Female Imperialism and National Identity
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General editor John M. MacKenzie When the ‘Studies in Imperialism’ series was founded by Professor John M. MacKenzie more than thirty years ago, emphasis was laid upon the conviction that ‘imperialism as a cultural phenomenon had as significant an effect on the dominant as on the subordinate societies’. With well over a hundred titles now published, this remains the prime concern of the series. Cross-disciplinary work has indeed appeared covering the full spectrum of cultural phenomena, as well as examining aspects of gender and sex, frontiers and law, science and the environment, language and literature, migration and patriotic societies, and much else. Moreover, the series has always wished to present comparative work on European and American imperialism, and particularly welcomes the submission of books in these areas. The fascination with imperialism, in all its aspects, shows no sign of abating, and this series will continue to lead the way in encouraging the widest possible range of studies in the field. Studies in Imperialism is fully organic in its development, always seeking to be at the cutting edge, responding to the latest interests of scholars and the needs of this ever- expanding area of scholarship. Female imperialism and national identity AVAILABLE IN THE SERIES Britain in China Community, culture and colonialism, 1900–1949 Robert Bickers New frontiers Imperialism’s new communities in East Asia 1842–1952 eds Robert Bickers and Christian Henriot Western medicine as contested knowledge eds Andrew Cunningham and Bridie Andrews The Arctic in the British imagination 1818–1914 Robert G. David Imperial cities Landscape, display and identity eds Felix Driver and David Gilbert Science and society in southern Africa Saul Dubow Unfit for heroes Reconstruction and soldier settlement in the Empire between the wars Kent Fedorowich Emigration from Scotland between the wars Opportunity or exile? Marjory Harper Empire and sexuality The British experience Ronald Hyam ‘An Irish Empire?’ Aspects of Ireland and the British Empire ed. Keith Jeffery Law, history, colonialism The reach of empire eds Diane Kirkby and Catherine Coleborne The South African War reappraised Donal Lowry The empire of nature Hunting, conservation and British imperialism John M. MacKenzie Imperialism and popular culture ed. John M. MacKenzie Propaganda and empire The manipulation of British public opinion, 1880–1960 John M. MacKenzie Gender and imperialism ed. Clare Midgley Guardians of empire The armed forces of the colonial powers, c. 1700–1964 eds David Omissi and David Killingray Married to the empire Gender, politics and imperialism in India, 1883–1947 Mary A. Procida Imperialism and music Britain 1876–1953 Jeffrey Richards Colonial frontiers Indigenous–European encounters in settler societies ed. Lynette Russell Colonial masculinity The ‘manly Englishman’ and the ‘effeminate Bengali’ Mrinalini Sinha Jute and empire The Calcutta jute wallahs and the landscapes of empire Gordon T. Stewart The imperial game Cricket, culture and society eds Brian Stoddart and Keith A. P Sandiford The French Empire at war, 1940–45 Martin Thomas British culture and the end of empire ed. Stuart Ward Travellers in Africa British travelogues, 1850–1900 Tim Youngs Female imperialism and national identity Imperial Order Daughters of The Empire Katie Pickles MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS Manchester Copyright © Katie Pickles 2002 The right of Katie Pickles to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by Manchester University Press Altrincham Street, Manchester Ml 7JA, UK www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 13: 978 0 7190 6391 6 First published in hardback 2002 by Manchester University Press This paperback edition first published 2009 The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. CONTENTS List of figures and tables — page vi List of abbreviations — vii General editor’s introduction — viii Acknowledgements — x Introduction page 1 1 Genealogy of an imperial and nationalistic Order 15 2 Female imperialism at the periphery: organizing principles, 1900–19 36 3 Women, race and assimilation: the canadianizing 1920s 54 4 Exhibiting Canada: Empire, migration and the 1928 English Schoolgirl Tour 75 5 Britishness and Canadian nationalism: Daughters of the Empire, mothers in their own homes, 1929–45 91 6 ‘Other than stone and mortar’: war memorials, memory and imperial knowledge 108 7 Conservative women and democracy: defending Cold War Canada 122 8 Modernizing the north: women, internal colonization and indigenous peoples 149 Conclusion 167 Note on sources — 180 Bibliography— 186 Index — 201 [ v ] LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figures 4.1 Itinerary of the 1928 English Schoolgirl Tour of Canada Echoes (October 1928) page 76–7 5.1 Second World War IODE members at work in