The Possible Lives of W H, Sailor by Bushra Junaid

Coastal erosion has exposed a two-hundred-year old wooden coffin on the Strait of Belle Isle. The person in the coffin was buried with their head oriented east toward Africa. The man, with good teeth and kinky hair, was young and short in stature. He was also missing his forearm. The coffin also contained a knife and pouch and a shoe. These items had the initials WH engraved on them. Who was this man and what was his story? How did he come to be buried here?

Discussion

In June 1987, a burial site near the small fishing village of L'Anse au Loup on a part of the Labrador coast was exposed. Bones, fabric and wood were exposed. Archeological investigation revealed a coffin containing a skeleton wearing a military uniform, wrapped in a shroud of a wool blanket. There was also a pouch and in the pocket of the jacket was a pocket knife with the initials WH carved into it. The lone shoe had a W carved into the sole.

Working together, an osteologist and conservator were able to determine that the remains were that of a Black man. The presence of a twenty centimeter long wooden marlinspike, a tool used to separate or join together rope, in the coffin suggests that this was a sailor. Investigators believe that WH was possibly a midshipman or the servant of a ship's officer in the early 1800s.

The Atlantic was sometimes called the Black Atlantic for the number of Black people who sailed across the ocean. Over twelve million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic in slave ships. Approximately one-fifth of all sailors in both the merchant marine and the military were people of colour, some enslaved, others free.

In The Possible Lives of WH, Bushra Junaid, wonders about the life of the Black sailor known only as WH. Her poetry narrative is filled with questions about his name, his origin, how he came to be a sailor, lose his arm, and what he saw and felt. In asking these and many other questions, Montreal-born Junaid, an author, artist and curator, takes young readers on a short trip through the earliest Black history of Canada.

Millions of West Africans were captured and forcibly transported across the Atlantic from 1526 to 1867 in what was known as the Transatlantic slave trade. This journey in the Middle Passage, was done in the festering hold of a slave ship, under such terrible conditions, that many did not survive. 

Other Blacks were born on plantations in the Caribbean or in America where they cut sugarcane, picked cotton and planted rice. On these plantations, life was no easier. Junaid, in her Background To Timeline note at the back, writes that "Caribbean slave owners bought enormous quantities of the poorest grade of Newfoundland and Labrador codfish or 'salt fish' (also called 'refuse fish' or 'Jamaica fish') to feed their enslaved workforce." The enslaved were fed poorly, among other things. When Britain was considering abolishing the slave trade in 1791, there was concern that such a move would result in the collapse of the Newfoundland fishery. Little concern existed for the enslaved and their health.

Some enslaved Africans and people of colour, escaped by enlisting in the British or American navy. Some who fought for England during the American revolution, were given land in Nova Scotia. The land was of poor quality, but they stayed, had families and became an integral part of the history of Eastern Canada. All of these are possible origins for the sailor we know today only as WH.

In asking her questions and offering possible answers, Junaid paints "...a picture of what the life of a Black sailor in the later eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries may have been like."  something we know a bit about, from the writings of Black sailors from this era. 

The author has illustrated her story with beautiful artwork done both in traditional media and digital methods.Also included are the following resources: Background:Finding WH, a Timeline, Background To Timeline, References and Resources, photographs of Artifacts Found At WH's Burial Site, and a Teachers Guide.

The Possible Lives of WH, Sailor gives voice to the past, to those people of colour, who either by choice or not, are a part of Canada's history and the making of this country.

Book Details:

The Possible Lives of WH, Sailor by Bushra Junaid
Tors Cove, NL: Running the Goat Books & Broadsides,   2022

The Massey Murder by Charlotte Gray

Canadian author, Charlotte Gray brings history to the masses in this detailed account of the events surrounding the murder of Charles Albert (Bert) Massey by his family's domestic servant, Carrie Davies at the turn of the last century.

On the evening of Monday, February 8, 1915, Bert Massey was shot on the steps of his house at 169 Walmer Road by eighteen year Carrie, a British immigrant. Massey was carried to a neighbour's home where he died and Carrie, in shock, was arrested and taken to police headquarters at City Hall.

Carrie Davies had been in Canada for a mere two years, employed during that time by the Massey family. She arrived from Bedfordshire, England with the hopes of obtaining work as a maid in order to send money home to her widowed and nearly blind mother who had four children to support.

When questioned by police, Davies stated she shot Massey because "He ruined my character...",  a shocking allegation against a wealthy family that was a pillar of the Toronto's upper class at the turn of the century.

