TOPIC:

Mark Wilkie wrote:

QSAMIKE wrote: Good Morning Mark.....

Love these letters, sorry to hear that there are only 4 left to go.....

I find letters give a more human touch rather than (sometimes dry) regimental of history books.....

Have you ever heard of a book called A Canadian Girl in South Africa by E. Maude Graham, William Briggs Press 1905..... I understand that it has been reprinted since.....

It is the story of some Canadian Girls who volunteered to do the same sort of work as Margaret..... Maybe they ran into each other.....

I wonder if there was an official program to send these ladies and if there has been anything written about them and the program.....

Mike

Hi Mike. I'll have to greet you with a good evening from this end. Thanks for the comments and I also really enjoy the human touch of letters.

I'm aware of the E. Maude Graham book but haven't read it. Margaret mentions a Canadian head mistress in one of her letters but sadly doesn't name her so it would appear that she did have contact with at least one of the Canadians.

Now for a very interesting addition that I learnt yesterday. My mother spoke to her cousin on Wednesday night about Margaret. He is the eldest of Margaret's grandchildren and because of his parents involvement in the war effort during WWII he spent most of his early and mid teens living with his grandparents. He told my mother that his wife's grandmother was one of the Canadian teachers that came out in 1902. She stayed. Her name was Mabel Vaughan Elliott.

Cheers,

Mark

Mike, I found the following by E. Maude Graham on the Canadian teachers. Mabel Elliott is mentioned and her granddaughter married Margaret McInnes's grandson. From the lists I see that Mabel Elliott came out with Maude Graham. The former was sent to Brandford in the Orange River Colony. And Maude Graham to Norval’s Pont in the Cape Colony.

By E. Maude Graham

Early in 1902 the British Government realized that the Anglo-Boer war could not go on much longer and that the country would need among other things teachers. Therefore they advertised in the newspapers across New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

In Canada over a thousand ladies applied and forty were chosen. Those chosen were under contract with the Colonial Office for service for one year. The stipend included free rations, household necessities, medical attendance, free passage (second class), to and from South Africa, via England, plus £100 in cash.

The Canadian Government supplemented this by paying for first class passage to Liverpool. Everyone knows that second class to the Cape is equal to first class on all the smaller boats.

The forty girls from Canada were divided into two parties of twenty each, sailing on different dates. Of the party of twenty, to which I belonged, not one returned at the end of the contract year, as we were so interested in our work. After that period we were paid by the particular colony in which we happened to be stationed, and our passage home was eventually paid for by the same colony. Of these twenty, one, Miss Sylvia Lee of Waterloo Quebec, fell victim to enteric fever, and was buried in the veld. Six have married in South Africa. Six have returned home. The remaining seven, so far as I know, are still engaged in their work of teaching. Of the other twenty girls I cannot speak definitely, as they were so widely scattered that we could not keep in touch with one another.

Concerning the work done by these forty girls we read in the Government Report of December 1902:
“ To the judicious selection on the part of the gentlemen at the head of the educational departments in several provinces is due the admirable result of the undertaking; the entire contingent, it is gratifying to know, having given complete satisfaction, both as regards its personnel and the accomplishment of its purpose. As the request, in itself, was a tribute to the systems of education in the Dominion, so the outcome may justly be regarded as a striking proof of their high standard of excellence and efficiency”

The complete list of the names is as follows:-

1. Sailing from Halifax, with the Corinthian, April 12th 1902:

Miss Katherine McClellan, Toronto, Ontario.
Miss Margaret D. Scott, Hamilton, Ontario.
Miss Florence J. Wilkinson, Toronto, Ontario.
Miss Edna E. O’Brien, Nobleton, Ontario.
Miss Florence Randall, Ottawa, Ontario.
Miss Ruby M. Rothwell, Ottawa, Ontario.
Miss Julia Urquhart, Ottawa, Ontario.
Miss E. Maud Macfarlane, Peterboro’, Ontario.
Miss Eleanor M. Yenney, Peterboro’, Ontario.
Miss Berta Brydon, King, Ontario.
Miss Libbie Rodger, Belwood, Ontario.
Miss Sara E. Drysdale, Perth, Australia.
Miss Mabel K. Coffey, Millington, Quebec.
Miss Sarah L. Abbott, Montreal, Quebec.
Miss Isabel Perry, Montreal, Quebec.
Miss Davina Rodger, Belwood, Ontario.
Miss Augusta E. Hoover, Toronto Junction, Ontario.
Miss Georgia A. Grant, Newington, Ontario.
Miss Annie Moulton, Gananoque, Ontario.
Miss E. E. MacBurney, Montreal, Quebec.

