Charles Ashton Webster was born at Yarmouth, N.S. on 1 June 1864, son of John L.R. Webster (1835-1885), MD and Helen Ogilvie (Geddes) Webster. He received his early education in Yarmouth and attended the Halifax Medical College. In 1886 he was admitted to the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. As an intern, he spent eighteen months on Randalls Island, N.Y. at the Infants' and Randalls Island Hospitals. Dr. Webster settled in Yarmouth in October 1887 where he resumed his late father's general practice and also performed a large share of surgical work in Yarmouth County. He was appointed medical officer for the federal Department of Marine and Fisheries in 1899 and health officer by the Town of Yarmouth in February 1909, coinciding with a small pox outbreak. He was made a fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1917 and was active in the Canadian Medical Association and several other professional, civic, and charitable organizations. Webster also took an active interest in horse breeding, and was largely connected with the introduction of the Hackney and Clydesdale horses into Yarmouth County. He and his wife, Mary Page, daughter of Alexander S. and Ellen C. (Page) Murray of Pugwash, N.S., married 1 February 1912 and had six children: Mary Elizabeth, John Alexander, Ellen Page, Geddes Murray, Robert McNaught,and David Richan.
Ralph Waugh was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada on the 5th of March 1943 to George and Muriel Waugh and raised in the Cumberland County village of Wallace, Nova Scotia. After graduation from Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, he studied Radio and Television Arts at Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario. He married Mary Lee McCrady in Ottawa, ON in 1966. Mr. Waugh's television career included positions in the technical departments of CFTO Television station, Agincourt, ON and of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) at their International Broadcasting Centre in Montreal, Quebec during Expo '67 in 1967. He was a producer-director with the CBC at CBHT TV station in Halifax, NS from 1966 to 1986. Mr Waugh also worked with several private production companies including Tide's Table of Saint John, NB, Sight & Sound Productions and Ralph Waugh Productions of Halifax. One of his hobbies was to record people, places and events in his home village of Wallace and the nearby community of Tatamagouche. Ralph Waugh retired in 2003 and lives in Dartmouth, NS.
Watson Smith (ca1865-1953), merchant and tinsmith, was born at Folly Mountain, Colchester County, Nova Scotia in circa 1865 to Sydney Smith and Agnes (Rae) Smith. He married Jeanetta “Nettie” Allison Blair (ca1867-1963) on October 28, 1890 in Nappan, Cumberland County, NS, daughter of Harriet and Colonel William Blair, Member of the NS Legislative Assembly for Colchester County 1878-1886 and Superintendent of Dominion Experimental Farm at Nappan 1888-1896. Watson and Nettie lived at Acadia Mines, then settled in Shubenacadie, Hants County, NS in 1895 where Watson opened his tinsmith shop and hardware store. They had four children: Cullen Blair (b.1891), Alfred (b.1893), Jeanetta “Jennie” May (b.1897) and Harry Victor (1903-2002). Both Cullen and Harry worked with their father at the Watson Smith & Sons Hardware and Tinsmith Metal Shop and ran the business after Watson’s death in 1953.
It appears Alfred died in childhood. Jennie became a nurse. Cullen married Gwendolyn F. Lynch on September 1, 1915 in Shubenacadie and had four children: Cullen Jr., Kathleen, Blair and Donne. He worked at the family business until retirement in 1964.
Harry, the youngest son of Watson and Nettie, was a mechanic and inventor prior to the Second World War. He patented a car turning signal in 1930, and built his own version of a snowmobile. He was a member of the Chebucto Road Flying Club in Halifax, 1932-1934. From 1940 to 1944 Harry volunteered with First Canadian F Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force and served at Topcliff and York in the United Kingdom as an air frame mechanic, earning the rank of sergeant in 1943. Upon his return to Canada, he resumed work in the family business, taking over from Cullen from 1964 until he closed it in ca1982. He donated the building to the Village of Shubenacadie as a museum. Harry never married but kept in close contact with his brother Cullen’s children. He died in Shubenacadie in 2002.
