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White Tie and Decorations

White Tie and Decorations: Sir John and Lady Hope Simpson in Newfoundland, 1934-1936

Edited by PETER NEARY
Copyright Date: 1996
Published by: University of Toronto Press
Pages: 408
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/9781442683372
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  • Book Info
    White Tie and Decorations
    Book Description:

    A collection of edited letters home to Britain by a colonial administrator and his wife. The letters recall in vivid detail Depression-era Newfoundland.

    eISBN: 978-1-4426-8337-2
    Subjects: History

Table of Contents

  1. Front Matter
    (pp. i-vi)
  2. Table of Contents
    (pp. vii-x)
  3. Preface
    (pp. xi-xiv)
  4. Personae
    (pp. xv-xvi)
  5. Abbreviations
    (pp. xvii-xviii)
  6. [Illustrations]
    (pp. None)
  7. Introduction
    (pp. 3-24)

    The decade of the 1930s was a hard, unforgiving time in the history of Newfoundland and Labrador, and is remembered there as such. Small in population but large in area, the Dominion of Newfoundland was quickly overwhelmed by the events of the Great Depression. Individually, many Newfoundlanders were skilled and seasoned survivors, but as a people they depended on a precarious export trade, with a narrow range of goods produced in the country’s basic and interconnected industries of fishing, forestry, and mining. The fishing industry was the largest user of labour. It was seasonal in nature, organized on a family...

  8. 1934
    (pp. 25-134)

    You have sent me exactly what I need. I shall have unlimited engagements when I get to St. John’s, and when I come back, I shall show you them in my book. Very many thanks.

    We have had a hectic week. On Monday morning, I had engagements and had lunch with Sir Wilfred Grenfell.¹ You know about him and Labrador, where he runs a mission. He has done magnificent work. Both he & Lady Grenfell² are very much excited about this new government, and hope for great things. ... There are two good items of news. Our ship is to call...

  9. 1935
    (pp. 135-254)

    We are within eight hours of Halifax and steaming through a perfectly calm sea. ...

    From Halifax I can travel either via St. Pierre by an old tub called theDominicaor via Sydney & Port aux Basques. It will probably be the former, and we pray for decent weather. ...

    ... They have flooded the tennis courts & every day crowds come to skate to music. The hotel charges 15 cents a person and is making a good thing of it. The music is dreadful – ancient waltzes on a gramophone with a loudspeaker attachment. But the skating is very pretty....

  10. 1936
    (pp. 255-344)

    Tomorrow, we hope to land. It is getting colder & colder, but the sun came out for half an hour just now. We hear of intense cold in London, & think of you. The news of mild weather in Newfoundland made everyone in the lounge prick up their ears. It was amusing to have it on the wireless. I expect it was a compliment to the new Governor.¹ It seems we may expect to see green land instead of snow-swept wastes. If only the sun will shine for our arrival, I don’t mind whether it is a green or a white world....

  11. Select Bibliography on the History of Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1930s
    (pp. 345-350)
  12. Index
    (pp. 351-373)
  13. Credits
    (pp. 374-374)