EDWARD LAW

ARMS, CRESTS & MONOGRAMS

CANADA

There are a sprinkling of crests related to Canada among my collection of albums; enough to have set up a heading for them in topics. However, in July 2000 I acquired an album which was largely devoted to Canadian material. It is unusual not only on that count, but because all the contents are, I believe, twentieth century.

Clipped to the first page of the album was the prize ribbon, illustrated here, which was awarded for the album at the Guelph Boys' Fair, held in May 1927. With this information I had hoped to establish the name of the person who entered the album, presumably the collector, in the miscellaneous collections category. Unfortunately Guelph Public Library do not hold a complete run of the local paper, the Guelph Mercury, and one of the gaps is the month of May 1927.

A place card bearing the crest of the Savoy Hotel carries the name Hon. N W Rowell, K.C., LL.D., giving the possibility that the collection was formed by his son or daughter.

The collection is housed in an unprepossessing photograph album comprising twenty-six grey pages. The material has a degree of organisation which is unusual, and which suggests that much of it was collected before it was mounted. It starts with crests relating to central government: House of Commons, The Senate, Solicitor General. There follow Ontario provincial government items including: The Provincial Secretary, Departments of Agriculture; of Public Highways; of Lands, Forests & Mines; The Ontario Hospital, London; and the Hydro-Electric Power Commission.

There are several pages of civic arms. For Toronto there is the Mayor' Office and the Press Gallery City Hall. Other towns and cities represented include Hamilton, Belleville, Guelph, Brockville, Kingston, London,Windsor, Galt, St. Thomas, Kitchener, Brantford, North Waterloo, Berlin, Stratford, Niagra Falls, Peterborough, Ottawa, Barrie, Brampton, Pembroke, Owen Sound, Grimsby, Walkerville, Picton, Chatham, Cobourg, Halifax, St John and, straying across the border, the Mayor's office of the City of Cincinatti.

Among the civic are some county arms: Lambton, Perth, Victoria, Dufferin and York.

The remainder of the album is devoted largely to commerce, military, educational and sporting crests, with only a handful of items relating to private individuals. This is in complete distinction to British albums of the Victorian era where private crests and monograms dominate, and adds greatly to the interest of the collection.

It is unfortunate that the album has not been kept with the care which it's contents deserved. At some point it appears to have been kept in damp conditions which have led to a deterioration of the paste used in laying down the crests. That in turn has led to discolouration of some of the material. Fortunately the scanning programs now available incorporate many editing tools which have enabled me to edit out the worst effects of this and present the images as they would have appeared when first laid down.

The main problem with presenting this display of Canadian crests has been which to omit. I have aimed to show a representative selection, but using the more attractive of the crests. The crest for Appleby School, Oakville, Ontario is a particularly attractive and well executed piece.

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PAGE UPDATED 20 MARCH 2001