Marjorie Grace Wambolt, barrister at law, was born at Halifax, N.S. on 6 December 1901, the youngest of eleven children of James Peter and Mary Ann (Allen) Wambolt. She entered Dalhousie University in 1920 and earned her LLB in 1925. She joined the Halifax firm of Yeoman and Matheson and was admitted to the Bar on 10 July 1925. In 1929, she became a partner with Robert F. Yeoman under the name Yeoman and Wambolt, and later Yeoman, Wambolt, and Graham. She took over the practice under her own name in 1940, specializing in probate. In 1950, Wambolt became the first woman in Nova Scotia to be appointed King's Counsel. She was also the first woman elected to the council of the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society. She was active in numerous other professional and civic organizations including the Halifax Club of Business and Professional Women (charter member and president), Halifax University Women's Club, Dalhousie Alumnae Association (president), Board of Governors of Dalhousie University, Canadian Bar Association, and Committee on Laws for Women and Children of the Local Council of Women, Halifax.
Walter John ("Jack") Hawkins, professor, soldier, politician, broadcaster, and author, was born in Halifax in 1932. He was raised in Enfield, Hants County and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Saint Mary's University, Halifax, receiving the University Literary Award. In 1956, Hawkins married Monique Marie Roach, also of Nova Scotia. The couple have three children. From 1955 to 1959, Hawkins served as a captain in the Canadian Army, and was posted in both Canada and Europe.-- After his military service, Hawkins received a Master of Arts Degree in English from the University of New Brunswick and became a professor of English at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Truro. During this time he did broadcast commentary on C.B.C. Maritimes and a Truro radio station.-- Hawkins entered politics as an East Hants County Councillor in 1963, a position he held until 1967. Hawkins, a Liberal, was elected M.L.A. for East Hants in 1970. He was the Minister of Agriculture and Marketing from 1972 to 1978. He also served as the Minister of Environment (with responsibility for the Emergency Measures Organization) in 1976. He was Chairman of the Nova Scotia Treasury Board from 1975 to 1978. Defeated in the general election of 1978, Hawkins was twice re-elected, serving as M.L.A. for East Hants from 1981 to 1984 and from 1988 until his resignation from the Liberal caucus in May, 1992. Hawkins had authored two books on Nova Scotian politics: "The Life and Times of Angus L." (1969), about former Premier Angus L. MacDonald, who was arguably one of the most popular and influential politicians in Nova Scotia's history, "Recollections of the Regan Years: A Political Memoir" (1990), about his time in the government of Premier Gerald Regan. As an author, Hawkins is perhaps the best known for "Deer Hunting in Eastern Canada" which was first published in 1981 and has since been through at least ten reprints. In response to the popularity of his works, Hawkins wrote "More About Hunting Deer and Rabbits in Eastern Canada", which was published in 1993. In 1995, Hawkins' history of the Nova Scotia gold mining town of Renfrew, "Renfrew Gold: The Story of a Nova Scotia Ghost Town" was published. Hawkins has also written numerous articles for national publications and newspapers. John Hawkins and his family reside in Enfield, Hants Co.
Walter Herbert Boutilier, prominent Halifax business man and amateur film maker, was born in Halifax, NS, Canada on January 27, 1889. Following graduation from the Maritime Business College, Boutilier was employed in various capacities by the Halifax Cold Storage Company, which became the National Fish Co., Ltd. following a takeover by North Atlantic Fisheries. Boutilier was appointed director of National Fish in 1920, and operations manager in 1929. In 1937, he became vice president of National Fish, a position he held until his death. In 1913, Walter Boutilier married Lilla Beatrice Roberts, also of Halifax. In 1938 Boutilier had a schooner built in Lunenburg for the "Lilla B. Ltd.", named "Lilla B. Boutilier". The couple had no children. An avid golfer, Boutilier was a member of the Ashburn, Gorsebrook, and Brightwood golf clubs. He was a Mason, a member of the Philae temple, the Lodge of Saint Mark, and St. Andrew's Chapter, as well as a member of the Commercial Club and the Halifax Club. Walter H. Boutilier died in Halifax NS on April 21, 1942 after a brief illness.
