white made a most unique and effective setting for the oriental splendour of the various colored gowns and headdresses. Though the decorations of the ballroom might be called simple, on account of the elimination of colour, there was a grandeur of design which gave the whole scene a most luxurious appearance.
The hall was perfect representation of a Roman grape arbour, formed by arches of numerous columns of pure white, which were artistically draped with delicate strands of smilax and laurel. From the top of each pillar Laurel streamers ran in profusion, in the centre of room, forming a large canopy. The centrepiece was a magnificent circular brooch of light, holding a shower of Southern smilax and Vinela, while thousands of small strands of evergreen fan up and were lost in the massive laurel canopy.
Behind the white columns, which ran completely around the room, there were heavy embankments of ferns, and palms. Dimly the [illegible] woodwork of the walls could be seen through Laurel streamers of smaller dimensions running from the green embankment to the roof of the beautifully festooned arbour. A soft lighting effect added greatly to the scene and assisted materially in the blending of a thousand colors.
The stage was allotted to the orchestra and was beautifully festooned in tall graceful palms rising from a bank of ferns.
I will start with the immortal words of my father when he handed my a lot of my Christmas and Birthday presents – “It was on sale.” It will be my fall back reasoning. I digress already!
I was at the BIFHSGO Family History Conference last week and was deeply immersed through its sessions on the pros and cons of getting your DNA tested for researching your family’s history. It was fascinating. I hadn’t really thought seriously about testing my DNA. I had felt, and still do, to some extent, that my documentary research has been sufficient to my needs. I have been, over the long haul been able to trace back a lot of my family line to a level which is utterly satisfying, and for some lines damn impressive, and I didn’t feel I needed the confirmation of DNA for my results. But the idea of autosomal DNA creating some kind of genetic tracing to other people, and perhaps an interesting evaluation of my ethnic heritage was compelling.
So I saw the kits, they were on sale, and I bought one. There you have it.
The biggest question is of course what do I want to get out this experience? And this is a bit complicated. I know my heritage, I know for at least 5 generations on most lines, and some further than that where my people come from. I know that I am Irish, Scottish and English, and far, far, back the English is mixed happily with French. So it will be interesting to see what the percentages say. There is a lovely family rumour of an Aboriginal ancestor, which would be interesting to find. But here is the catch, I know that the further back you go the harder these traces are to find, and from my calculations the ancestor is at least 5 generations back – at least. I have no documentary evidence of this ancestor, so this would be the only opportunity to prove/disprove the rumour. What will my test reveal?
At the conference there were a lot of warnings made by the speakers about the results. The key message was that if you are not interested in the family’s skeletons, don’t open the closet. A lot of people get very upset about discoveries of non-relationship. Someone wasn’t the son/daughter of the one of their parents, of the people who raised them. Since I cannot test my paternity as my parents have passed, this is not a worry. (Actually having known my parents, not a worry anyway.) But I am prepared for things not being as they seemed. I am ready for surprises. I have already had a few shocks in my family research, and I think I can handle this.
This evening I registered my kit with Ancestry, and took the test. I found spitting into a tube a bit gross. I also think I am dehydrated because it took far too long to fill the damn thing. The instructions say that it is not much, only ¼ tsp, but really, that seemed like a lot when I was spitting. Yuck. Once full, I added the lid and the stabilizer, shook it, sealed it, and not it is ready for mailing on Monday. I am sending it to Ireland – a long trip via Canada Post. And then comes the wait. 6-8 weeks is the standard according to the instructions.
Step 1- open the box
Step 2 – read instructions
Step 5 – seal the spit tube (because you did not need to see the steps in between)
I have had a lot of responses for assistance for the creation of a list of Scottish societies (of all types) dating from the start of settlement in Canada to the present. I am up to 120 societies – but I am sure there are more, please keep the suggestions coming.
Thank you so very much for those who have already helped! So appreciated.
Here is the updated list:
City
Name
Start Date
End Date
Notes
Halifax
North British Society
1768
Now known as the Scots Society
Saint John
St Andrew’s Society
1798
Still exists
Williamstown
Highland Society of Canada
1818
1857
Ceased 1828 and reformed 1843
Fredericton
Society of St Andrew’s
1825
?
