Drag Queens and Kings

My plan for this blog writing exercise is to write and publish every morning. The publishing part is important to keep me honest! So far, so good. Almost at the one week mark. How is that for consistency.

But today I must be out of the house early. No time to develop an anecdote. What to do? As it other creative areas of my life, my problem is never coming up with ideas… in fact life would be simpler if I didn’t have so many ideas buzzing around. 

On days like this, I think my offering may consist of a story starter, of what Wikipedia would call a “stub” A stub they define as a short article in need of expansion. Through the wonders of time and hyperlinks I hope to develop stubs into fully fledged stories. I beg your indulgence if they remain ugly ducklings for some time. Blog comments may remind me to return if you want to hear more of the tale.

For today, this stub is about so-called cross dressing. The idea was re-ignited when I was researching the painter Zoffany for a previous post. He painted Garrick, the famous actor of the 18th century, several times. One striking portrait was of Garrick in drag. This popped up on my radar at the same time as the opening of Priscilla Queen of the Desert in Auckland, New Zealand. I know this because several friends have posted on Facebook about their attendance. And after all that is what Facebook is for: to inform our friends and if it makes them a little envious at that same time, so much to the good.

Back to cross dressing… I have other historic figures whose alleged penchant for dressing in clothes more customary to the other sex I intend to explore. People on this list include James I/VI of England/Scotland, Queen Christina of Sweden, a former governor of an American colony (damn I have forgotten his name), and the Scandalous Lady W. Oh and don't forget that female pharoah.

Louis Creek, British Columbia

Further internet research has confirmed that the Coulson family did settle at Louis Creek in 1924, after their return from 10 years working and travelling in Australia and New Zealand. As well as John and Jane, their daughter Esther and son Thomas were living there too, probably all in the same household.

John Archer Coulson, Adventurer

John Archer Coulson. 

I logged in to Geni, a web-based family tree site, for the first time in months yesterday… my go-to site is ancestry.com, where I pay a sub. On logging in I found I have a couple of unopened messages from way back. One is from Carson Stone, a stranger to me, who writes he is collecting information for book he is writing on the history of Louis Creek. He knows my great grandparents lived there, and requested any information I could share.

Great, this gives me a writing prompt for today. One of my aims is practicing daily writing is to discover the areas of my family story that need more detail and research. There is nothing like being asked to write a resume to help you see the gaps. And hopefully it gives a more coherent arc when family members ask for details for their family’s past.

So I will write a bare-bones story, and try and flesh it out. I know the family lived in Louis Creek, British Columbia, Canada, but not sure where in the chronology their stay there fits.

What I do know about John Archer Coulson makes me wish to have known him. He led a pretty adventurous life through a challenging era, family was paramount, and he didn’t shirk from his responsibilities. Think of this post as a first draft.

He was born in Alston, Cumbria in 1859, the eldest son of a mining family. The area has a long history of mining, dating back to Roman times. The treasure they wrested from the earth was lead. Mining still remains a dangerous job, even in the modern world of health and safety. Back in the 19^th century, conditions were dire. The family story says that as his father George lay dying from miners lung at the age of only 56, he made John promise to take the family away from Cumbria and the curse of the mining life. John apparently worked double shifts in the mines to earn their passage, in the process weakening his own health. Seven years later the shipping records show him arriving in Quebec with his mother, brother and four sisters. He was twenty three and his youngest sister was fourteen. The eldest child of the family, Mary Jane, had already married and remained behind in Cumbria. But John had fulfilled his father dying wish. They were well away from Cumbria and now the family had the raw challenges of life in pioneering Canada.

The year of arrival in Canada was 1883. Three years later John marries Jane Jacklin in Howick, Ontario, Canada. His brother Thomas and Jane’s sister Mildred were witnesses.  Jane was a second generation Canadian, her family living in South Elmsley, near Smiths Falls, Ontario. 

Howick is on a spit of land surrounded by the great lakes of Erie, Ontario and Huron.

Their first child Bertha was born at the end of that year in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island off the west coast of Canada. That’s 5000km away from Howick. The tales of the endeavours John engaged in show him regularly moving across the vast expanses of Canada, and later the Pacific. 

He was involved in moving the Bastion, a wooden watch tower on Vancouver Island, (1891) he ran an ostelry in Strathcona (now South Edmonton) He had regular trips into Montana to buy horses to supply his business.

My mother marvelled to think of his courage and fortitude in his 50’s when he made another major family move. He was head of a large extended family group which travelled to Western Australia and worked in wheat farming before moving again to New Zealand. It is said that he was advised to go on a sea voyage for the sake of his health. I confirmed this today when I viewed the fascimile of his arrival card when he returned to Canada: reason for leaving Canada: for sake of Health. The family group included his wife, 5 children (the 4 eldest daughters remaining in Canada) his wife's brother Rufus and the man who later married his daughter Rosina, Walter Lindsay.

In 1924 most of the family returned to Canada, and I think this is when they moved to Louis Creek. My grandmother, Jessie Archer Coulson alone remained in New Zealand, having married John Evans, my grandfather. And that as they say, is another story. Or should it be "and they all lived happily ever after" ?

Tarantara

My peripatetic life finds me based at Hatch End, near Harrow, North London for five weeks. So I must ask…what is Hatch End famous for? 

My go-to introduction to an area, Wikipedia, mentions Mrs Beeton, dubbed the world’s first celebrity chef who lived here in the middle of the 19^th century. More on her and this quite erroneous title at a later date.

The ancient earthworks Grimsdyke also run through the area, and gives its name to W.S. Gilbert’s home, now a hotel, at which I am eagerly anticipating taking high tea at with a friend now its midterm break. This is the Gilbert whose name is now inextricably linked with Sullivan, Gilbert and Sullivan fame. He was the wordsmith of the pairing. 

My love of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas is truly lifelong. I believe the amateur production of Pirates of Penzance in Waipukurau was the first live production my parents took me to, at the age of 7 or 8. I was entranced, especially by the transformation of one of my school teachers by the simple expedient of a pretty pink dress into the heroine Mabel.

A few years later, I attended the Mikado, performed by Morrinsville College students. Fast forward a few more years, and I am cast as the Duchess of Plaza Toro in the Gondoliers in our Whangarei High School musical. Not quite the heroine of the piece, but lots of fun and hard work, led by our talented director, Michael Hainsworth aka Head of Languages.

By this time my love for G & S was sealed. (My love of G & T comes a little later). I am drawn by the mix of ludicrous plot lines and clever lyrics with hummable tunes and grand harmonies. Then of course there is the dressing up

I am surprised by the lack of publicity for the Topsy Turvey, the film based on the professional pairing of Gilbert, Sullivan and their manager, d’Oyly Carte. I managed to catch it at the Mission Bay Berkeley cinema, back in its more boutique days (c. 2000), but it seems to have died a death, despite the casting of the notable Timothy Spall. It’s a great introduction as many of the operas are showcased here.

The film Chariots of Fire made a big impression on me too, and I will always remember with pleasure the inclusion of several G and S songs into the groundbreaking film score.