The Walter Callow Wheelchair Bus service for the disabled, one of the first of its kind, began in 1947 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, under the name Callow (pronounced Ka-loo’) Veterans and Invalids Welfare League. The founder and designer, Walter Harrison Callow (1894-1958) was a handicapped veteran of the First World War, part of the Royal Flying Corps who was injured in a plane crash during training in 1917. He designed a new type of bus to accommodate wheelchairs and stretchers, and with the League’s help raised funds by public donation to have the first bus built by West Pubnico Bus Builders in Pubnico, NS in 1947. All from his bed in Camp Hill Veterans’ Hospital in Halifax NS. The League’s mission was to provide transportation for incapacitated persons to attend church services, sporting events, concerts, fairs, and other entertainment events, for free. Incorporated in Nova Scotia in June 1948 as a non-profit organization, the first Executive was Walter Callow, President; R.W. Harris, First Vice-President; G.J. Churchill Second Vice President; J.E. Godwin Third Vice President; G.F.H. MacIntosh, Treasurer; and G.E. Herman, Secretary. In 1953, they incorporated as a national charitable organization, and by 1966, had two self-sustaining branch offices in Lethbridge and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. In 1992 the name was shortened to Callow Wheel Chair Buses. In December 2018, the organization ended its bus service due to financial constraints and re-organized itself into the Walter Harris Callow Foundation.
Freda Noble Wales was born 6 May 1920 in Montreal, Quebec, the daughter of Charles S. and Mabel (Bishop) Wales. She attended McGill University and graduated with a degree in physical education. She served in the Canadian Women's Army Corps during World War II and was raised to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant in 1944. Wales settled in Nova Scotia in 1947. She was an avid skier and was active in introducing the sport to Nova Scotia, becoming involved with the first ski school in the Wentworth Valley during the 1952-1953 ski season. She was also involved in the development of Cape Smokey as a skiing area and was instrumental in it becoming the first site in the province to host a national ski competition. She was a founding member of the Atlantic Division of the Canadian Amateur Ski Association (now the Canadian Ski Association) when it was established on 11 March 1962. She also taught at Mount Saint Vincent University. She suffered a heart attack in June 1979 and died on 11 March 1982. A memorial scholarship was established in her honour to advance outdoor activities relating to no less than five sport organizations which she helped to found in Nova Scotia. She was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame posthumously in 1985.
Gilbert Cochrane Stowe Wainwright, banker and politician, was born at Halifax, N.S. on 16 December 1871, son of Willis and Harriet (Cochran) Wainwright. At the age of 10 he moved with his family to Ottawa and attended Ottawa Collegiate Institute. He began working for the Bank of Ottawa in 1889 and later the Bank of Nova Scotia. In 1923 Wainwright was appointed manager of the Bank of Nova Scotia in Kingston, Jamaica. He served as justice of the peace and member of the Jamaican Legislative Council, 1932-1942. For his service he was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1936 and a Knight Bachelor in 1943. He died 21 August 1954 at Ottawa. He was married to Alice Woon, with no issue.
Hastings Burnaby Wainwright, Anglican clergyman, was born in 1909, son of Charles Evan and Susan Kennedy (Lough) Wainwright. He graduated from the University of King's College (BA L.Th. 1939, DD 1978) and was ordained as deacon in 1937 and priest in 1939. He served at the parishes of Falkland, 1933-1935, 1937-1940, and Granville Ferry, 1941 before entering the Royal Canadian Army Chaplain Corps, 1941-1946. He then served at Granville Ferry parish, 1946-1949, Bedford 1949-1953, St. George's, Sydney, 1953-1958, Windsor, 1958-1963, St. Phillip's, Halifax, 1963-1971, and was the Falkland and Camp Hill chaplain, 1971-1977. Wainwright was also chaplain for the militia, 1949-1958, canon of All Saints Cathedral, 1968, and archdeacon of Halifax and Eastern Shore, 1970. He retired from the ministry in June 1977. Ven. Dr. Wainwright was also an active member of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society and its executive, and the author of several articles on Nova Scotia history and church history. Married to Elizabeth Eleanor Hood on 8 January 1941, they had five children: John, Anne, Charles, Esther, and Emily. He died 29 November 1986.