Montreal
St Andrew’s Society
1835
Still Exists
Toronto
St Andrew’s Society
1836
Still exists
Quebec City
St Andrew’s Society
1837
Unknown – but no longer exists
Kingston
Kingston and Midland District St Andrew’s Society
1840
?
Miramachi
Highland society of New Brunswick
1842
Still exists
Quebec
Highland Society of Canada – Quebec
1843
1857
Montreal
Highland Society of Canada – Montreal
1843
1857
Kingston
Highland Socieyt of Canada – Kingston
1843
1857
Toronto
Highland Society of Canada – Toronto
1843
1857
Niagara
Highland Society of Canada – Niagara
1843
1857
Hamilton
Highland Society of Canada – Hamilton
1843
1857
Amherstburg
Highland Society of Canada – Amherstburg
1843
1857
Bytown [Ottawa]
Highland Society of Canada – Bytown
1843
1857
Johnstown
Highland Society of Canada – Johnstown
1843
1857
Goderich
Highland Society of Canada – Goderich
1843
1857
Perth
Highland Society of Canada – Perth
1843
1857
Ottawa
St Andrew’s Society
1847
Still exists
Montreal
Caledonian Society of Montreal
1855
1970 -ish
Embro
Embro Highland Society
1856
1888
Hamilton
Burns Club
1858
?
Williamstown
Caledonian Society of Glengarry
1858
Victoria
St Andrew and Caledonian Society
1859
2014
Montreal
Burns Club
1859
?
Halifax
Caledonian Club
1861
?
Antigonish
Antigonish Highland Society
1861
?
Prince Edward Island
Caledonian Club of Prince Edward Island
1864
Still exists
Petrolia
St Andrews Society
1870
Still exists
Winnipeg
St Andrew’s Society
1871
Still exists
Toronto
Sons of Scotland – 1 Robert Burns
1876
Toronto
Gaelic Society of Toronto (Comunn Gaidlhig Thoronto)
I am trying to create a list of all the Scottish societies which have been founded in Canada since the beginning of Scottish settlement here in order to view trends etc.
I have below a partial list of societies which I have knowledge of, their names, location, and dates of existence. If anyone can assist me with this it would be appreciated.
I will update the list as I receive more information, and do more research.
List of Scottish Societies in Canada through time
[Draft Updated! – Work in Progress]
City
Name
Start Date
End Date
Notes
Halifax
North British Society
1768
Now known as the Scots Society
Saint John
St Andrew’s Society
1798
Still exists
Fredericton
Society of St Andrew’s
1825
?
Montreal
St Andrew’s Society
1835
Still Exists
Toronto
St Andrew’s Society
1836
Still exists
Quebec City
St Andrew’s Society
1837
Unknown – but no longer exists
Kingston
Kingston and Midland District St Andrew’s Society
1840
?
Ottawa
St Andrew’s Society
1847
Still exists
Montreal
Caledonian Society of Montreal
1855
1970 -ish
Embro
Embro Highland Society
1856
1888
Hamilton
Burns Club
1858
?
Victoria
St Andrew and Caledonian Society
1859
2014
Montreal
Burns Club
1859
?
Halifax
Caledonian Club
1861
?
Prince Edward Island
Caledonian Club of Prince Edward Island
1864
Still exists
Petrolia
St Andrews Society
1870
Still exists
Winnipeg
St Andrew’s Society
1871
Still exists
Toronto
Sons of Scotland – 1 Robert Burns
1876
Toronto
Gaelic Society of Toronto (Comunn Gaidlhig Thoronto)
While doing research for an article on the Paulin(e) family. I began searching for examples of paintings done by Frederick Paulin(e) Sr. The main reason was that I had unearthed a newspaper article dated 1901, which spoke of an exhibit he had at the Great Northern Railway Offices [See below].
I knew that Frederick had been an artist having seen a couple of examples in my travels, but I hadn’t understood the importance that it had for him, which from the fact that he exhibited his work (though humbly) suggests.
So I have decided to launch a search for more examples of his work, to digitally construct an exhibit of his paintings in order to share with his family/descendants and other interested people in his vision of the world, through his art.
Example 1
Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, from the collection of S Bunting.
Example 2
Possibly English River, dated 1909, from the collection of D Thornton.
