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Members of the Huron County
Historical Society learned some
interesting facts about the county’s
contribution to Ontario’s culture at a
meeting in Brussels on Thursday
night.
David Yates of Goderich, a former
Society president and current history
department head of Central Huron
Secondary School in Clinton
referred first to a comment made by
Northrop Frye about 19th century
Ontario, which he referred to as a
cultural wasteland, because of its
pre-occupation with clearing the
land and survival.
Yates, however, noted that many of
this county’s founders, including
John Galt, Dr. William ‘Tiger’
Dunlop and Major Samuel
Strickland were literate men, and
published authors.
But it was the “Huron County 5”
who were the focus of Yates’s talk.
These “extraordinary” men, he said
were this area’s cultural legacy, “the
interconnectedness of the men who
were instrumental in creating the
institutions that are not only first in
Canada but cultural and heritage
icons that are known around the
world for their excellence.”
Yates described Charles Trick
Currelly, who almost “single-
handedly created the Royal Ontario
Museum” was the catalyst of the
group.
Born in Exeter on Jan. 11, 1876,
Currelly had a natural charm and
agility that served him well in life,
said Yates. After deciding that life as
in itinerant preacher was not his
ideal, Currelly left the ministry and
went to Europe where a chance
meeting with a famous Egyptologist
for the British Museum got him a
spot on the Sir Flinders Petrie’s next
expedition.
Currelly, said Yates, was astute at
spotting forgeries and obtaining
valueable artifacts at bargain prices,
a skill he honed to a fine art. Saying
that all deals were, if not exactly
ethical, legal,Yates noted that “every
museum expected skullduggery” in
the procurement of priceless objects.
“Currelly knew how to play the
game and he played it well.”
His skills brought him recognition
among the rich and famous and he
was offered the directorship of New
York’s Metropolitan Museum by
American banker, J.P. Morgan.
When Currelly returned to Canada
in 1905, he “convinced Ontario that
they needed a museum” to show the
world that the province didn’t live up
to Frye’s claim.
Currelly, said Yates, won over the
“normally tight-fisted Anglicans and
Protestants” on the University of
Toronto’s board and convinced the
president of the Bank of Commerce
to contribute money.
The ROM, built at a cost of over
$400,000 was officially opened
March 1914 by His Royal Highness,
the Duke of Connaught.
Tens of thousands flocked to see
the wonders of the ancient world,
science and geology, said Yates. “He
truly brought the ages home.”
Currelly was the ROM’s first
curator-director.
Yates, then introduced Dr. John
Hutchison Garnier, born 1823 in
Scotland and educated at Dublin
University. A world traveller, who
had an interest in natural history and
zoology, Dr. Garnier, settled in 1860
in Lucknow. “The south side, so it’s
Huron County,” said Yates.
The good doctor was known far
and wide for his eccentric behaviour.
“Had he not been useful as the town
doctor, he would have been locked
up as the town lunatic.”
Dr. Garnier could be recognized
by the shotgun he carried over his
shoulder and “which he didn’t
hesitate to use whenever he saw a
suitable target.”
Garnier, however, was known
internationally as an expert in
removing cataracts and even
patented a medical instrument for
this purpose. He was also, said Yates,
the first doctor in Ontario to use
obstetrical forceps.
Besides being a man of medicine
Garnier won reknown as a
playwright, author and translator.
But it was his passion for zoology
that connects him to the ROM.
Garnier, said Yates, catalogued birds,
snakes and other reptiles. A skilled
taxidermist, Garnier preserved
hundreds of specimens for study.
Part of his collection, donated to
the University of Toronto was lost in
a fire. He died in 189.
His widow eventually donated the
zoology collection to Currelly and
the ROM. Yates listed the total
contribution as an “impressive” 660
birds, 160 mounted animals, 120
mammals, 125 mammalian skulls,
170 salamanders, 385 amphibians,
close to 550 snakes and 360 turtles,
lizards, horned toads, alligators and
other creatures. Today, the ROM’s
Dr. J.H. Garnier Gallery houses his
collection of Ontario’s birds and
snakes.
William Nicoll Cresswell was born
in England in 1818 and came with
his family to Tuckersmith Twp. in
1848. His father was an Anglican
church minister and later Huron
County warden.
Cresswell became a leading
landscape artist whose paintings are
still on display in the National
Gallery in Canada and London’s Tate
Gallery. His talent earned him a spot
as one of the founders of the Royal
Canadian Academy of Artists, and
his landscapes won several awards.