Ellen Louise O'Brien, daughter of James and Janet (McHeffey) O'Brien, was born at Windsor, N.S. ca. 1897 where she attended the Edgehill School for Girls. She was the general secretary of the Edgehill Guild for many years. During the Second World War she was treasurer of the Princess Louise Fusiliers' Women's Auxiliary while her husband, Evan Wainwright, was an officer in the Princess Louise Fusiliers. She was also organist at St. John's United Church, Windsor, and a member of the Women's Auxiliary of the Cathedral Church of All Saints, Halifax. Ellen Wainwright died at Halifax on 17 September 1976.
Viking Fisheries Ltd. was founded in 1954 by Lloyd R. Crouse of Lunenburg, N.S., who became its secretary-treasurer. The company was incorporated under the Nova Scotia Companies' Act on 25 November 1954, with a nominal capital of $17,000. Its first share-holders were: Captains Edward J. Hansen and Walter Crouse of Lunenburg; and Lloyd R. Crouse, Kinsman E. Crouse and Allen U. Crouse, also of Lunenburg. The company owned and operated one 65 foot dragger, David Frances, which was built in April 1955 by Smith and Rhuland of Lunenburg. Depletion of fish stocks resulted in the dissolution of Viking Fisheries in the mid-1960s, along with the two other fishing companies founded by Lloyd R. Crouse, Crouse Fisheries and Atlas Fisheries.
The Video Theatre Association officially opened in June 1974 as a non-profit organization composed of approximately 50 independent television producers, most in Nova Scotia. The idea for the Association started in the winter of 1973 when the Atlantic Region of the National Film Board partnered with Teled Video Services Association, a Halifax-based non-profit community media group, to set up and run a Video Theatre as a joint project.
Its objective was to promote the making of television programmes which, in craftsmanship and content, contribute to the cultural, educational, and artistic commonwealth of the people of the Maritime Region. Its main work was to provide technical assistance and practical opportunities for individual, independent video makers by making video recording equipment available for borrowing and providing training on their use. As young filmmakers and videographers created productions, a copy was deposited with the Association. They developed a catalog of the productions and offered a copying service to interested members of the public. Video material was also traded and exchanged with different regions and countries.
Some of the people who played key roles with the Video Theatre were Ralph Holt, Mike Coyle, Sheila MacKenzie, Barry Burley, Brian MacNevin and Harold Rennie.
When funding dried up, staffing the Video Theatre became impossible and it ceased operations in approximately 1984.
The Pictou branch of the Victorian Order of Nurses was organized on 23 July 1923 by Mrs. C.L. Moore, president of the Pictou Local Council of Women, also elected as the VON branch's first president. The first nurse hired by the branch's executive committee to service the area of Pictou and West Pictou beginning on 16 July 1924 was Laura H. Campbell, R.N. The objective of the branch is to provide home nursing service to those unable to afford care, to practice preventative medicine, and promote health education. Its activities have included maternity care, immunization and baby clinics, school health services, and even industrial nursing service at the shipyards during the wartime boom in shipbuilding. In 1983, the branch changed its name to Pictou Town and District Branch.