If you have any paintings by Frederick and would be willing to share with the blog (and the family) I would be most grateful.
Frederick’s son Ernest Alfred Paulin was also a talented artist. I have two examples of his decorative painting.
Example 1
Tin Plate, repurposed Ainsley Ware and decorated with birds. Was a gift to Sidney and Kate [Smith, his in-laws] and dated Christmas 1899, from the collection of G Leitch.
Example 2
Decorated mirror, nd, from the collection of S Bunting. Thought to be a cake plate.
Any images of Ernest or Frederick’s art would be gratefully added to this virtual exhibit. If any other members of the family were visual artists, information and images would also be appreciated.
Work in Progress!
The Gallery can be seen here: https://gilliandr.wordpress.com/pauline-family-art-gallery/
When writing about a person of note it is always important to understand the different narratives which are used about them. This is particularly important when you are writing about them as a part of a family history. The role they played in the family, the way they were remembered in the family could be at odds with how they are portrayed in history books, and likewise their part in history might single them out for remembrance in family lore out of sync with their participation in the family.
Such is the case with my grandfather’s first cousin, Isabel Maude Kate Smith. Maude was the daughter of Grandad’s mother’s sister. She was a suffragette, and her story as a part of the Votes for Women movement in England is of note. But of course, she was a part of the family, a part of a network of relatives who lived in the Birmingham area.
Last week I found Maude’s prison record (for her second arrest) and did a subsequent Google search. There on the Press Association Archives I discovered a photo of Maude in the docks during her trial in 1914. Having now obtained the rights to use this picture in my blog (and yes this cost money) I thought it a good idea to reflect on Maude, both as a suffragette and as a family member.
Maude
Isabel Maude Kate Smith was born the 7 September 1881 in Acock’s Green, Birmingham. She was the eldest child of Sidney Smith and his wife Kate Jennings. When she was born her father was a wholesale jeweller. Maude had three brothers and a sister: Sidney, Percival, Leslie and Dorothy.
According to an interview Maude did with Brian Harrison in 1975 [The Women’s Library, London Metropolitan University, 8SUF/B/030] Maude had a varied primary education, attending several schools before leaving at the age of 12. After leaving school she worked for her father. When his business failed she worked intermittently in clerical/bookkeeping positions. She loved numbers. She suffered from depression, and was often forced to leave jobs after suffering breakdowns.
After her period in the suffrage movement she moved to the country, and served as a housekeeper/companion to an accountant named Skinner. The Skinners were apparently friends of the family. She lived with him in the Shropshire area until about 1965, when he died. She never married.
Maude as a Suffragette
Maude joined the suffrage movement after reading Votes for Women. She didn’t just attend a few meetings, she was active in it, first selling papers for them, then serving as the secretary of the WSPU [Women’s Social and Political Union] in Birmingham.
In 1912 Maude, with a number of other women, went to London and smashed windows in Oxford Street. She was arrested, and was given four months for that. After sentencing, the ladies began a hunger strike, and were force-fed. Maude was force-fed for a few months, and the emotional and physical damage followed her through her life. Released, she continued with the movement, and admitted to “firing a post box.” [“All this so Women Could Win the Right to Vote,” Solihull News, 8 January 1972].
Suffragette Mary Spencer in the dock charged with causing criminal damage to the painting ‘Primavera’ by Sir George Clausen in the National Gallery in London. She was, in fact, the Secretary for the WSPU, Maude Kate Smith, using an assumed name. PA Images #5320230, used with permission
Maude is best known for another violent act, the slashing of the painting Primavera by George Claussen at the Royal Academy of Arts on the 26 May 1914. The painting was a nude lady sitting sideways holding her hair. When asked in 1975 Maude said that it was a lovely picture, and expressed regret that she had harmed it. Upon slashing it she was arrested and taken to the Old Bailey. There under the false name of Mary or May Spencer she was convicted, and imprisoned for six months. [TNA-CCC-H0140-00692]
Maude in her Family
In her interview Maude was asked a fair bit about her family. She was very open about her father and his family. Sidney Smith was from, in her words, landed gentry, and his family had owned land in Great Cumberton for over four hundred years. She attributed many of his and her preferences for quiet and country because of this landed heritage. Maude appears to have spent a great deal of time with her grandmother there (including in 1901 when she was listed as a visitor in her home in the Census). She mentioned that she was named after three aunts and her mother. (Isabel was her mother’s sister, the other two were Smiths, but she talks of three Smith aunts).