2. Sailing from St John, with the Lake Ontario, April 19th 1902:

Miss C. Gertrude Arbuckle, Summerside, P.E. I.
Miss Maude L. Bremner, Charlestown, P. E. I.
Miss Grace Dutcher, Charlestown, P. E. I.
Miss Agnes L. Carr, St John, N. B.
Miss Annie I. Burns, St John, N. B.
Miss Ida E. McLeod, Fredericton, N. B.
Miss Winnifred Johnston, Fredericton, N. B.
Miss Mabel V. Elliott, Newcastle, N. B.
Miss Sophie M. Pickle, Bloomfield, N. B.
Miss Jessie Fleet, Montreal, Que.
Miss Sylvia B. Lee, Waterloo, Que.
Miss Susanna Younghusband, Portage la Prairie, Man.
Miss Edith A. Murray, Winnipeg, Man.
Miss Ella D Crandall, Walton, N. S.
Miss Ellen M. MacKensie, Stellarton, N. S.
Miss Blanche MacDonald, Hopewell, N. S.
Miss Margaret W. De Wolfe, Halifax, N. S.
Miss Bertha B. Hebb, Bridgewater, N. S.
Miss Emma Ellis, Truro, N. S.
Miss E. Maude Graham, Owen Sound, Ontario.

I cannot speak too highly of the kindly way in which we were treated while under the Colonial office. In addition to the contract salary we were given a daily travelling allowance for incidental expenses; at Liverpool and London ladies were waiting to meet us; at Southampton, we had more ladies waiting to help us across the town to the docks.

Early in the morning June, the 1st , we arrived in Cape Town. On first landing we found the weather very cold, wet and windy. We were told that we had arrived in the middle of winter. There was much travelling between this office and another while we were allocated to our final destinations.

Our party was posted as follows;
Misses McLeod, Johnston, Ellis and Hebb at Vryburg, in Griqualand West:
Misses Bremner, Dutcher, De Wolfe and Lee at Bloemfontein, Orange River Colony;
Misses Elliott, Burns, Pickle and Fleet at Brandford, Orange River Colony;
Misses Younghusband, Crandall and Murray at Kroonstad, Orange River colony;
Misses MacKensie, MacDonald, Arbuckle and the writer at Norval’s Point, Cape Colony.

We arrived in Johannesburg on the morning of July 1st 1902. The six of us were heading for Kroonstad and Bloemfontein where we were billeted at the house of Mr Freeman-Cohens and his family. For ten days they treated us as members of their family. From here we were transported to our destinations. During the time that we were in South Africa we kept seeing each other as we were transferred to different areas, except for Miss Sylvia B. Lee, who died in the first twelve months.

Further research shows that Sylvia B. Lee traveled from Bloemfontein to Parys with a man and his family who were going to Parys to open a market garden. She arrived in Parys some time towards the end of August. She contracted enteric fever in February and died in March.

So our tragic little story ends. Sylvia B. Lee’s grave can be viewed in old burial ground at Parys, on the Vredefort road.

THE DEATH OF MISS SYLVIA LEE

The sad news of Miss Syliva Lee’s tragic death was conveyed in a small article to her hometown community in Canada, by the Waterloo Advertiser on page three of the April 11th, 1903 edition.
The article read as follows:

“The community was profoundly grieved Sunday by the sad news that Miss Sylvia Lee, who went to South Africa nearly a year ago as one of the party of Canadian teachers engaged by the British Government, had died of enteric fever at Parys, near Bloemfontein.