The Halifax branch of the Victorian Order of Nurses of Canada was formed in 1898 as a non-profit organization delivering health care services to Halifax and Dartmouth area. The Halifax branch was inactive from 1901 to 1902 due to lack of finances. A reorganization meeting took place in October 1902 and Agnes Dennis was named president of the board of management for the branch, a position she held for 43 years. The branch subsequently resumed its work with two nurses who primarily dealt with home nursing care and maternity work. As the nursing staff grew, the scope of their activities expanded to include prenatal and postnatal care, dental and child welfare clinics, home nursing classes, home visits to the poor, educational training, and school health services. More recent initiatives include palliative care, footcare clinics, and occupational health services. Each branch of the Victorian Order of Nurses is jointly operated by volunteer boards of local citizens and professional staff.
The origins of this hospital are found in the decision of the City of Halifax to build a hospital that was completed in 1859. Various problems delayed the delivery of health care and it wasn't until April of 1867 when the first patient was received in the restructured Provincial and City Hospital - a jointg body of the two levels of government. In 1887 the Province assumed total responsiblity for the Hospital which was also renamed, in the year of Royal Jubilee, as the Victoira General Hospital. Consolidation of most Halifax hospitals under one administration happened in 1994 and the Victoria General Hospital became a site under the Queen Elizabeth II Health Science Centre.
Garth Vaughan was born in 1928 at Windsor, Nova Scotia, the son of James Alexander and Olivia Pearl (Kilcup) Vaughan. He attended the Windsor Academy, Acadia University and Dalhousie University, where he studied to be a physician. He served in the Canadian Merchant Marine during the Second World War. After graduation from medical school in 1955 he completed a year of cancer research in Guy's and St. Mark's hospitals in London, England. He then returned to Windsor where he practiced as a general surgeon for thirty-five years. Following his retirement in April 1991, he researched the origin of hockey which led to the publication of his book "The Puck Starts Here" in 1996. He was also an organizer of the Windsor Hockey Heritage Society in 1992 and Ice Hockey Museum in 1994. He died 7 November 2012 in Port Hawkesbury, NS.
Karl Cornelius Van Allen was born on November 5, 1898. He married Marguerite Coulter on December 28, 1927 in Belleville, Ontario. Karl Van Allen was trained at the Ontario School for the Deaf in Belleville, Ontario and the Clark School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts. He was principal of the School for the Deaf in Halifax from 1939-1961. From 1961-1964, Karl Van Allen served as superintendent of the Interprovincial School for the Education of the Deaf in Amherst. Following a brief retirement, he became the first principal of the Newfoundland School for the Deaf from 1965-1967.
Alexander Cornelius “Neil” Van Allen was born on January 27, 1929 in Belleville, Ontario to Karl and Marguerite (Coulter) van Allen. He moved from Belleville to Halifax in 1939 when his father was appointed Principal of the School for the Deaf. Neil Van Allen studied music at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Toronto, London, and Paris. In 1963, he was appointed Professor at the Guildhall School of Music, London where he stayed until 1977. In September, 1977 he was appointed Associate Professor in the Music Department, Memorial University of Newfoundland. He married Lorna M. Roome on June, 1951 in Holborn, Middlesex. Neil Van Allen died on July 15, 2014 in Halifax.
Mirko A. Usmiani was born in 1912 in Pag, Croatia. He moved to the United States in 1947 and obtained his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1955. He taught in the Classics Department at Dalhousie University between 1955 and 1975. During that time he chaired the Art Committee for several years, and was instrumental in the establishment of the Dalhousie University Art Gallery. In the 1960s Usmiani served as President of the Dalhousie Faculty Association and the Canadian Classics Association. He was the founding President of the Dalhousie Faculty Club (now known as the University Club). He died on 16 February 2002 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The United Mine Workers of America began organizing coal miners in Nova Scotia in the early 1900s. In 1909 the UMW of A made a concerted effort to wrest control of mine workers in Nova Scotia from the Provincial Workmen's Association which had represented the coal miners since 1879. The PWA prevailed nevertheless and remained the main bargaining unit for mine workers until 1917 when dissatisfied members of the PWA formed a rival union called the United Mine Workers of Nova Scotia. Both groups appealed to the provincial government for a conciliation board to decide which group would be the main bargaining unit for the coal miners. The Chisholm Royal Commission was instructed to investigate and it recommended that the rival groups from one organization to better represent the miners. As a result, the Amalgamated Mine Workers of Nova Scotia came into being in June 1917. By 1919, the leadership of the new union applied to become a district of the international union, the United Mine Workers of America. On May 1919, the International Executive Board granted a charter creating District 26 of the United Mine Workers of America which encompassed Cape Breton Island, Mainland Nova Scotia and parts of New Brunswick. Since that time, District 26, United Mine Workers of America has been the bargaining agent for the greater majority of mineworkers in the Maritime Provinces.
