In Her Own Words - and Then Some
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In Her Own Words - and Then Some 1 Gam * with many thanks to Barbara Parkinson whose many interviews with Anne Fairlie form the basis of this account * 2 In Her Own Words - and Then Some GAM In her Own Words (and then Some) Anne Primrose Fyshe / Saegert / Fairlie 1915 - 2014 duxpress 2015 3 Gam 4 In Her Own Words - and Then Some Early Days I was born Anne Primrose Fyshe on October 9th, 1915 in Calgary, Alberta. My father registered me as “Mary Primrose” however, when I was christened, I was named “Anne Primrose”, after my maternal grandmother Annie Primrose Bayne Stirling. She was the only one of my grandparents living at the time. She was the daughter of Howard Primrose and Olivia Campbell of Pictou Nova Scotia. Howard Primrose was a prominent business man in the community and owned a timber mill. His father James, born at Whitehall Grange in Scotland, was part of a long line of Primroses tracing back to Culrose, Fifeshire in Scotland in the 1490’s. He arrived in Pictou in the 1820’s and entered a timber exporting partnership in Tatamagouche. He had three sons, Clarence (1830-1902) Howard (1832-1906) and Gordon (1832-1840) He seems to have been very prosperous in the business. Four Generations 1883 Great Grandmother Olivia Campbell Grandmother Olivia Campbell Primrose, Mother Annie Primrose Bayne newborn daughter Olivia Primrose Bayne (Amah) 5 Gam James Primrose thought to be arrived in Pictou in 1820’s Mrs Eliza Brown Primrose Agent of Bank of Nova Scotia 2nd wife of James Primrose in Pictou 1839 -1872 Timber Mill in Tatamagouche 6 In Her Own Words - and Then Some Charlotte Henderson Married Thomas Primrose (aunt of James and Eliza opposite) Olivia Campbell Primrose who married Howard Primrose 7 Gam One of my favourite photographs from that era dates back to 1892 and shows Howard and Olivia, their two sons, John and Alexander and their two daughters, Annie (born 1856 and around 30 in the photo) and Mary (who married Charles Fergie) My mother Olivia is present as a child of about 9. Her father, Herbert Andrew Bayne had died shortly before in 1886, He was born at Londonderry Nova Scotia, educated as a Doctor of Philosophy and became Professor of Physics at Royal Military College in Kingston. The whole family is outdoors in the garden at their home in Pictou. The Primrose Family circa 1892 Howard and Olivia Campbell Primrose on the right with son Jack behind (who married Charity Steers) Grandmother Annie Primrose Bayne in centre with Olivia’s sister Aunt Hannah Campbell Maclean behind her to the left is Alexander Primrose with his wife Clara Ewart and their 3 children, Agnes in arm, Dorothy behind, and Olive Clare front centre Annie’s daughter Olivia Primrose Bayne (Amah) is behind in the straw boater is Mary Primrose who married Charles Fergie 8 In Her Own Words - and Then Some circa 1880 - Howard Primrose by Notman Olivia Campbell Primrose circa 1860 9 Gam my grandmother Annie Primrose my grandfather circa 1878 Herbert Andrew Bayne Prof. at RMC - died 1886 Annie Primrose later married Edward Goldsmith - ‘Donny Dad” 10 In Her Own Words - and Then Some Annie Primrose circa 1878 Annie Primrose circa 1875 my grandmother’s sister Mary who married Charles Fergie 11 Gam My Grandparents recently married circa 1881 Studio photography came into vogue in the 1880’s and these faces and their parents and grandparents were photographed a number of times in the Notman studios in Halifax and in Montreal. My mother’s parents were James Bayne, born in 1857 in Nova Scotia, and Annie Primrose born August 29th, 1857 in Pictou, Nova Scotia. James Bayne was a professor of Physics at Royal Military College in Kingston and he died in 1886 leaving a young widow and, my mother Olive Mary Primrose Bayne who then went to live with her parents, (my great grandparents) Howard Primrose and Olivia Campbell in Pictou, Nova Scotia. Annie and my mother Olive Primrose Bayne in 1885 12 In Her Own Words - and Then Some Howard Primrose That was the Primrose / Bayne side of the family through my mother. The Fyshe side was also complicated by an early death. My grandmother Avis Fyshe died of food poisoning suddenly in 1902 leaving behind her six children. My father Max would have been 19 at the time. She and her mother, my great grandmother Anna Leonowens had been a very dynamic partnership in bringing up this large family. Anna was a remarkable woman who was determined to achieve the best education possible for all of her grandchildren. 