Set against the backdrop of World War I, Gray takes her readers first through the crime and then goes on to explore the events surrounding the trial by portraying life in Canada in the early 20th century and describing many of those involved either directly or indirectly in this major newstory.  Life in the city of Toronto in 1915, the history of the legendary Massey family, the women's movement in Canada and women's changing role in society in the early 20th century, the Toronto newspaper scene, and the Toronto judiciary are all detailed before Gray gets down to the actual details of the trial.

Gray describes the Women's Court, a separate court for women set up by the National Council of Women and Toronto's Local Council of Women, who were concerned for the integrity of the judicial process when it came to women. As women were unable to vote or create laws, the judicial process was usually not favourable to them. Only women were allowed to attend Women's Court.

The Massey family history is explored in-depth in a separate chapter entitled, "The Muscle of the Masseys". The Massey family were American Methodists from Vermont who settled on farmland north of Lake Ontario in 1802. Bert Massey's great-grandfather, Daniel, purchased a workshop in Newcastle and this heralded the beginning of the Massey foray into the production of agricultural implements - a venture which would make them millions. From the sale of threshers and reapers the Massey family became one of Canada's first self made millionaires. Gray reveals to readers how Bert's family gradually became estranged from the rest of the Massey's with the death of his father Charles from typhoid in 1884. Nevertheless, when the shocking circumstances surrounding the murder of Bert in 1915 began to surface almost immediately and the Massey name was facing the possibility of being irrevocably shamed, the Massey family began to assert their influence.

There's an interesting chapter on what was termed the "White Slave trade" - girls who traveled from Europe to be domestic servants in wealthy Canadian families. Such work often entailed long hours, little time off and placed young women in situations where they were preyed upon by their employers with little recourse to the law should events turn dangerous.

The Massey Murder is an engaging read for those who have a keen interest in Canadian history and that is the strength or weakness of this book, depending on your level of interest.  For those with a historical bent, Gray gives her readers a strong sense of Toronto society and life in Canada during the World War I era. Canada was a British colony and Toronto was a predominantly white, British immigrant city with a sense of obligation and duty to the England and King George V. Gray's main thesis is that Davies' legal counsel, Herbert Hartley Dewart, KC, was determined to win her case by creating a story for Carrie that would get her acquitted. There were several motivations behind his determination to win this case. The first was bad blood between the Dewart and Massey families. His father, Hartley Dewart Senior and Hart Massey had been at odds over the move of Victoria College from Cobourg to Toronto years earlier. There were also rumours of a stock deal gone bad between the two family patriarchs. Dewart had also lost an important case early in his career to a lawyer who managed to portray his client accused of murder, as the victim. Dewart never forgot this case and it was a lesson he was to use in Carrie Davies favour years later.

Hartley Dewart would craft a story that was based on his client's purity and defense of her honour - something that would turn the tables and make Bert Massey the villain. He would compare Carrie's fight for her honour to that of the British soldiers fight for honour in the trenches of the brutal war going on in Europe. He would appeal to patriotic sentimentality and the steadfastness of the British working class as the foundation of the British Empire. It was a risky defense but it just might work.

The main draw of the story, the trial of Carrie Davies on the charge of murdering Charles Albert Massey, takes up a mere four chapters of the book. These chapters are filled with drama and theatrics that would never be a part of a criminal trial in the 21st century. They are particularly insightful because they demonstrate how little the force of law played into the resulting verdict. The use of the "unwritten law" defense which entailed Since the transcripts of Davies trial were not preserved due to her acquittal, Gray relied on contemporary newspaper accounts to write about the trial.

Gray concludes her book with a follow-up chapter on the main characters in this drama, which will be of interest to readers. Charlotte Gray's blog has an relevant entry from 2013 about an encounter The book includes a map of Toronto during the time the events occurred, a diagram of the Massey family tree, black and white plates of Toronto newspaper coverage pluse many photographs of the Masseys and life in Toronto during this era. There is a detailed source list at the back of the book but no annotated bibliography.

When writing history it can be difficult to discern between fact and embellishment. Some readers may find this the problem with The Massey Murder. Gray mentions that no transcript of the Massey trial survived because of the outcome, so her account is based on newspaper articles of the day.

Regardless, this is a fascinating account of an event that gripped Toronto almost one hundred years ago.

Book Details:
The Massey Murder. A Maid, Her Master, And The Trial That Shocked A Country by Charlotte Gray
Toronto: HarperCollins Publisher Ltd.     2013
308 pp.

