Material Type

Artifact

Date Range From

1890

Date Range To

1895

Materials

COTTON

No. Pieces

1

Length

42.5

Width

8

Description

WHITE COTTON STAND-UP DETACHABLE COLLAR WITH DIAMOND TIP COLLAR. HAS BUTTON HOLES TO ATTACH TO DRESS SHIRT. SURFACE HAS MANY GUEST SIGNATURES, PERSONAL OR BUSINESS STAMPS AND MESSAGES TO THE BRIDE AND GROOM. BECAUSE MUCH OF THE WRITING IS IN PENCIL IT IS VERY DELICATE. COLLAR ITSELF IS SLIGHTLY SOILED AND YELLOWED. FOR DETAILS OF INSCRIPTIONS SEE PERMANENT RECORD.

Subjects

CLOTHING-ACCESSORY

Historical Association

COMMEMORATIVE

PERSONAL CARE

History

COLLAR INDICATES IT WAS WORN BY C.B. BOWMAN AT THE WEDDING OF NORMAN TORQUIL MACLEOD AND MARGARET ALICE SHERLOCK ON DECEMBER 12, 1892, AT WHAT IS NOW ST. AUGUSTINE'S CHURCH AT 4TH AVENUE AND 11TH STREET. ITEM WAS SIGNED BY MANY OF THE GUESTS SUCH AS GALT, BOWMAN, HIGINBOTHAM, VIBERT, AND DICKINSON, ONLY TO NAME A FEW. DONOR'S GRANDFATHER, N.T. MACLEOD WAS THE NEPHEW OF COLONEL MACLEOD. HE CAME WEST IN 1882 FROM ONTARIO (ORIGINALLY FROM ALICESKY- SCOTLAND) WITH COL. MACLEOD AND WORKED FOR I.G. BAKER. AROUND 1900 HE WORKED FOR THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY AT COWLEY AND IN 1901 AT NELSON B.C., AND WAS THE LAST MANAGER OF H.B. IN LETHBRIDGE BEFORE THE COMPANY PULLED OUT (WAS LOCATED ON CORNER OF 1ST AVENUE AND 5TH STREET). MACLEOD AND HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW FRED FREEMAN WERE ALSO INVOLVED WITH THE ROCK QUARRIE AT MONARCH WHERE ROCK FOR THE UNITED CHURCH CAME FROM. HE THEN WORKED FOR THE SOUTHERN ALBERTA WOOL GROWERS AND RETIRED IN 1942. N.T. MACLEOD AND MARGARET ALICE SHERLOCK HAD FIVE CHILDREN, MURIEL (MARRIED T.H. MMCCREADY AN EARLY DRUGGIST), JOHN STUART (MARRIED RITA SYMES WHO DIED IN 1933 AND REMARRIED MARGARET VAN WARD), NORA ALEXA (MARRIED WILLIAM E. EVERSON), AND JEAN (DECEASED 1906). MARJ, THE DONOR, IS NORA'S DAUGHTER, HAS 1 BROTHER- WILLIAM. WHO LIVES IN GRAND CAYMAN ISLANDS. MARJ MARRIED JOHN HENRY (JACK), AND HAD FOUR CHILDREN (JUDITH CASSIDY, ROBERT WELCH, PATTI WALMSLEY, NORMAN WELCH). WILLIAM MARRIED MAXINE CHUENG AND HAD ONE DAUGHTER, JOAN LINK. FOR MORE HISTORY SEE ARCHIVES ON SHEEPSKIN PARCHMENT- SHERLOCK, AND SHEILA MCLAREN'S HISTORY OF MACLEODS. ANOTHER ONE OF THE RARE TREASURES RECENTLY ACQUIRED BY THE SIR ALEXANDER GALT MUSEUM IS THIS COLLAR, DONATED BY MARJORIE WELCH OF LETHBRIDGE AND HER BROTHER WILLIAM EVERSON. THE COLLAR IS A SOUVENIR OF THE MARRIAGE OF NORMAN T. MACLEOD AND MARGARET ALICE SHERLOCK, WHICH TOOK PLACE DECEMBER 14, 1892. IT FEATURES SIGNATURES AND REMARKS FROM MANY OF THE PEOPLE WHO ATTENDED THE CELEBRATION, INCLUDING PROMINENT LOCAL CITIZENS WHO FORMED THE SOCIAL ELITE OF THE DAY. THE LIST OF GUESTS INCLUDES SUCH NAMES AS ELLIOT T. GALT, SON OF SIR ALEXANDER GALT AND RESIDENT MANAGER OF THE NORTH WESTERN COAL AND NAVIGATION CO. UNTIL 1905, J.D. HIGINBOTHAM, PIONEER DRUGGIST AND POSTMASTER OF LETHBRIDGE, AND W.S. GALBRAITH, PHYSICIAN AND LATER MAYOR OF THE CITY. THE GROOM HIMSELF WAS A NEPHEW OF THE FAMOUS COLONEL MACLEOD AND MANAGER OF THE HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY’S LETHBRIDGE STORE AT THE TIME. HIS NEW WIFE ALICE WAS THE SISTER OF THE SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSMAN ROBERT SHERLOCK, ALSO OF LETHBRIDGE. THE WITTY REMARKS INSCRIBED ON THE COLLAR SUCH AS E.T. GALT’S “WHERE DID YOU COLLAR THIS?” OR C.B. BOWMAN’S “INSURE YOUR EARS IN CASE OF FALLING” MAY HAVE LOST SOME OF THEIR HUMOUR THROUGH THE YEARS. NEVERTHELESS, THE COLLAR CAPTURES THE LIGHT-HEARTED SPIRIT OF THE OCCASION ON WHICH THEY WERE WRITTEN, AND GIVES A STRIKINGLY HUMAN FACE TO MANY OF THE NAMES WHICH NOW GRACE OUR SCHOOLS, LANDMARKS AND HISTORICAL MEMORY. -AIMÉE VIEL, MUSEUM COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT

Catalogue Number

P19960108000

Acquisition Date

1996

Collection

Museum

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