This Week in Nova Scotia History: Jan. 28-Feb. 3

28 January 1870 – The illfated City of Boston of the Inman Line of Mail Steamers, sailed from Halifax on this date. The steamer had sailed from New York to Halifax and was heading for Liverpool with 191 passengers on board, including a number of prominent businessmen and military officers from Halifax. She never reached her destination and no trace of her was ever found.

Two days after her departure there had been a violent gale and snowstorm which investigators felt may have contributed to her loss. Other theories posited that she may have hit an iceberg or collided with another vessel.

However, practically a month after her departure, she had been reported seen off the coast of Ireland on the 25 February reporting engine trouble. Later, pieces of a ship’s wreckage were reported south of Smalls Lighthouse off the coast of Wales that was believed to be from the City of Boston.

29 January 1823 – The Nova Scotia House of Assembly passed a traffic act, “No one was allowed to gallop a horse on any public highway in Halifax or any other town faster than ‘a slow or easy trot.’ Sleighs in winter were to have bells (otherwise you could not hear them coming), and everyone was to drive on the left hand of the road.”

(Reference: “Nova Scotia, Statues at Large, 1817-1826 (Halifax 1827).” From Waite, P.B. The Lives of Dalhousie University, Vol. 1, 1818-1925: Lord Dalhousie’s College. Halifax: The Governors of Dalhousie College and University, 1994.)

30 January 1860 – The Victoria Rifles (Nova Scotia), a volunteer militia unit (#19) of black soldiers in Halifax, was established in the wake of the Crimean War (and on the eve of the American Civil War).

It was one of the oldest black soldier volunteer regiments to be established in Canada, George Anderson was elected Captain and John H. Symonds was elected First Lieutenant. There were over 30 volunteer companies listed in the province at the time.

Later in the summer, the Victoria Rifles would form a guard of honour on the occasion of the arrival of the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) in Truro. The unit though was later disbanded.

(Reference: Egan, Thomas J. History of the Halifax and Volunteer Companies, 18591887. Halifax. N.S.: A & W Mackinlay, 1888. Accessed online: www.bit.ly/3jqz3tj)

31 January 1839 – The Tandem Club, assembled on the Grand Parade in front of Dalhousie College. Tandem clubs were formed wherever the British were garrisoned in the nineteenth century - Halifax, Quebec, Montreal and Toronto.

Such clubs became a defining feature of winter in colonial Canada. In Halifax, the Tandem Club was actually known as the Acadian Union Club. It had been organized in 1827 by a group of naval officers and met once a week during the winter months for sleigh rides to nearby country inns for dining and refreshments.

Author and historian, Alex Boutilier, notes that in Halifax, horse-drawn sleigh drives could actually “be traced back to the time of Prince Edward during the last years of the eighteenth century … On early Sunday afternoons, the club would rendezvous on the Parade Square … (and) With the blast of a bugle the procession drove down Sackville Street…” From there, the procession of sleighs would make their way out to Nine Mile House on the Bedford Road “at the extremity of the Basin,” where dinner was ready and waiting.

It was an afternoon of fun and feasting “for a fortunate few…a popular winter activity for dignitaries, wealthy merchants, and garrison men in Halifax in the nineteenth century.”

Halifax artist William Eagar (1796-1839), immortalized the Tandem Club assembling in front of Dalhousie College during the winter of 1839 - located at the time on the north end of the Parade Square in Halifax.

Eagar’s career spanned a short period between 1829 and 1839. He had arrived in Halifax from St. John’s, Newfoundland, with his family in 1834 and initially established a Drawing Academy for young women and men on Barrington Street (just across from Dalhousie College), teaching the “rudiments of landscape painting” and developing a reputation as a landscape artist in the city. One of Eagar’s prominent art students was Maria Morris Miller (1810-1875) who became Nova Scotia’s foremost artist in the nineteenth century. Eagar’s painting of the Tandem Club was one of his last winter paintings in Halifax as he died in the fall on 24 November (1839) at the age of 43.

(Reference: Boutilier, Alex. “Horse-drawn Sleigh Drives in Nineteenth-century Halifax,” Historic Nova Scotia. Accessed online: www.bit. ly/3kbhyfk)

1 February 1801 – Several fires occurred in Halifax during the winter. “Sir John Wentworth’s stables at the lodge were burned down.” Later the Hollis Street block fronting the Old Government House was “partially destroyed.” Soon after, the Sun Fire Company was formed. The members shared the responsibility of watching out for fires in the town and ringing alarms.

As Thomas B. Akins notes, “The fire companies of Halifax at this time were, perhaps, the most useful institutions in the community. These companies consisted of several hundred gentlemen each, who formed themselves into a company for the purpose of rendering assistance at fires. Each member provided himself with a leather cap, two or three buckets, canvas bags, etc., on which were painted the name of the owner and device of the company. The members were elected by ballot.

They held quarterly meetings and occasionally dined together, and gave annual balls at Mason Hall.”

It was in 1754 when the first organized fire department company in the colony had been created - called the Union Fire-club.

(References: Akins, Thomas B. History of Halifax City. Belleville, Ontario: Mika Publishing, 1895, 1973, p.133 & p. 180. And Canadian Firefighter Museum, “History 1600 to 1800.” Accessed online www.bit.ly/3ztz3bi.)

2 February 1808-09 – “The winter of 1808-09 was remarkably severe. During the month of February, the cold continued so long that the great expenditure of fuel was felt by all classes of the community. Much distress prevailed among the poor, and large sums of money were raised by subscription for their relief.”

Saturday, January 28, 2023

(Reference: Akins, Thomas B. History of Halifax City. Belleville, Ontario: Mika Publishing, 1895, 1973, p.143-144. Accessible online: www.bit. ly/3d7sbq6).

3 February 1817 – Halifax’s harbour was frozen over. By the 12th, the “ice was strong enough for crossing, and the people went from Halifax to Dartmouth on it. One man was drowned at midnight; losing his way, he went through in an insecure spot.”

(Reference: Beamish, Murdoch. A History of Nova Scotia or Acadie. VOL.VI. Halifax: James Barnes, 1867, pp.395403. Accessed online: www. bit.ly/3kdkcku)