Kid Soldier by Jennifer Maruno

Fifteen year old Richard lives with his widowed mother in a dilapidated home in the Stoney Creek area. He's still in school but since they badly need money and Richard covets the bike in the window of Cupola's Bike Shop, he sets out to find work. Eventually his goal is to travel the world but first he wants that bike. It is 1939, and Canada is in the throes of the depression with many men unable to find work.

Richard, whose father died when he was young, is an enterprising young man, who is willing to work hard. Despite his much younger friend, Tommy's reservations about strange Mr. Vogel, Richard goes to work for Vogel helping him harvest peaches on his farm.

From there he finds work helping the town baker, Mr. Black make his deliveries. Richard soon befriends the Black family with his hard work and willingness to help. It turns out that Mr. Black is a veteran of the First World War.  Black worked in the signal corps and he encourages Richard to sign up for the army training camp he will be attending. He peaks Richard's interest by telling him about learning wireless telegraphy, and how this might be his way to getting into the Navy to travel the world. Richard comes to see the demonstrations and finds himself pushed into attending the camp.

Richard is able to enroll in the camp, despite the fact that he's underaged. After completing the camp he becomes determined to enlist some day. That time comes sooner than later when World War II breaks out. Richard enlists at Camp Niagara and is sent first to Kingston and then onto England via the Empress of Britain where he begins training. From this point on the story focuses on Richard's experiences in England and the eventual discovery that he is too young to serve.

Discussion  

Kid Soldier is a gentle story about a young teen who enlists at the start of World War II so that he can experience travel and adventure. Although Maruno's story is an important one, the bland cover and a narrative that has little action will likely not engage young readers. A book's cover should be an invitation to read, but the cover of Kid Soldier does nothing of the sort.

Richard Fuller is a truly honorable character who has a keen sense of duty and is not quick to form an opinion about those he doesn't know. When Tommy speaks badly of Mr. Vogel, suggesting he is strange for crying, Richard decides to forego expressing his opinion. Vogel offers him a chance to work and despite Tommy's reservations and refusal himself, Richard accepts, deciding he will see for himself what the farmer is like. Richard eventually learns the reason for Mr. Vogel's tears, suggesting that we can never truly know what burdens another person carries.

Although Richard doesn't seem to have a good relationship with his mother, Maruno's narrative suggests that she too is like Vogel with many burdens. Since the death of his father, Richard's mother has struggled to survive; her life is filled with endless work. Richard's dream of the bike in the store window is soon forgotten as he signs over some of his army pay to go back home. This is yet another example of his caring and responsible attitude towards others, but especially his mother.

This novel will likely appeal to boys who enjoy war stories told in a slow paced narrative style. Kid Soldier provides an glimpse into the life of young Canadian men just before the start of the second World War that is both informative and detailed.

Book Details:

Kid Soldier by Jennifer Maruno

Toronto: Dundurn Press   2013

198 pp.

The Hangman in the Mirror by Kate Cayley

Set in 18th century (1700's) New France, The Hangman in the Mirror presents a fictionalized account of the true story of Francoise Laurent who was sentenced to hang for stealing from her employer, Madame Pommereau.

Told in the voice of Francoise, the story begins when she has just turned fifteen-years-old. Living in poverty with her father who is a soldier and her mother who is a washerwoman, Francoise must deal with both her parents who are drunk most of the time. She wishes for a better life and desperately wants to move up in Montreal society. 

The novel opens  on  Francoise Laurent's fifteenth birthday. with her father giving her a mirror. The mirror, traded from a peddler for the buttons on his military jacket, is small, cracked along one side in a tarnished and battered frame.

With her mother a washerwoman, their kitchen is always filled with steam, grease, sweat, and soap. Hanging from everywhere in the room are smocks, dresses, sheets and pillowcases. While most of these are threadbare, her mother shows her the fine line and lace of one order - that of a well-to-do lady who has had many stillbirths. Her maid brought the clothing in the night to be cleaned. 

One night Francoise is startled awake by her father who tells her to go get Mathilde, the midwife as the baby is coming early. Sadly Francoise's mother gives birth to a baby boy whom they call Christophe and he is buried the next day. 

After the death of her brother, Francoise's father, who had been taught to read by a priest in France, teachers her to read. One day after playing a silly game with Marie and Isabelle, both of whom she frightened terribly, Francoise came to understand the power of words. "I thought about words. Words, it seemed, were power, even for those with nothing in the world...Words could make things true, conjure things that had no existence. I thought that was a useful thing to know. Perhaps words could be a way out, for I knew I must find a way out of this life somehow, and not through a husband, though I should not mind one if it was someone I liked in himself." She was determined to be someone who did well in this new land.

