Unheard Of: Memoirs of a Canadian Composer

Notes

Notes notes to chapter 1 1 Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5 (Toronto and Quebec City, 1983). 2 Obituary, Messenger and Visitor, Saint John, NB, 25 May 1898. Photos and documentation kindly supplied by the MacDonald Museum, Middleton, NS. 3 See Gordon Hartt Rogers, Kindred Spirits: A New World History of the Families of Henry Wyckoff Rogers and Grace Dean McLeod (Renfrew, ON: General Store Publishing, n.d. [2005]). 4 Arthur was secretary to the Canadian Bankers’ Association, Norman a member of Parliament and defence minister under Mackenzie King, Dean an executive in the pulp industry, and David editor of the Regina Leader-Post. 5 I inherited his Waltham gold pocket watch and wore it for years, until it disappeared during a break-in in my house in 1986. It was engraved with the initials “JLB.” 6 The cause of Uncle Fred’s death was “a severe attack of pneumonia of a virulent type such as has been common during the influenza epidemic,” according to the surgeon general of the hospital (letter, ? August 1918). He “was employed as medical officer on the Oriole, and … contracted pneumonia, … while doing duty in this capacity” (obituary, The Colonist, n.d.). He “was buried with full naval honours, and a large number of officers and men attended [his funeral]” (letter from the officiating Baptist minister, 16 August 1918). An official at Buckingham Palace sent a message of condolence to his parents on behalf of the king and queen (27 August 1918). I thank Gordon Rogers for providing this documentation. 7 Interview, 15 September 1999. 8 Peter L. Smith, Come Give a Cheer! One Hundred Years of Victoria High School, 1876–1976 (Victoria: Victoria High School Centennial Celebration Committee, 1976), 47. “The clever acting of Miss Driver and Beckwith in 349 the garden scene brought down the house.” The Camosun (school newspaper ), June 1906. 9 Peter L. Smith, A Multitude of the Wise: UVic Remembered (Victoria: Alumni Association, University of Victoria, 1993), 43. 10 Among his instructors was John King, father of the future prime minister, W.L.M. King. 11 Interview with Susan Lewthwaite, archivist, Law Society of Upper Canada, 19 March 2001. 12 Gyro International is a service club of professional and business men, especially active on the west coast of Canada and the United States. 13 About this organization, see chapter 2, note 8. 14 For his letter to me on this topic, see pp. 70–71. It perfectly exemplifies his rational and positive views. 15 Max Spicker, ed., Operatic Anthology, vol. 4 (baritone) (New York: G. Schirmer, 1899). 16 H.A.B. = Harold Arthur Beckwith; M.A.D. = Margaret Alice Dunn. 17 Dale McIntosh, History of Music in British Columbia (Victoria: Sono Nis Press, 1989), 80 (illustration 5). notes to chapter 2 1 A letter from George I. Dunn to his sister, dated “Manitoba Club, Winnipeg, 5 April 1894,” gives details. The child died on 6 February, aged nine months. Thanks to Robert Dunn, Nelson, BC, for sharing this information. 2 Her piano teacher was Arthur Longfield.A 1911 certificate of the Victoria College of Music, London, Inc., indicates she received a “Primary” exam grade of 80 percent. 3 See interview,“Her Life Has Centred on Schools,” in the weekly Star, Victoria , 23 September 1954. 4 Star, 6 February 1991. 5 Information from article by R.M. Duke concerning the school’s seventyfifth anniversary, Star, 13 March 1985. 6 See p. 17. 7 Daily Colonist, 4 August 1922. They travelled in Grandad Beckwith’s Buick. 8 The Native Sons of B.C. was formed in 1899 as a “fraternal organization [aiming] to collect and preserve information and relics related to the early history and subsequent development” of the province. Membership was open to males eighteen years of age and over, born in BC.The affiliated Native Daughters society started in 1918. “Native” implied “post-colonial native,” but there were Aboriginal members. The society exhibited an ugly tinge of racism in its between-wars opposition to Asian immigration, although it evidently had no policy barring non-whites or non-Protestants from membership. I find it hard to believe its alleged “secret” rituals appealed to my parents. The 350 • notes to chapter 1 chapters were called “posts” and the chairpersons “factors,” recalling the early Hudson’s Bay Co. trading forts. Among the organization’s unspoken aims was“to make sure that the native born got at least an even break in...