the packing room at 182 Lowther Avenue National Archives of Canada, PA 187894 99 5.2 IODE Second World War service library display at the Canadian National Exhibition National Archives of Canada, PA 187896 100 5.3 IODE Second World War service library National Archives of Canada, PA 135187 101 5.4 Presentation of the Bollingbroke bomber by the IODE to the RCAF National Archives of Canada, PA 135174 102 6.1 At the Toronto Cenotaph, 1939 National Meeting National Archives of Canada, PA 187891 110 7.1 Post-Second World War IODE citizenship certificate Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, MC 200 MS 7/18 139 8.1 The IODE in the Canadian north (showing the DEW Line) NAC MG28 I 17; Provincial Chapter Ontario IODE 1992 mailing list; K.J. Reimer, The Environmental Effects of the DEW Line on the Canadian Arctic (1993) 154 9.1 Processing with the wreath to the Cenotaph, 1951 National Meeting in Ottawa National Archives of Canada, PA 187893 171 9.2 IODE Thrift Store, April 1994, Calgary, Alberta 172 Tables 1.1 Summary of IODE membership by province, 1940–93 28–9 6.1 First War Memorial Scholars by province 114 6.2 UK institutions attended by First War Memorial Scholars 115 [ vi ] LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BC British Columbia BCARS British Columbia Archives and Records Service CBC Canadian Broadcasting Corporation CCF Canadian Communist Federation CCIW Canadian Council for the Immigration of Women CFUW Canadian Federation of University Women CPR Canadian Pacific Railway CVA City of Vancouver Archives DEW Distant Early Warning GBOW Glenbow Archives GLWSA Guild of Loyal Women of South Africa IWGC Imperial War Graves Commission IWM Imperial War Museum, London LPSC Lorne Pierce Special Collections MULNS Memorial University Library’s Centre for Newfoundland Studies NAC National Archives of Canada NB New Brunswick NLC National Library of Canada NS Nova Scotia NWT Northwest Territories PAA Provincial Archives of Alberta PANB Provincial Archives of New Brunswick PARO, PEI Public Archives and Records Office Prince Edward Island QUA Queen’s University Archives, Ontario RCAF Royal Canadian Air Force RCMP Royal Canadian Mounted Police RCSL Royal Commonwealth Society Library SAB Saskatchewan Archives Board SOSBW Society for the Oversea Settlement of British Women UBCSC University of British Columbia Special Collections VPL Vancouver Public Library WCTU Women’s Christian Temperance Union YWCA Young Women’s Christian Association [ vii ] GENERAL EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION What’s in a name? A historian might answer ‘a very great deal’. Names of organisations can be extraordinary signifiers of period, place, performance and personalities. The ‘Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire’ speaks volumes in its four principal words. It is redolent of an era, symbolising as it does not just a complete ideology but also a notable iconography. Cartoonists in the nineteenth century rejoiced in depicting Britannia as the imperial mother surrounded by her colonial daughters. The founders of the IODE (as it later became in an apparent acknowledgement of significant changes in resonance) must have been well aware of this as they chose to flag their patriotism through a title which has a formidable ring of defiance about it. Patriotism and defiance were both characteristics of the age in which the IODE was founded, namely the era of the Anglo-Boer War, 1899–1902. It was also a time when women became more self-conscious and active politically. The suffragist movement was in full swing, though it divided women’s movements and societies as much as it united them. Although in the past women had been deeply involved in pressure groups like the Anti-Slavery Society, in philanthropic activities, and in some scholarly/political organisations like the provincial geographical societies of the 1880s, they were now placing themselves in a much more central position in relation to the war. Many, like Mary Kingsley, became nurses and died of fevers along with the men. Others provided comforts and indulged in fundraising. But figures like Flora Shaw, Emily Hobhouse and Millicent Fawcett, in their very different ways, played key instrumental roles. It was in this atmosphere that the IODE was founded in Canada just as, shortly afterwards, the Victoria League appeared in London. Although the IODE was primarily a Canadian organisation, it offers insights far beyond the confines of that dominion. Its history reflects important issues of national identity in respect of the all-too-adjacent United States, of Britain, and other dominions and imperial territories. It also illustrates the efforts of middle-class British women to dominate dominion developments and the manner in which Canadian women (as well as their counterparts in Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere) resisted the somewhat patronising and snobbish approaches that they encountered.