NOTE TO USERS The original manuscript received by UMI contains pages with indistinct andlor slanted print Pages were microfilmed as received. This reproduction is the best copy available UMI Picking Up New Threads for Kathleen Mavourneen: the Irish Female Presence in Nineteenth-century Ontario A Thesis Submitted to the Cornmittee on Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirernents for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Faculty of Arts and Science Trent University Peterborough, Ontario, Canada (c) Copyright Elizabeth Jane Birch 1997 Canadian Heritage and Oevelopment Studies M. A. Program May 1998 National Library Bibliothèque nationale .,na& du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie SeMces services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wdlingîm ûttawaON K1AON4 OttawaON K1AM Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distibute or seii reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or elecîronic formats. la forme de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Abstract Picking up New Threads for Kathleen Mavourneen: The lrish Female Presence in nineteenth-century Ontario. Elizabeth Jane Birch My thesis attempts to find a voice for the marginalised, mainly lower-class lrish immigrant women in nineteenth-century Upper Canada (hereafter referred to as Ontario). Few records exist although women formed half the Diaspora; thus, the thesis is based on the 'quilting rnotir in that women's history exists in scraps which must be pieced together. Literary and historicai perspectives reflect the lrish female presence in nineteenth-century Ontario. Kathleen Mavourneen, whose 'sad voice is calling," is the central figure in a traditional lrish song and thus senres to symbolise both the immigrant's lament for her homeland and Ireland's sad plight as a colonised nation. As a domestic servant or lower-class lrish woman, Kathleen was often seen but seldom heard. Lost mythologies equal silence and although emigration offered new opportunities, the lrish were a marginalised people as perceived by nineteenth-century writers from or identifying with Ontario's Anglo-Canadian ruling class. The thesis seeks to prove that the harbinger of change was the Celtic l rish Revival. Thus. Ireland retrieved her mythological voice and Kat hleen assumes a new role in twentieth-century Canadian writings: the nineteenth- century lower-class lrish immigrant woman now becomes a complex protagonist characterised by a strong and distinctive voice. Table of Contents A bstract Introduction Chaptw I Shiftlng bnd8~8p08- Womn in TransMon: Variation8 on the 'Vrish. " Stmwt, Moodle Tfaill und Crawlord. Chaptr II Colllsion8 - Cenlc 08wn and Wmwn World: Urquhart'8 Poetlc Vhion. Chapter III Sortlng Out the Piecowork - Akuwon and Atwood: Th. FemIe(8) of the (lrhh) apociea ... Conclusion Warka Cltd Flg..1,2&3 Appendix I C hronology: Irish iflatory Appondix II Corrupondence: Edgeworth fo 8anufort Appsndk iii Map.: Authon' Territory - Ireland Appondlx IV 80//8 Stewart's letter to Canada ffom Ireland Acknowledgements I would like to thank the many individuals who provided their support, expertise and understanding in the research and preparation of this thesis. The thesis cornmittee offered help and constructive criticism at every tum. ~ichèleLacorn bel as prirnary supervisor, first encouraged me to make the connection with my nineteenth- ' century Irish-Canadian compatriots. I am grateful to Michael Peteman for sharing his knowledge of the literaryhistorical background which formed the fabric of nineteenth- century Ontario. lan Mclachlan has empathy with the 'doubleness" of my strang identification with both my Irish and Canadian cultures as does Jane Urquhart who graciously granted me an interview. I would aiso like to thank the Frost Centre and Trent faculty members who gave me invaluabk advice. These include John Marsh, John Wadland, Crystl Verduyn Gordon Johnston, Alan Bninger, Jim Struthers and Finn Gallagher. Joyce Lewis (Peterborough Historical Society) has been generous with her time and advice. My thanks to Lady Colvin for permission to quote from the Edgeworth-Beaufort conespondence and to rny brother-in-law Del Dunlop who invariably can corne up with 'extra materiai." For their love and encouragement, my love and gratitude to my husband Win and our children, Lois, Bob, Michael. EIizabeth and JO-Annand their respective partners, Danyl, Pauline, Wendy. Hilary and Kath. Thanks ta my sister Anita and