Following the public grievances of poverty-striken fishermen of Canso, N.S., the federal government appointed a Royal Commission in 1927 to investigate the state of the fishing industry in the Maritime provinces. Based on the commission's recommendations, the federal Department of Fisheries appointed Rev. Dr. M.M. Coady in August 1929 to organize cooperatives of fishermen in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and the Magdalen Islands. During the fall and winter of 1929-30 over one hundred local unions were established, each consisting of at least fifteen fishermen. At the first annual convention held at Halifax 25-26 June 1930, all of the locals were federated into the United Maritime Fishermen and a constitution was adopted. Chester P. McCarthy of P.E.I. served as president for the first year until he led Prince Edward Island out of the UMF. The objectives of the association were to promote the interests and education of fishermen in all branches of the fishing industry; to study and promote cooperative activities; to seek and support legislation benefitting the fishing industry; and to defend the rights and interests of its members. Activities of the association included operating lobster canneries, fish plants, supply stores, and the marketing of fish products. Incorporated in 1947, the UMF central office was based in Halifax. In 1969 the association was reorganized and relocated in Moncton. In the early 1960s the UMF established a wholly owned subsidiary, Bluenose Fisheries Limited, which became a fish processing company by 1980. Also during the 1980s the association's name changed to United Maritime Fishermen Co-op. The United Maritime Fishermen Co-op and Bluenose Fisheries Limited began to experience financial difficulties in the late 1970s and went into bankruptcy closure in April 1988.
The Mayflower No. 5 hose division of the Union Engine Company was responsible for fire hoses and was located on Spring Garden Road, Halifax, N.S.
The Union Engine Company was the first official fire fighting organization in Halifax, N.S., and was formed on 8 August 1768. It was manned by volunteers who worked under the direction of the Halifax fire wardens. On 10 May 1861, the members of the company resigned en masse following a resolution by the Halifax City Council that members should be elected by the council rather than voted into membership by the members. An advertisement for new candidates was run and the "new" Union Engine Company, known for a short time as the Volunteer Engine Company, was formed on 21 May 1861. The company was organized into divisions responsible for either engines or hoses. The Union Engine Company continued to act in a voluntary capacity until between 1894 and 1896 at which time it was re-organized under the name of the Halifax Fire Department.
Robert Fitzgerald Uniacke, evangelican clergyman of the Church of England, was baptized 24 December 1797 in Halifax, N.S., the fourth son of Attorney General Richard John Uniacke and Martha Mary (Delesdernier) Uniacke. He received a BA from Kings College, Windsor, and articled at his father's law office in Halifax until he decided to enter holy orders. He was ordained in England as deacon on 2 June 1822 and priest on 23 March 1823. In April 1823, he received an MA from Kings College, Windsor. In England, Uniacke served as a curate in the diocese of Chichester at Fishbourne, 1822-1824, and officiated at Mid Lavant. He returned to Nova Scotia in 1825 as a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and served as rector of St. George's Church in Halifax until his death. Under Uniacke's direction, three new churches were built in his parish and charity schools opened for poor children of all denominations. He was also largely responsible for establishing a church at Lakeland in Hants County, near Mount Uniacke. He inherited his father's country estate, Mount Uniacke, in 1835. Uniacke died at Halifax on 1 June 1870. He and his wife, Elizabeth Gould (Francklin), married 1830, had no children.