A cablegram was received by the family on Friday, announcing that she was dangerously ill. Another cable followed the next day, saying that she had died.

The deceased, who was in het 21st year, was the eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R.W. Lee of Brandon, Manitoba and grand daughter of the late Von Arondson Lindsay, with whose family she lived from an early age.

She was educated at Waterloo Academy and McGill Normal School. She was a successful teacher in Cookshire Academy from which she resigned in order to go to South Africa last April.

Miss Lee was a bright, clever girl, with a cheerful and amiable disposition, kind hearted and loyal to her friends and was also a general favourite. Her death comes with all the force of a personal bereavement to many friends.

A memorial service was held in St. Luke’s Church, Wednesday afternoon at three o’clock. The church was filled with a sad and sympathetic congregation. The Rev. T.B. Jenkins, who preached an appropriate discourse, was assisted in the solemn service by the Rev. James Carmichael of Koowiton, the Rev. R. Emmett of West Shefford and the Rev. Mr. Pratt of Montreal. So far as known the remains of Miss Lee will not be brought home.”

Great research and reading Mark......

Thanks, as I said previously puts a human touch on events....

Mike

75 Smit Street
Braamfontein
Johannesburg
4.1.1903

Dear Annie

Johannesburg at last. Oh it is a wonderful place quite as large as Adelaide and just thronged with people. Sixteen years ago it was nothing but the open veldt. The mines are a revelation to me. We went over one of the largest yesterday, the Bonanza. Quite a lot of our Medic friends are here so we’re having a good time. It’s lovely to get into a big city again. Yesterday morning we went to church, The Presbyterian. It was church parade. The Sutherland & Argyle Highland regiment were there resplendent in all the glory of their kilts and arms. The band played. It was grand. I never heard anything like the 100th Psalm as they played and sang it. Just as its done in Scotland they tell me. In the evening to the Church of England – that was just like a theatre. The choir boys in red gowns and white surplices and the altar glittering with gold and jewels. We were shown to a seat near the front and there just near us was Baden-Powell. He’s such an insignificant little man in spite of his gorgeous uniform with a head as bald as an ostrich egg. I worship him no longer. The bold thing turned right round and grinned at us. Miss Young immediately claimed the grin but I firmly believe it was meant for me. Lord Milner & party were there also. He looks nice. Some of the houses are magnificent – mansions in fact – most of them owned by Jews. The dresses of these people are wicked. Such richness. The most gorgeous materials, for the most part badly fitting for they are got out from Europe ready made. Then most of the ladies fairly glitter with diamonds – greedy brutes.

We were to stay here a fortnight more but yesterday a letter came from our inspector praying us to come back at the end of this week & get the school in working order for Chamberlain to see. Old fowl – what good will that do him? Great preparations are being made for his reception & entertainment. He’s expected to arrive on the 7th and that means he’ll get to J. about the 12th. Nobody ever is punctual in Africa. Then he’s to spend a week in Potchefstroom & will occupy the house two doors from our mansion so we’ll see plenty of him. The old cat though. I can’t forgive him for spoiling our holiday. However we’re promised twice as much time off after he’s gone. They want us to sign for another two years. The salary will be £210 - keep ourselves out of that and still the free passage back at the end of the time. The work is so easy here that at times I feel tempted to say I’ll stay but there’s no need to think about it for six months more.

Things are a wicked price here. We go into the shops and try on hats and dresses. That’s all we can do as there’s no hope of buying them. Fancy 10 guinea hats. It’s nice even to have had them on. The food is ruinous. Eggs 7/6 a doz and other things on a par. It costs single men £15 a month to live.

Eight of us spent Christmas Day at Venterskroon on the Vaal river about 18 miles from Pot. Splendid drive out behind four mules. They played up wickedly coming home. I had to get up beside Mr Lambert who was driving and drive the polers while he gave all his attention to the leaders even then for the most part they were four abreast. It got dark & we missed the road. The last 2 miles took us an hour & three quarters. We got into a ploughed field & finally into the water furrow. Venterskroon is a lovely place. Great kopjes as high as Mt Gambier. Then the river and strange trees and plants. We had lunch on the banks of the river near the place where Matheun’s men were driven back by the Boers. We had one man with us who had been in the fight and he told us the most exciting tales.