friends Pat Carson. Dianne Ward, Grace Skinner, Ruth Ritchie and Lynn Oliver for their patience as they 'heard all about it.' Ruth and Lynn also contributecl their proof- reading and typing skilk Last but not least. I dedicate this thesis to the nursemaids who presided over my Irish childhood. These were the Kathleens whose sangs and stones helped feed my fantasias and thus kept the hidden myths of Ireland dive for me. Introduction The single most severe limitation on our knowledge of the lrish Diaspora is that we know surprisingly little about lrish women in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuiy either in the homeland or their new worlds. With any ethnic group, this sort c! deficit would be a problem, but with the Irish, it is especially dehabilitating, since females were half the Diaspora.1 As Akenson suggests, nineteenth-century lrish women immigrants have been underrepresented both in historical records and in the literature of British North America. In spite of their numericai and social significance as a group of immigrants, a curious "silence" surrounds them. In part, a frequent lack of literacy denied such women access to the written word and thus contributed to this "silence.' In the light of such obscurity, I decided to employ two motifs. Firstly, the quilting motif in that the history of lrish immigrant women exists in srnall scraps which must be collecteci and pieced together. Secondly, the motif of a "mute womann as being representative of the death throes of the indigenous Irish-Gaelic culture. an event which was to cast its shadow on British North America. My thesis remon the fact that emigration itseif was a movement for change, a step towards independence and a chance for Irish women to imagine themselves differently and to find their own voices. One way into the history of lower-class women who could not "voicentheir experiences is to note how better-positioned writers such as Frances Stewart, Susanna Moodie, Catharine Parr Traill and lsabella Valancy Crawford observe them and on occasion, allow them to narrate their own stories. Therefore, variations in 1 Donald Harman Akenson, Women the Great Unknown" in The In'sh Diaspora --A Primer (Belfast: The lnstitute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University. Toronto: P.D. Meaney, 1993) 157. All further references will be noted parenthetically within the text by title (abbrev. flD) and page number. attitude by more fortunate immigrant writers towards their lrish servants will be examined and prove that, for the most part. their Irish helpers were "often seen but seldorn heard." In a sense lrish immigrant women were moving from one colony to another. The Celtic literary revival partially inspired by lady Gregory. W. B. Yeats and others would not have any major impact on others on literary representations of nineteenth-century Irish-Canadian immigrant women until well into the twentieth century. As part of this approach to the writings of nineteenth-century and twentieth century Canadian authors, my introduction summarizes the Irish mythological and historical background and the Celtic revival to explain how lreland is represented as a muted woman and how this works within the framework of the thesis. Following this treatment of the muted woman theme, the introduction discusses the quilting motif in application to nineteenth-century writings but with a stronger focus on the revitalisation of the quilting metaphor in relation to contemporary literature. Chapter 1 Stewart Anglo-Irish Frances Stewart. who emigrated to Canada in 1822, will be discussed in the light of the contributions which she made to the history of pioneering women. Stewart's letters and journals, published after her death, provide much insight into the life of an Anglo-Irish family whose members were early emigrants to the Ontario scene (1822). Stewart's perception of her daughters and her domestic servants are of special interest. As the central focus is working-class views, for this reason, Stewart's link with her kinswoman, 2 Irish writer Maria Edgeworth, will be examined. Edgeworth'sCastle Rackrent is of special interest ( although she herself never left Ireland) as a portrait of lreland at the time. Edgeworth's contribution to the thesis is two-fold: in one sense, she breaks the silence of the working class "Irishnand reveals their plight while the fact that she does not use a female narrator but rather one who is a manservant is in keeping with the "muted woman"