About her mother she said relatively little. She described her as trier, worn out and angry. She talked about how her mother was always trying to get her to take on chores in the house, but she refused. Maude said that her mother came from business people [Swan Pub in Yardley] and that she was used to having servants. She also noted that when Maude was born her mother was undernourished, and had ultimately gone through nine pregnancies (9 pregnancies – 5 children survived).
About her siblings she was vague. She did mention that there was little affection among them. She knew little about their lives, and while granted she was over ninety when she was interviewed and not as quick as she must have been, she was hard pressed to know what they did for a living, and rarely used their names.
What she did say was that Leslie went to technical school, and then worked at Dunlops. Percy was a “tragedy” who worked at a GE then a bicycle factory, she also called him wild, and that he had three children. No details to the wildness. Sidney was a “gentle dear” who worked first as a bookkeeper and then owned Magnus Welding Co. Dorothy liked to garden.
The family view of Maude
Growing up both my brother and I were raised with the story of how Grandad’s cousin had been a suffragette fighting for the right to vote. We were told how important it was to vote.
When researching Maude I came across a letter my Mom wrote to her cousin Dorothy in 1996 about Maude. Daphne had kindly sent an article about her that she had found. Here is a part of what Mom said:
“Apart from the fact that she’d been a suffragette and had been imprisoned, I didn’t know much about her. I have a vague recollection of Auntie Hilda [Grandad’s sister] telling me that she’d been the housekeeper for a widower [actually he was still married, but separated] but nothing beyond that. . . . I was surprised to read in the newspaper article that Maude was a tomboy from having played with her brothers. As far as I knew, she only had one brother, Leslie, and one sister, Dorothy. Leslie worked at Dunlop at the same time as Dad (in the war) and had quite a senior job – and felt it beneath his dignity to acknowledge a mere clerk! I believe he was married but didn’t have any children. Dad always said what a lovely couple Uncle Sidney and Aunt Kate were (so I couldn’t understand Leslie’s attitude).”
Maude did not appear to be a part of the larger family circle, so really existed only in rumour, and legend.
Narratives
As you can seen there are four narratives here – first is the biographical narrative, the basic facts about Maude’s life; next is the larger national historic narrative – her being a significant part of the suffragette movement, and her very striking attack on a painting at the Royal Academy; third is her narrative, her view of her life and family; and lastly the family’s view of her. All are valid, all interesting.
Bibliography
Women’s Library, London Metropolitan University, interview with Maude Kate Smith by Brian Harrison, dated 14 January 1975, 8SUF/B/030.
1901 Census, Great Comberton, Worcestershire.
1891 Census, Berkswell, Warwickshire.
Press Association Images #5320320 [www.paimages.co.uk]
“All This So Women Could Win the Vote,” Solihull News, 8 January 1972.
Helena Bonett, “Deeds not Words:’ Suffragettes and the Summer Exhibition,” Royal Academy of Arts, posted 15 July 2013.
Letter to D Tuckett from S Leitch, dated 10 March 1996.
Brian Henderson, “The Act of Militancy: Violence and the Suffragettes, 1904-1914” in Peaceable Kingdoms, Stability and Change in Modern Britain, eds. Michael Bentley and John Stevenson, Oxford University Press, 1982, 80-122.
From: Etiquette: The Blue Book of Social Usage by Emily Post, New York and London, Funk & Wagnalls Co, 1922/37.
271
The Late Guest
A polite hostess waits twenty minutes at most after the dinner hour, and then orders dinner to be served. To wait more than twenty minutes, or actually fifteen after those who took the allowable five minutes’ grace, would be showing lack of consideration to many for the sake of one. When one late guest finally enters the dining-room, it is she who must go up to the hostess and apologize for being late. The hostess remains seated and the guest merely shakes hands quickly in order that all the men at the table need not rise. The hostess must never take the guest to task, but should say something polite and conciliatory such as: “I was sure you would not want us to wait dinner!”
