PWAC Victoria: Valerie Green, Writing Sample

The Reading Room

Life "Above Stairs" in Early Victoria

by Valerie Green © 1995

Excerpts from Valerie Green's latest book, Above Stairs: Social Life in Upper Class Victoria, 1843-1918, published by Sono Nis Press, 1995.

Tracing the social activity of "upper-class" Victoria between 1843 and 1918, presents a fascinating journey of discovery set in that mysterious Victorian era when morals and standards were paramount, and customs and traditions all important. The one thing that remained constant through it all was the strong division of the classes.

Most "high society" socialization in early Victoria took place either at the initiation of the Royal Navy or within the compounds of the Fort itself. There the Company men enjoyed themselves royally in Bachelors' Hall.

Captain Grant, Vancouver Island's first settler and a frequent visitor to the Fort, was an example of one settler who managed to enjoy a good social life despite the hardships and isolation of his environment. He was by nature a sociable man who sought good companionship along with good whisky, and his contributions to the Fort's social scene were considerable.

One evening he encouraged the younger Company men to bound around Bachelors' Hall like kangaroos, supposedly imitating Queen Victoria's coach horses pulling her carriage around Windsor Park. Life must indeed have become exceedingly tedious within the Fort boundaries for the men to resort to such pranks.

~

More worthwhile pursuits did, however, eventually arrive at Fort Victoria. They came in the form of cultural activities such as theatricals, a popular pastime enjoyed by many of the first colonists on Vancouver Island.

The earliest recorded amateur theatrical performance given in Victoria was a production by the gentlemen of the Fort, in January 1857, of Sheridan's play The Rivals. The cast, rather grandly referred to in the program as the "dramatis personae," included such notables as Colonial Surveyor Joseph Pemberton playing the part of Sir Lucius O'Trigger, Chief Trader J.W. McKay in the role of Sir Anthony Absolute, and Pemberton's assistant, B.W. Pearse, as Fag.

Later, at Victoria's many masked balls, high society really outdid itself. One such event, held at the Crease home, Pentrelew, saw Augustus and Jane Pemberton's son Chartres dressed as Christopher Columbus, his cousin Fred Pemberton as an outlaw, and a third cousin visiting from England (with the delightful name of "Perfect") dressed as an Italian peasant.

A Masquerade Ball in 1899 in aid of the Royal Jubilee Hospital was most probably the event of the century. It certainly had everyone talking for weeks in advance, and no doubt while costumes were being decided upon and made by the seamstresses, books such as Weldon's Practical Fancy Dress for Ladies and Gentlemen were referred to.

The ball took place at Assembly Hall, and headlines in the Colonist the following day read "Masks and Merriment -- sweet pleasure was Queen -- brilliance unsurpassed -- entertainment enchanting." All the most important people in Victoria were present, although one would have been hard-pressed to recognize any of them.

The Pemberton family, for instance, was well represented and magnificently attired. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Pemberton were dressed as a Viking and The Lady of Seville.

Miss Maude Dunsmuir was dressed in pale blue gauze as "Desdemona," with Miss Birdie Dunsmuir as "Cigarette" from Quida's Romance. Noel Harvey, a Dunsmuir granddaughter, came as "a Pink Carnation."

Mrs. Harry Dallas Helmcken arrived as a court lady of the early Empire and Mrs. Dennis Harris (James Douglas's youngest daughter) was dressed in "magnificent brocade, becoming her statuesque beauty well . . . "

Mr. and Mrs. Harry Barnard were present, she attired in a peasant costume from the province of Vladivostok.

~

The upper-class also liked to eat. Dinner parties and banquets were numerous. To mark the occasion of the Victoria Board of Trade obtaining its own building at Bastion Square in May 1893, an elaborate 10-course banquet was held and continued far into the early hours of the next morning.

Among the illustrious guests enjoying the plentiful fare were industrialist Jacob Hunter Todd, Theodore Davie (premier at the time), Robert Beaven (leader of the opposition), the Lieutenant-Governor Edgar Dewdney, financier A.C. Flumerfelt, Chief Justice Sir Matthew Begbie, and business tycoons David Ker and Robert Rithet. When the company finally rose to sing God Save the Queen at four a.m., many of them could barely stand.

Dinner parties were also held in the homes of the elite. The O'Reilly family, in particular, entertained on a large scale and retained all their dinner menus from which it can be seen they ate a great deal of lamb, roast fowl, and curried lobster and their favourite desserts were "puddings"--marmalade, ginger bread, or jam roll being top priorities.

One of the most enlightening glimpses into how and what Victoria's upper-class ate comes from the Barnard family collection. Lady Barnard kept a Dinner Party Record Book at the turn of the century describing in detail her dinner parties held both at Clovelly and at Government House during her husband's sojourn there as Lieutenant-Governor.

Her Record Book is delightfully inscribed at the beginning with a quotation from Byron which reads:

That all-softening, overpowering knell,
The tocsin of the soul--the dinner bell.

Indeed, if the Record Book is to be believed, the dinner bell must have sounded on a multitude of occasions. Each dinner party is described in detail with the date, the occasion, the guests present, the seating arrangements, and the menu itself.

A particular added delight is a notation concerning "particulars of table decoration." If, for instance, it was springtime, primroses and daffodils were in profusion on the table. Yellow roses were resplendent in summer, carnations and chrysanthemums in fall. For Christmas dinner parties, holly was always in abundance as a centrepiece.

At Clovelly, the guests frequently enjoyed caviar followed by a consommé or cream soup, sauteed chicken, roast lamb and asparagus. Dessert would often be rhubarb tart or chocolate pudding, followed by cheese straws and ice cream. Other favourites were boiled salmon and roast duckling, and oysters on the half shell were frequently included in the menu.

In April of 1915, when the Japanese High Commissioner visited Victoria and stayed at Government House, Lady Barnard's table decoration included Japanese cherry blossoms to honour her guest. On all the Royal visits to Government House, she also meticulously kept account of the dinner parties, noting on her table plan where everyone was to be seated. She even mentioned those guests unable to attend. That particular column was rarely filled, however, because to receive an invitation to a Barnard dinner party was obviously something you did not decline.

~

Reporting on all these events was the Victoria Home Journal, a gossip newspaper published in Victoria during the 1890s to tease and tantalize the senses. By its own admission, it was totally "devoted to social, political, literary, musical, and dramatic gossip."

There was a particular column called "Society" which told of the goings-on of the upper-class set. Its charm lay in the fact that it merely "hinted," in a mysteriously intriguing manner, at what was taking place around the city. Many of its reports began with the words "rumour has it." Names were never mentioned and the leading players in each story were described in cleverly disguised ways. In its day, the Victoria Home Journal was equivalent to the most shocking of tabloid newspapers seen one hundred years later.

The Journal could be purchased for a yearly subscription of one dollar and found its way into many a home in Victoria in the Gay Nineties.

Above Stairs:
Social Life in Upper Class Victoria, 1843-1918
can be ordered from the publisher
Sono Nis Press
1725 Blanshard Street
Victoria, B.C. V8W 2J8
or visit your local bookstore
$19.95 CDN

Valerie Green
| Author Profile |

Last updated: May 24, 1998 http://www.islandnet.com/pwacvic/greenv01.html