We heard yesterday of the death of one of our Aust. teachers. She never got over the trip out and contracted enteric soon after she came. She was such a clever girl a B.A. It’s awfully sad. Quite a lot of our girls are here for the holidays.

Got a letter from Jim yesterday which has been wandering about the country since October 9th. He’s getting on splendidly he says. I’m so glad. I’m just broken hearted about my clothes. The way these Africans tear them up is wicked. I had ten pairs of stockings when I landed here. Now five stockings are all I can muster. Give them a doz handkerchiefs to wash and they come back smiling with two. If you venture to ask where the missing articles are they look quite hurt and say, “ek weet nie” (I don’t know). They do all the washing by the river you know. Crowds of them loaf about the banks chattering and laughing while the current carries your treasured garments away. It’s no use saying, “do your own washing” for there’s not a tub or a flat iron in the house or in the town either. Sometimes they don’t bring back your things for three weeks.

Now I must stop. It’s my turn to get afternoon tea & the girls are gazing at me with “thirst” in their eyes.

Hope everybody is flourishing. How’s Lee’s new machine? I suppose it has a place in his heart only second to Bob the pup.

Heaps of love,

Mag

Potchefstroom
5.2.1903

Dear Lee

The unexpected has happened and we’ve got into the much talked of house. Moved in last Saturday. It’s lovely. Six large rooms next door to the school where I teach. The four Australians are here with a chaperone (Mrs Wise by name) to mind us. We have a handsome black lady to cook, wash etc. & a ?.. to wait at table. Leastwise we had those things for a time. When we came to lunch today we found the Africans had levanted; the fire out and nothing to eat. The housekeeping is not all it seemed for the first few days. They’ve changed the order of things slightly. From the first of January we’re to be paid at the rate of £210 a year, house & furniture …… but we feed ourselves. Food’s a bit dear but we hope to be able to manage it on 30/- a week. They had the house all done up for us, freshly papered. The furniture’s all new and we’re to have a piano. Oh and there’s a garden. At present it’s full of ripe peaches and tomatoes. I finish the former while the other girls lap up the tomatoes.

I’m sending an order for £10 to pay my insurance. It’s due in March I know but can’t think of the date. Hope it won’t be too late.

The Department haven’t paid our board for 3 months & the man in the boarding house where we lived has summoned them. Wonder how it will end. It is lovely to know that it was spent on us and we needn’t trouble who pays it. Did Ena come up for the holidays? I hope so. It would be a nice change for her. The room where I teach is about 6 yards from the dining room so we just fall out from the breakfast table as the bell goes. The daily thunder storm is still with us only the average is 2 a day for this last week or so.

While I was in Johannesburg a man named Captain Rome, who said he knew Jim in the …. & who is running a gold mining syndicate in Rhodesia offered me £35 a month to go in their office there as shorthand writer. Of course I couldn’t break my agreement with the Government or I’d have snapped it up though they say it’s a wicked country to live in. Lions and other little things like that running about.

The English teacher’s time is up this month. I’ve only heard of two who are going home. Several of them have gone to farm schools (provisional schools). The Burgher Camp is broken up now and there’s nothing left of it but the hospital and a couple of Drs. How’s everything going on at home? Expect you’re a chaff merchant again. They don’t use chaff here. It’s all compressed hay. Just now horse sickness is very bad. They had to shoot 400 mules the other day. I know you’d like the mules. They’re splendid things to work.

Now I must retire to roost. If the blacks are not back, we’ll have to worry up a breakfast in the morning.

Good bye now
Love to everything & everybody
Margaret

A couple of photos to add faces to names.
Annie McInnes (1867-1949) in later life.
Lachlan Lee McInnes (1874-1945) known as Lee.

Mark

This has been a marvellous series of posts. Thank you for sharing them with us.

Regards
Brett