531
The ideal guest not only tries to wear becoming clothes, but tries to get into an equally becoming frame of mind. No one is ever asked out very much who is in the habit of telling people all the misfortunes and ailments she has experienced or witnessed, though the perfect guest listens with apparent sympathy to everyone else’s. Another attribute of the perfect guest is never to keep people waiting.
567
Formal invitations are always addressed to Mr. Stanley Smith. All other personal letters may be addressed to Stanley Smith, Esq. The title of Esquire was formerly used to denote the eldest son of a knight or members of a younger branch of a noble house. Later all graduates of universities, professional and literary men, and important landholders were given the right to this title, which even today denotes a man of education – a gentleman. John Smith, Esquire, is John Smith, Gentleman. Mr. John Smith may be a gentleman or may not be one. And yet, as noted above, all engraved initiations are addressed to “Mr.”.
[I only wish I had a picture to illustrate this blog post with, because it would have been a heck of a sight!]
Montreal Gazette, 22 September 1880, page 2
Last Night’s Illuminations
Dryden’s hyperbole, that the stars lifted the curtain of the Night to gaze on a scene he was describing, would not, after all, seem so far fetched to one who saw the illumination of the harbour last night. The shipping was decked with parti-colored lights, arranged in wreaths and crowns and figures of every description, and from many of the vessels fireworks were sent off. As far as the eye could reach on either side were myriads of dancing lights of various colors, forming a strong contrast to the dark hulls and the waters grey in the moonlight, while in the background were the huge warehouses and stores whose grimness seemed intensified by comparison with the brightness of the scene in front. A large number of people visited the wharves to view this illumination and at the same time see how effectively the new electric light system performs it work.
Untangling the Various Narratives – More About Maude Smith, Suffragette, 2016
When writing about a person of note it is always important to understand the different narratives which are used about them. This is particularly important when you are writing about them as a part of a family history. The role they played in the family, the way they were remembered in the family could be at odds with how they are portrayed in history books, and likewise their part in history might single them out for remembrance in family lore out of sync with their participation in the family.
Such is the case with my grandfather’s first cousin, Isabel Maude Kate Smith. Maude was the daughter of Grandad’s mother’s sister. She was a suffragette, and her story as a part of the Votes for Women movement in England is of note. But of course, she was a part of the family, a part of a network of relatives who lived in the Birmingham area.
Last week I found Maude’s prison record (for her second arrest) and did a subsequent Google search. There on the Press Association Archives I discovered a photo of Maude in the docks during her trial in 1914. Having now obtained the rights to use this picture in my blog (and yes this cost money) I thought it a good idea to reflect on Maude, both as a suffragette and as a family member.
Maude
Isabel Maude Kate Smith was born the 7 September 1881 in Acock’s Green, Birmingham. She was the eldest child of Sidney Smith and his wife Kate Jennings. When she was born her father was a wholesale jeweller. Maude had three brothers and a sister: Sidney, Percival, Leslie and Dorothy.
According to an interview Maude did with Brian Harrison in 1975 [The Women’s Library, London Metropolitan University, 8SUF/B/030] Maude had a varied primary education, attending several schools before leaving at the age of 12. After leaving school she worked for her father. When his business failed she worked intermittently in clerical/bookkeeping positions. She loved numbers. She suffered from depression, and was often forced to leave jobs after suffering breakdowns.
After her period in the suffrage movement she moved to the country, and served as a housekeeper/companion to an accountant named Skinner. The Skinners were apparently friends of the family. She lived with him in the Shropshire area until about 1965, when he died. She never married.
Maude as a Suffragette
Maude joined the suffrage movement after reading Votes for Women. She didn’t just attend a few meetings, she was active in it, first selling papers for them, then serving as the secretary of the WSPU [Women’s Social and Political Union] in Birmingham.
In 1912 Maude, with a number of other women, went to London and smashed windows in Oxford Street. She was arrested, and was given four months for that. After sentencing, the ladies began a hunger strike, and were force-fed. Maude was force-fed for a few months, and the emotional and physical damage followed her through her life. Released, she continued with the movement, and admitted to “firing a post box.” [“All this so Women Could Win the Right to Vote,” Solihull News, 8 January 1972].