In the summer, Montreal is hot, humid and smelly. In August Francoise overhears a young maid telling the peddler that people are sick with smallpox. Francoise watches the young maid, who works for the Pommerau family, buy hair ribbons from the peddler. She asks the maid how she can become a maid and the girl tells her that she must clean herself up and that she needs someone to recommend her, stating that she is of good character and a hard worker. Back at home that night Francoise's mother becomes ill but not with smallpox but with measles. As both her parents soon become ill, Mathilde sends Francoise to her home to change and wait there so that she also does not become ill with measles. However, after five days, Mathilde returns home with the news that both of Francoise's parents have died.

When both her parents die during a measles epidemic, she refuses to take over her mother's washing business. Instead, a family friend, Mathilde goes to see her father's commander and forces him to write a letter of introduction for Francoise so that she can seek employment as a maid in the home of the wealthy Pommereaus.

Madame Pommereau agrees to take on Francoise, who leaves behind her impoverished past for the comfort of her employers home. But from the beginning things do not go well. Francoise is sharp and not likeable and she immediately gets off to a bad start with the other servants in the house. Gradually and with patience, Madame Pommereau trains Francoise to be her maid. They develop a sort of distant relationship but when Francoise becomes too familiar one day, Madame reminds her that she is a servant. This angers Francoise, who decides to get revenge. That revenge takes the form of stealing Madame's beautiful black silk gloves. Once her wounded feelings heal, Francoise decides to return the gloves but not soon enough. Her crime is discovered and when Madame Pommereau tells her husband, he decides to press charges and have her tried. To make an example of Francoise in the new colony, she is sentenced to hang for the theft of a pair of gloves.

Now in prison, Francoise learns that the hangman has died and that no one has yet stepped forward for the position. One day a young man is moved to the cell beside her own. She learns from this man that he is a soldier who was imprisoned for fighting and killing a man in a duel. Francoise remembers what Madame once told her, about how a woman may escape being hanged. She forms a plan and begins to work it. Will she be able to save her neck from the noose?

Discussion

The Hangman in the Mirror is set in Montreal, New France in the 1700's is a fictional account of a real event that occurred in Montreal in 1751. 

In 1750 Francoise Laurent was twenty-years-old and was the daughter of the drum-major of Montreal, Guillamme-Antoine Laurent. She was found guilty on October 26, 1750 of stealing clothes from the Pommereau home where she was employed as a maid. She was sentenced to be hanged. Her sentence was confirmed on March 12, 1751 by the Conseil Superior but her execution was stayed due to the death of the executioner. Jean-Baptiste Duclos had died on December 28, 1750 and his replacement had not yet been found. And so Francoise Laurent remained in a prison cell in Quebec.

Meanwhile Jean Corolere had come to Canada in the autumn of 1750 and was a drummer in the grenadier and gunner company. On the evening of January 26, 1751, Corolere became involved in a duel with a member named Coffre from his company of soldiers. The duel ended with Corolere nicking Coffre in the hand, ending the duel and both went back to the tavern in Saint-Jean to drink. However, when the authorities learned of the duel they arrested Corolere but were unable to locate Coffre. In France and New France, duelling was illegal. According to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, both Corolere and Coffre were sentenced on June 2, 1751 to one year in prison while further investigation took place.

Jean Corolere was placed in a cell next to Francoise Laurent. In New France, a condemned woman could escape execution by marrying an executioner. Likewise a man could escape the death sentence by becoming an executioner. Over the next three months, Francoise and Jean Corolere became acquainted and likely formed a plan together. Interestingly, the Dictionary of Canadian Biography entry for Jean Corolere, authored by historian Andre LaChance suggests that what happened next was entirely due to Francoise Laurent, and making it seem like it was a woman's wiles that were responsible. "The young criminal decided therefore to ensnare Corolere so completely that he would be ready to do anything to marry her, even serve as hangman, a role considered dishonourable at the period." On August 17, 1751, Corolere applied to be considered executioner, a position that still had not been filled. His request was granted and the remaining ten months of his sentence cancelled. The very next day, Corolere returned with a second petition asking the councillors to allow him to marry Francoise Laurent, thus saving her from execution. Francoise Laurent and Jean Corolere were married on August 19, 1751 in the "chapel of the intendant's palace."  Corolere served as executioner for a short period of time. There is no record of the whereabouts of Laurent and Corolere after April 29, 1752.