In 1876 the “middle person in the
pentagon” a budding 16-year-old
artist from near Wingham paid a visit
to Cresswell’s Harphurhay
studio.”Young George (Agnew)
Reid’s future as an artist would
ultimately hang on Cresswell’s
judgement.”
Yates said Cresswell almost
immediately recognized Reid’s
talent and agreed to take him on as a
student. He did live to see his prized
student become a recognized artist,
but passed away suddenly in
Seaforth in 1888.
Reid, in 1878, with $200 in his
pocket went to Toronto and took
night classes from the Ontario
Society of Artists. He later studied at
the Pennsylvania Academy for Fine
Arts, at the Spanish Prado, then
Paris’s Julien Academy.
In 1885 he established an art
school and studio in Toronto.
Histalents as a portaitist and genre
painter of Canadian rural life earned
him critical acclaim in North
American in the 1880s and 1890s,
said Yates.
His paintings won awards
wherever they were exhibited.
Currelly was a neighbour of Reid’s
in Toronto’s exclusive Wychwood
neighbourhood. Currelly was
instrumental in Reid’s appointment
as principal of the newly-created
Ontario College of Art and Design
when it opened in 1912.
In 1947, said Yates, Reid returned
to painting Canadian landscapes as
Cresswell taught him and entered the
most prolific period of his life.
He painted murals for the ROM as
commissioned by Currelly, which
formed the backdrop to virtually all
of the exhibits until the 1970s
restoration. Unfortunately, said
Yates, only a few have survived, but
they are currently being restored.
Reid passed away in 1947.
The final person in the pentagon
contributed in the most unique way
to the ROM said Yates, as he
propelled it into a “new dimension.”
Rev. Robert Mellon Menzies was
born in Clinton in 1885. He
graduated as an engineer in 1907
from U of T, then entered the
ministry.
During mission work in China,
Menzies “stumbled upon” what has
become known as the Wastes of Yin,
said Yates. This contained the
historical records of the Shang
Dynasty in the form of oracle bones.
“The ancient Chinese kings
consulted oracles on a daily basis
regarding every personal and
political decision.”
Menzies credited divine
providence with placing this
important discovery in his hands.
Refusing substantial fees for his
collection, Menzies insisted that it
remain in China for future research
by scholars.
Currelly recruited Menzies for a
research position at the museum
under Bishop David White.
However, said Yates, White, who had
officiated at Menzies’ wedding,
became a petty tyrant, plagiarizing
Menzies’ research and blocking his
professional progress.
The ROM’s Menzies Gallery
displays artifacts from his Chinese
collection, considered by scholars as
the most comprehensive outside of
China.
In 1957 Menzies died in Toronto.
Less than a month later Currelly
passed away in April.
“Currelly and the others in the
Huron County 5 created in less than
50 years what had taken Europe
centuries, that is to create a national
culture.”
“Huron County can take pride in
its cultural legacy to the rest of the
Dominion.”
Huron’s history
David Yates, right, was the guest speaker at the Huron
County Historical Society meeting in Brussels on Thursday
evening. Yates spoke on five men from Huron who made a
tremendous impact on the province’s culture. Seated is
David Armstrong, Society president, from Goderich. (Bonnie
Gropp photo)
‘Group of 5’ shapes Ontario’s culture
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen
Disturbed by the cost of repairs
needed to allow the Bluevale Hall to
meet new accessibility standards,
Morris-Turnberry is going to see if
funding is available to build a new
hall.
Council voted at its April 21
meeting to apply for a Building
Canada Stimulus Fund grant for
construction of a new building after
administrator clerk-treasurer Nancy
Michie told them there might be a
possibility of receiving money
under the program.
“If we could get a grant, I’d say
that was the way to go,” said
councillor Bill Thompson.
Speaking about the current
building councillor Paul Gowing
said “It’s a great old hall, but it has
problems. I’ve had more than one
ratepayer say we should close it or
build new.”
In March, council received
estimates from Darrell Weishar of
Dar Cad Designs that it would cost
$60,000 to $75,0000 to bring the
building up to the new accessibility
standards required by the province
come Jan. 1, 2010.
Since then councillors have
reported opposition to the
expenditure.
Deputy-mayor Jim Nelemans said
that although it would be great if the
council can find a grant to cover the
repairs, it also needs to get the
community involved in fundraising.
M-T seeks
funding for
Bluevale
Hall
By Keith Roulston
The Citizen