LEO J. DEVEAU: This Week in Nova Scotia History: Nov. 21-27 - Saltwire
November 21, 1921 - Nova Scotia learns that King George V proclaimed a new coat of arms for Canada on this date - also known as the Royal Coat of Arms of Canada, or today as the Arms of His Majesty The King in Right of Canada. King George V also designated white and red as the official colours.
The coat of arms was modeled after the U.K.'s coat of arms, having both Canadian (maple leaves) and French elements (fleurs-de-lis). The tradition of the coats of arms goes back to the Middle Ages when, on a battlefield, the coats of arms made it possible to identify and distinguish allies from enemies.
Since 1921, the design of the Coat of Arms has been updated twice - first in 1957 and again in 1994. Its motto reads A Mari issue ad Mare, lit, 'from sea to sea.' In 1994, the ribbon of the Order of Canada was added, reading Desiderantes meliorism patriam, lit, 'They desire a better country.'
Today, the Coat of Arms is used on federal government possessions such as buildings, passports, money, proclamations and publications, as well as federal institutions such as the Supreme Court of Canada to symbolize their judicial independence from the Government of Canada.
November 22, 1753 - Richard John Uniacke (d. 1830) was born in County Cork, Ireland. He later became a lawyer, politician, abolitionist and eventually Attorney General of Nova Scotia.
As a young man, Uniacke had fought in the Eddy Rebellion (also known as the Battle of Fort Cumberland (formerly known as Fort Beauséjour on the current border of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) in late 1776 during the American Revolutionary War.
He had been sympathetic to the American rebels' cause out of fear of reprisals in his business trade relations. As a result of his sympathies, he was later sent as a prisoner to Halifax to be tried for treason. However, through his connections, and for providing evidence for the crown, he was later released. He left for Ireland, where he completed his legal studies and later returned and was admitted to the Nova Scotia bar in April 1781.
By 1783, Uniacke was elected to the House of Assembly and would remain in the House for over 20 years. He stood for Catholic emancipation, founded the Charitable Irish Society (1786), helped establish King's College, and refused to legalize slavery in Nova Scotia. He would also advocate for the Confederation of Canada as early as 1806.
By 1813, after having amassed considerable wealth from his fees as advocate general of the Vice-Admiralty Court during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, Uniacke built a grand country summer estate on 11,000 acres of land at Mount Uniacke, then located along the stage coach route from Halifax to Windsor. It was a four-hour coach ride from Halifax.
Completed in 1815, Uniacke's estate is considered one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in Canada. Now a museum, the estate provides a glimpse of life in the early 1800s among Nova Scotia's gentry.
It was there that he would also raise and educate his 12 children (six sons and six daughters) - from his first wife, Martha Marie (neé Delesdernier), who had died in 1803 at the age of 40, and later a son with his second wife, Eliza Newton.
Uniacke would also maintain a residence in Halifax, at the corner of Sackville and Argyle Street. His son, James Boyle Uniacke, would later become the first premier of Nova Scotia from 1848 to 1854.
(Reference: Cuthbertson, B.C. (1987). "Uniacke, Richer John (1753-1830)." In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. VI (1821–1835) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.)
November 23, 1950 - Jeremiah 'Jerry' Alvin Jones died (b. in Truro, 1858). He had been a WWI veteran who served with the 106th Battalion (Nova Scotia Rifles) Canadian Expeditionary Force. He had lied about his age - said he was 39, when, in fact, he was 58.
He was later recommended for the Distinguished Conduct Medal at the Battle of Vimy Ridge, but there was no record of his having received it. Later, it was received posthumously as the Canadian Forces Medallion for Distinguished Service on Feb. 22, 2010. He was also the grandfather of the well-known African Nova Scotian social activist and lawyer Rocky Jones (1941-2013).
November 24. 1890 - On this day, the Cape Breton Railway was officially opened for regular traffic - beginning from St. Peters, Richmond County, running 49.9 kilometres (31 miles) to the junction with the main line track of the Intercolonial Railway (ICR) at Point Tupper. The ICR had just opened its line to Sydney a month earlier on 18 October.
ICR's completed rail line had been opened in 1876, running from Riviéré du Loop, Quebec, down the east coast of New Brunswick to Moncton, through mainland Nova Scotia, to Truro and then either branching off to Halifax, or continuing on to Pictou. From there, it went on to Antigonish and Mulgrave, to a rail car ferry across the Canso Strait to Point Tupper, then on through the centre of Cape Breton Island to the port of Sydney, where it made connections by ferry and steamship to Port aux Basques and the then Colony of Newfoundland.
November 25, 1917 – In the month of November, John Frederic Herbin (1860-1923) sold his acreage of land on which the original Grand Pré Acadian community had stood to the Dominion Atlantic Railway (DAR) to establish a memorial park.
He stipulated that the location of the original Saint-Charles-des-Mines church be deeded to the Acadians to create a memorial to their past. A plaque was added in 1925 to the commemorative stone cross that he had created with stones from the ruins in the area and placed in the park in 1909.
November 26, 1854 - During the month of November, the ship Arcadia, sailing from Antwerp, Germany, carrying a crew of 21 men and 149 German passengers and their cargo bound for New York, struck a northeast sand bar off Sable Island in dense fog and strong winds. All were saved over a two-day rescue effort by Sable Island's life-saving crew.
An estimated 350 vessels are recorded to have been lost off the sand bars of Sable Island. A life-saving station was established on the island in 1801. The watch on Sable remained the same till the 1830s, and later in 1867 it became the responsibility of the Dominion government. It remained in service until 1958 when navigation instruments had greatly improved. Later, Parks Canada and Environment Canada would man a facility on the island (two people). Sable Island became a National Park Reserve on June 20, 2013.
November 27, 1898 - The Great November Winter Gale (also known as the Portland Gale) struck Nova Scotia and eastern seaboard, causing great damage with the loss of countless schooners, steamers, yachts and barges between New Jersey and Nova Scotia.
Considered a winter storm with hurricane intensity, it did not subside till the following day. By that time, over 200 people had died along the New England coast, with countless vessels lost, including the sinking of the paddle wheel steamship Portland off Cape Cod with the loss of 127 passengers and 65 crew. It was estimated that close to 400 people also died in the Maritimes as a result of the storm. An unidentified four-masted vessel came ashore in Halifax with no survivors on board.
(Leo J. Deveau is an independent researcher, commentator and author of 400 Years in 365 Days - A Day by Day Calendar of Nova Scotia History. His most recent book is Fideliter The Regimental History of The Princess Louise Fusiliers. He can be reached at [email protected]).
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