Maude is best known for another violent act, the slashing of the painting Primavera by George Claussen at the Royal Academy of Arts on the 26 May 1914. The painting was a nude lady sitting sideways holding her hair. When asked in 1975 Maude said that it was a lovely picture, and expressed regret that she had harmed it. Upon slashing it she was arrested and taken to the Old Bailey. There under the false name of Mary or May Spencer she was convicted, and imprisoned for six months. [TNA-CCC-H0140-00692]
Maude in her Family
In her interview Maude was asked a fair bit about her family. She was very open about her father and his family. Sidney Smith was from, in her words, landed gentry, and his family had owned land in Great Cumberton for over four hundred years. She attributed many of his and her preferences for quiet and country because of this landed heritage. Maude appears to have spent a great deal of time with her grandmother there (including in 1901 when she was listed as a visitor in her home in the Census). She mentioned that she was named after three aunts and her mother. (Isabel was her mother’s sister, the other two were Smiths, but she talks of three Smith aunts).
About her mother she said relatively little. She described her as trier, worn out and angry. She talked about how her mother was always trying to get her to take on chores in the house, but she refused. Maude said that her mother came from business people [Swan Pub in Yardley] and that she was used to having servants. She also noted that when Maude was born her mother was undernourished, and had ultimately gone through nine pregnancies (9 pregnancies – 5 children survived).
About her siblings she was vague. She did mention that there was little affection among them. She knew little about their lives, and while granted she was over ninety when she was interviewed and not as quick as she must have been, she was hard pressed to know what they did for a living, and rarely used their names.
What she did say was that Leslie went to technical school, and then worked at Dunlops. Percy was a “tragedy” who worked at a GE then a bicycle factory, she also called him wild, and that he had three children. No details to the wildness. Sidney was a “gentle dear” who worked first as a bookkeeper and then owned Magnus Welding Co. Dorothy liked to garden.
The family view of Maude
Growing up both my brother and I were raised with the story of how Grandad’s cousin had been a suffragette fighting for the right to vote. We were told how important it was to vote.
When researching Maude I came across a letter my Mom wrote to her cousin Dorothy in 1996 about Maude. Daphne had kindly sent an article about her that she had found. Here is a part of what Mom said:
“Apart from the fact that she’d been a suffragette and had been imprisoned, I didn’t know much about her. I have a vague recollection of Auntie Hilda [Grandad’s sister] telling me that she’d been the housekeeper for a widower [actually he was still married, but separated] but nothing beyond that. . . . I was surprised to read in the newspaper article that Maude was a tomboy from having played with her brothers. As far as I knew, she only had one brother, Leslie, and one sister, Dorothy. Leslie worked at Dunlop at the same time as Dad (in the war) and had quite a senior job – and felt it beneath his dignity to acknowledge a mere clerk! I believe he was married but didn’t have any children. Dad always said what a lovely couple Uncle Sidney and Aunt Kate were (so I couldn’t understand Leslie’s attitude).”
Maude did not appear to be a part of the larger family circle, so really existed only in rumour, and legend.
Narratives
As you can seen there are four narratives here – first is the biographical narrative, the basic facts about Maude’s life; next is the larger national historic narrative – her being a significant part of the suffragette movement, and her very striking attack on a painting at the Royal Academy; third is her narrative, her view of her life and family; and lastly the family’s view of her. All are valid, all interesting.
Bibliography
Women’s Library, London Metropolitan University, interview with Maude Kate Smith by Brian Harrison, dated 14 January 1975, 8SUF/B/030.
1901 Census, Great Comberton, Worcestershire.
1891 Census, Berkswell, Warwickshire.
Press Association Images #5320320 [www.paimages.co.uk]
“All This So Women Could Win the Vote,” Solihull News, 8 January 1972.
Helena Bonett, “Deeds not Words:’ Suffragettes and the Summer Exhibition,” Royal Academy of Arts, posted 15 July 2013.
Letter to D Tuckett from S Leitch, dated 10 March 1996.
Brian Henderson, “The Act of Militancy: Violence and the Suffragettes, 1904-1914” in Peaceable Kingdoms, Stability and Change in Modern Britain, eds. Michael Bentley and John Stevenson, Oxford University Press, 1982, 80-122.
TNA-CCC-H0140-00692.
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