tray, household
Object
Accession Number
2013.005Description
Small wicker tray with a plywood base that holds a postcard depicting a topiary garden in front of a house (Loretto Hall, aka the Pendray Mansion) in Victoria. The postcard is held in place with a sheet of glass. Verso is stamped "Made by Disabled Soldiers, The Red Cross workshop, Victoria, B.C., Canada"Narrative
This tiny wicker tray is stamped on the verso “Made by Disabled Soldiers Red Cross Workshop Victoria, B.C., Canada”. Its plywood floor supports a colour postcard depicting Victoria’s W.J. Pendray mansion (AKA Loretto Hall), circa 1900.This object is significant because it was made by former Canadian soldiers who had become disabled during World War l. Similar objects were made by veterans inside Craigdarroch Military Hospital’s basket shop during the period 1919-1920.
In his book, Vancouver Island in the Empire, author John F. Bosher states that Victoria’s Red Cross workshop was founded by Frederick W. Jones. 1 The 1918 Victoria City Directory confirms that F. W. Jones was Chairman of the Red Cross Society in Victoria when the Great War ended. Bosher further states: “...Dr. Cyril Wace (1870-1966) was granted three months' leave at the request of the Executive of the Red Cross Society to study schemes in England for the care and employment of disabled ex-servicemen. His report led to the establishment of the first Red Cross workshop in Canada, which was soon employing twenty men in Victoria”. 2 In September 1919, Victoria’s Red Cross work rooms were located at Esquimalt Military Hospital. 3
1.John F. Bosher, Vancouver Island in the Empire (Tamarac, FL: 2012) 272. Bosher cites Victoria Daily Colonist. P. 11, obit.
2.Ibid. Bosher cites Robert Lacey, Aristocrats (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1983) 249 pp. in 40.
3.The Daily Colonist, September 26, 1919.