13 Gam 1880’s Tea Party Annie Primrose Bayne right pouring, Mary Primrose Fergie with finger exterded 14 In Her Own Words - and Then Some Olivia Campbell Primrose wife of Howard Primrose 15 Gam Anna Harriette Lenonowens 1831-1915 16 In Her Own Words - and Then Some Anna My great grandmother, that is my father’s mother’s mother was Anna Harriette Leonowens (6 November 1831 - 19 January 1915). Born Anna Harriett Emma Edwards, she was an Anglo-Indian or Indian-born British travel writer, educator, and social activist. Her experiences in Siam (Thailand) were fictionalised in Margaret Landon’s 1944 best- selling novel Anna and the King of Siam, as well as films and television series based on the book, most notably Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1951 hit musical The King and I. During the course of her life, Anna also lived in Aden, Australia, Singapore, the United States and Canada. She also co-founded the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Anna’s maternal grandfather, William Vawdrey (or Vaudrey) Glascott, was an English-born commissioned officer of the 4th Regiment, Bombay Native Infantry, in the Bombay Army. Glascott arrived in India in 1810, and was apparently married in 1815, although his wife’s name is not known. According to biographer Susan Morgan, the likely explanation for the lack of information regarding Glascott’s wife, in official British records, 17 Gam is that she “was not European”. Morgan suggests that she was “most likely Anglo-Indian (of mixed race) born in India.” The Glascotts’ first child, Mary Anne Glascott, was born in 1815 or 1816. Mary Glascott married a non-commissioned officer of the Sappers and Miners, Sergeant Thomas Edwards on 15 March 1829 in Tannah. Edwards was from London and a former cabinetmaker. Tom Edwards died before his second daughter was born, in Ahmednagar district, India, on 6 November 1831. While she was christened Anna Harriet Emma Edwards, she later changed Harriet to “Harriette” and ceased using her third given name (Emma). For most of her adult life, Anna Edwards had no contact with her family and took pains to disguise her origins by claiming that she had been born with the surname “Crawford” in Caernarvon and giving her father’s rank as Captain. By doing so, she protected not only herself but her children, realising that they would have had greater opportunities if their mixed- race heritage remained unknown. Investigations uncovered no record of her birth at Caernarvon, news which came as a shock to the town that had long claimed her as one of its most famous natives. The eldest daughter, Mary Edwards later married an Irish soldier, Corporal Patrick Donohoe of the Royal Engineers, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery in Bombay during the Indian Mutiny. In 1845 her 15-year-old sister, Eliza Julia Edwards, married Edward John Pratt, a 38-year-old British civil servant who had served in the Indian Navy. One of their grandsons was the actor William Henry Pratt, better known as Boris Karloff. Because Edward John Pratt was also an Anglo-Indian, my great grandmother, Anna Edwards, never approved of her sister’s marriage. Her disconnect from the family was so complete that decades later, when a Pratt relative contacted her, she replied threatening suicide if he persisted. Anna Edwards’s relationship with her stepfather Donohoe was not a happy one and she later accused him of putting pressure on her, like her sister (with whom she also fell out), to marry a much older man. In 1847, the family went to Aden, where Donohoe had been 18 In Her Own Words - and Then Some seconded as assistant supervisor of public works. Here Anna Edwards was taught by the resident chaplain and orientalist, the Rev. George Percy Badger, and his wife Maria, a missionary schoolmistress. The Badgers recognised the girl’s aptitude for languages and, in 1849, they took her with them on a tour through Egypt and Palestine. Rev. Parcy Badger (top right) on mission to Zanzibar 1872 he was a religious scholar who wrote an important book about the Yazidis At the end of 1849, Anna Edwards returned with her family to India, where in Poona she married her childhood sweetheart, Thomas Leon Owens. He later merged his second and last names as Leonowens, over the objections of her stepfather and mother. Her husband was a civilian clerk (rather than the army officer suggested by her memoir). In 1852 the young couple, accompanied by Anna’s uncle W. V. Glasscott, sailed to Australia via Singapore, where they boarded the barque Alibi. The journey from Singapore was long and Anna gave birth to a son, Thomas, on board. On 8 March 1853, nearing the Western Australian coast, the Alibi was almost wrecked on a reef. Ten days later Anna, Thomas, their new born son and Glasscott arrived in Perth, where Thomas found employment as a clerk in the colonial administration. In Perth, Anna, at this time going by her middle name, Harriette, tried to start a school for young ladies.