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• dfcll Nations.: Library Bibliotheque nationale of Canada du Canada Canadian Theses Service Service des theses canadiennes Ottawa, Canada K1A0N4 NOTICE AVIS The quality of this microform is heavily dependent upon the La quality de cette microforme depend grandement de la quality of the original thesis submitted for microfilming. qualite" de la these soumise au microfilmage. Nous avons Every effort has been made to ensure the highest quality of tout fait pour assurer une quality supe>ieure de reproduc reproduction possible. tion. If pages are missing, contact the university which granted S'il manque des pages, veuillez communiquer avec the degree. I'universite qui a confe>6 le grade Some pages may have indistinct print especially if the La qualite d'impression de certaines pages peut laisser a original pages were typed with a pcor typewriter ribbon or d^sirer, surtout si les pages originales ont et6 dactylogra if the university sent us an inferior pnotocopy. phies a I'aide d'un ruban use" ou si I'universite nous a fait parvenir une photocopie de qualite inferieure. Reproduction in full or in part of this microform is governed La reproduction, meme partielle, de cette microforme est by the Canadian Copyright Act, R.S.C. 1970, c. C-30, and soumise a la Loi canadienne sur le droit d'auteur, SRC subsequent amendments. 1970, c. C-30, et ses amendements subsequents. NL-339 (r. 88/04) c Canada Public Celebrations in Victorian Saint John and Halifax by Bonnie L. Huskins Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia August, 1991 (tjCopyright by Bonnie L. Huskins, 1991 National Library Bibliotheque nationate of Canada du Canada Canadian Theses Ser/ice Service des theses canadiennes Oltawa, Canada KIAON* The author has granted an irrevocable non L'auteur a accorde une licence irrevocable et exclusive licence allowing the National Library non exclusive permettant a la Bibfiotheque of Canada to reproduce, loan, distribute or sell nationale du Canada»de reproduce, pr§ter, copies of his/her thesis by any means and in distribuer ou vendre des copies de sa these any form or format, making this thesis available de quelque maniere et sous quelque forme to interested persons. que ce soit pour mettre des exemplaires de cette these a la disposition des personnes interessees. 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ISBN 0-315-71513-8 Canada TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents iv Figures and Photographs Abstract vi Abbreviations Vll Acknowledgements lii Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Organization 26 Chapter 2: The Lieutenant-Governor 59 Chapter 3: Public Feasting and Drinking 101 Chapter 4: Children's Demonstrations 145 Chapter 5: The Respectable Tradition: 176 Civic Parades and Trades Processions Chapter 6: The Antirespectable Tradition: 218 Burlesque Processions Chapter 7: Memorials 250 Chapter 8: Sports 281 Chapter 9: Commercialization and Tourism 310 Conclusion 338 Appendix 1 346 Appendix 2 358 Appendix 3 374 Bibliography 385 iv Figures Figure 3.1 Menu of Prince of Wales' Marriage Feast, 1863 104 Figure 4.1 Golden Jubilee Children's Demonstration, 1897 165 Figure 4.2 Diamond Jubilee Children's Demonstration, 1897 166 Figure 5.1 Coronation Parade, 1838 181 Figure 5.2 Centenary Parade, 1849 182 Figure 5.3 Prince of Wales' Parade, Halifax, 1860 183 Figure 5.4 Prince of Wales' Parade, Saint John, 1860 184 Figure 5.5 Lord Lome's Parade, 1878 185 Figure 5.6 Railway Celebration Parade, 1853 199 Figure 5.7 Confederation Parade, 1867 203 Figure 5.8 Loyalist Centennial Parade, 1883 205 Figure 6.1 Polymorphian Procession, 1881 231 Figure 6.2 Polymorphian Procession, 1882 231 Figure 6.3 Polymorphian Procession, 1883 232 Figure 6.4 Polymorphian Procession, 1887 233 Figure 6.5 Polymorphian Procession, 1897 234 ABSTRACT Public celebrations are useful arenas in which to study changing social relationships in nineteenth-century urban society. In Saint John and Halifax, early Victorian celebrations encouraged the participation of the lower orders in ox roasts and folk sports. By mid-century, however, these activities had begun to decline, in response to the pressures of urbanization, class development, and urban reformism. Urbanization fragmented the communal atmosphere of early Victorian displays, while class differentiation created a desire among the emerging middle class to maintain social distance through exclusive and "respectable" celebration activities. Urban reformers attempted to create the "respectable celebration" by eradicating the objectionable aspects of "traditional" celebrations—drunkenness, rowdyism, and animal sports-- and by providing instead more discerning and instructive alternatives. By the late nineteenth century, the emphasis of public celebrations had shifted fron physical to aesthetic gratification, as celebrations were transformed from participant to spectator events. Nonetheless, celebrants adapted to these changes by informally participating in the spectacles, and by taking advantage of the alternatives created by commercialization. VI Abbreviate ons Colls. Collections NAC National Archives of Canada NHS Natural History Society NBHS New Brunswick Historical Society N.B. Museum New Brunswick Museum NSHS Nova Scotia Historical Society USPS Nova Scotia Philanthropic Society PANS Public Archives of Nova Scotia SPC Society for the Prevention of Cruelty SPCA Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals SJRL Saint John Regional Library YMCA Young Men's Christian Association vii Acknowledgements I would like to thank Judith Fingard for her untiring encouragement and supervision. David Sutherland has also provided many helpful suggestions, as have members of the Halifax History Group, and the Dalhousie History Department faculty-graduate seminar. The staff at the Public Archives of Nova Scotia, the National Archives of Canada, the New Brunswick Museum, and the Saint John Regional Library have been very patient and supportive. I would not have been able to reproduce the thesis without the cheerful assistance of Tina Jones. Finally, I wish to thank Darryl for enduring my trials and tribulations, and for keeping me sane. vii 1 INTRODUCTION The celebration is a symbolic act which marks a special occasion, event, or personage, and may encompass such activities as "festivals, rituals, ceremonies, spectacles, pageants, fetes, holidays, extravaganzas, and partakers of all these elements".1 Some celebrations are spontaneously-generated, but most "cultural performances" have a "pre-existing script" which separates them from normal "action". As Milton Singer has succinctly put it, there can be no performance without "pre-formance".2 The prominent anthropologist, Victor Turner, has also argued that celebrations are generally connected with "expectable, culturally shared events", such ys individual and social rites de passage, work cycles, seasonal observances, religious rites, and commemorations of the community. The celebration can therefore be located within an individual's life-cycle, tne family, the neighborhood, the village, the city, or the nation.3 The celebrations discussed in this thesis took place 1 Richard Dorson, as quoted in Victor Turner "Introduction", in Victor Turner (ed.) Celebration- Studies in Festivity and Ritual (Washington, D.C., 1982), p. 23. 2 Milton Singer as quoted in John J. MacAloon "Introduction: Cultural Performances, Culture Theory", in John J. MacAloon (ed.) Rite, Drama, festival. Spectacle. Rehearsals Toward a Theory of Cultural Performance (Philadelphia, 1984), p. 9. -* Turner "Introduction", p. 12. 1 2 within the nineteenth-century urban context of Halifax and Saint John, and commemorated shared community events, notably royal, national, and local anniversaries. The analysis begins in 1838 with the celebration of Queen Victoria's coronation, and ends with the monarch's diamond jubilee in 1897. In the intervening years, Saint John and Halifax also celebrated other royal occasions-"-the Queen's marriage in 1840, the birth of the Prince of Wales in 1860, Queen Victoria's golden jubilee in 1887, and the visits of the Prince of Wales in 1860, and of Lord Lome and Princess Louise in 1878. Local and national milestones included the cities' centenary anniversaries, and the celebration of Confederation in 1867. In addition, a regular array of local, national, and royal anniversaries occurred annually. Nineteenth-century commemorative celebrations are particularly interesting for the discrepancies which frequently arose between rhetoric and reality. Contemporaries argued that by bringing people together, commemorative celebrations forged a consensus which transcended all social and political boundaries. During the visit of the Prince of Wales to Halifax in 1860, a resident commented: Tho' political feelings run awfully high! Tho' each party for power good-natur'dly try! Yet amidst other flags that surmounted the spruce, Was the best of them all — the glad ensign of truce, Which caus'd us to throw ev'ry discord aside, And go heart and soul with the popular tide. 3 Then hip! hip! hurrah for both mother and son, Nova Scotians rejoice, we'll not be outdone, Here's a health to the Prince, double health