umbrella

Object

Accession Number
2017.001.007
Alternate Name
umbrella handle
Description
Ebonized wooden umbrella handle with a gold cap and gold cup tip. The cup tip has a decorative belt. A gold band around the middle is inscribed “Presented to Mrs. J. Bryden by the employees of the Wellington Colliery.” The end has a screw to attach the handle to an umbrella shaft.
Narrative
This wood and gold umbrella handle was first owned by Elizabeth Hamilton Dunsmuir (1848-1901), also known as Mrs. John Bryden, who was the first child of Robert and Joan Dunsmuir. It bears the inscription “Presented to Mrs. J. Bryden by the employees of the Wellington Colliery”.

The handle was given to her, together with an umbrella to which it was once attached, at a special ceremony at Wellington, B.C. on June 29th 1894.  The ceremony marked the retirement of her husband John Cowper Bryden (1848-1915) from management of the Dunsmuir family’s Wellington Colliery.

Mr. Bryden had extensive management experience in the Nanaimo coal fields before accepting Robert Dunsmuir’s offer to manage the Wellington Collieries in about 1880. His hiring followed a period of significant labour unrest. That he continued to be the Manager of the Wellington Colliery for five years following the 1889 death of Robert Dunsmuir is a testament to the degree of trust placed in him by Joan Olive Dunsmuir and her sons, James and Alex Dunsmuir. The July 4, 1894 edition of the Victoria Daily Colonist newspaper ran a story describing the June 29th farewell evening at Wellington’s Masonic hall:

“Mr. Reid then presented the address prepared by a committee of the employees, engraved and illuminated in the Colonist office, and encased in a beautiful native oak frame, also an elegant (native) gold mounted walking cane made from native ebonized “yew wood” and a gold mounted umbrella (made of similar material to the cane) to Mrs. Bryden.” 

The walking stick and case mentioned in this article is also in The Castle Society’s museum collection (see walking stick 2014.014.012a-b). Mrs. Bryden’s umbrella handle is a reminder of the source of the Dunsmuir fortune – the Wellington Colliery north of Nanaimo.  It was collected by The Castle Society to aid in the presentation of the Dunsmuir family stories at Craigdarroch.
 
History of Use
This wood and gold umbrella handle was first owned by Elizabeth Hamilton Dunsmuir (1848-1901), also known as Mrs. John Bryden, and was used by her at her at Dalzellowlie, her Esquimalt, B.C. residence on Head Street.  Following her death in 1901, her husband John Bryden continued living in the house, but eventually moved with his daughter Joan Olive Bryden to Mt. Adelaide to live with his late wife’s sister, Mary Croft. It is likely that he kept the umbrella with him during this period.

John Cowper Bryden died in 1915 and the umbrella handle may then have stayed with Mary Croft in Mt. Adelaide until her death in 1928. It was then, or perhaps earlier, that it was inherited by Elizabeth Hamilton Bryden’s son, John William Bryden (1869-1953) and his wife Ellen Gertrude Tarbell (1882-1964) while they were living at their waterfront house in Royston, Vancouver Island, near Cumberland and Courtenay. It was then inherited by their son Gerald Robert Bryden (1913-1992) in Royston and then by his daughter in Campbell River from whom it was acquired by The Castle Society.
Date
1894
Dimensions
24 x 2 cm
Material
Wood; Metal, gold
Technique
Engraved; Turned
Inscription
Presented to Mrs. J. Bryden by the employees of the Wellington Colliery.
Country of Origin
Canada

Related people/businesses/organizations
Elizabeth Hamilton Dunsmuir (owner)
John William Bryden (owner)
Gerald Robert Bryden (owner)
Related Associations
Dalzellowlie (house) (was used in)
Mt. Adelaide (was used in)
Related Objects

stick, walking, 2014.014.012a-b (is related to)