The Hangman in the Mirror is an imagined fictional account of these events based on the above historical facts. The author, who wrote a stage play on this historical event, has taken dramatic license and created a story that is depressing and dark. History knows little about Francoise Laurent or her parents except that her father, Guillaume-Antoine Laurent was the drum-major of Montreal. In the novel, Francoise's parents are portrayed as drunkards who drink away almost every penny they make, leaving their only surviving daughter, Francoise to fend for herself. Her mother is especially reprehensible, supposedly a former prostitute in France, who has given birth to ten children, of which Francoise is the only surviving child. And at the beginning of the novel she is pregnant and drunk most of the time. The story is told in the voice of Francoise Laurent, who is portrayed as a manipulative, irreverant young girl who is generally unlikeable. Her narratvie is crass and self-absorbed. 

The novel also offers a depressing portrayal of life in New France in the 18th century. Life in Montreal is not pleasant but especially so for the very poor. Francoise describes summer in Montreal as very unpleasant. "Summer meant heat and stink, maggots in the meat, ferment in the cider, white worms and weevils all about. The smell in those hot days could make your head swim, so mixed up it was with rot, spoiled food, dirty clothes."  In such conditions it was not surprising that people became ill.

The novel attempts to contrast the various social classes that existed in New France during this period and attempts to portray what they think of one another. For example, the young maid that Francoise meets in the market tells her that the weathly ladies can do nothing for themselves.  And the wealthy think badly of those who are of a lower social class.  For example, when Madame discovers that Francoise can read the Bible - an unusual skill for an uneducated maidservant of the time - she is not pleased. Madame believes that teaching someone from Francoise's class to read is a great unkindness because it would cause that person to wish for a life they could not possibly have. "Because to read is to imagine another life, a world elsewhere, is that not true? And for a girl, especially a servant girl, to read would surely mean to learn to imagine another life, and so be dissatisfied with how she must live and what she has been born into. Surely it could only lead to unhappiness, Francoise."

Madame feels that the lower classes should be happy with what they have and accept their lot in life, never aspiring to improve themselves. Reading might widen a person's view of the world but not give them the skills to attain a better life. This opinion, along with the waste of food and other basic amenities of life in the Pommereau's wealthy home, cause Francoise much disgust towards the wealthy class of New France.

Francoise's situation serves to demonstrate the severity of the justice system in New France - a system based on the penal laws of France. In New France there were three prisons, constructed of stone and located at Quebec, Montreal, and Trois Rivieres. Both Francoise Laurent and Jean Corolere were held in one of four cells in the prison at Quebec, which was located at the Intendant's palace. While we would consider hanging someone for theft to be unjustly harsh, the strict laws in New France were to set an example and act as a deterrant to would-be criminals.  This becomes very evident when Francoise is in jail and at her trial. 

When Francoise is visited by Madame Pommereau in prison, she tells Madame that the theft of the gloves is "a little thing" and asks Madame to "end it" showing she doesn't understand the seriousness of the situation. This is not surprising since Francoise has spent most of her life stealing in order to survive. But Madame Pommereau does not see the situation the same as Francoise. "I cannot end it now. I have compromised my dignity already by coming to see you at all. I would humiliate myself to end it, and what is worse, humiliate my husband. When something is set in motion, Francoise, it must run its course. Authority, property, law -- those are real things, which it is a duty to preserve. And when offended, remedies must be sought, and punishment is now the remedy..."  In other words, authority and civil order are so important in the colony that an example must be made of a young woman who has stolen from her employer. At stake are the reputations of the Pommereaus - even if that means the death of Francoise. The judge pronounces the sentence because he believes that Francoise is an "incurably" bad young woman. The courts of this time did not take into account the circumstances of the accused.

The character of Francoise Laurent is well drawn even if it is fictional; that of a willful, manipulative, young woman who is mostly unlikeable. She is impulsive and rude and doesn't think through the consequences of her actions and how they affect others. Although she had the intent to return the gloves and is sorry, it is too late. Her actions in threatening Bertha, the servant who found the gloves, and also Madame, have made the situation even worse. This led Madame Pommereau to take the matter of the theft to her husband who decided this was a very serious offense and to have Francoise charged.

The difficulty with creating such an unlikeable character is that the reader is unlikely to care much about what happens to Francoise. However, near the end of the novel, Cayley softens the character of Francoise Laurent somewhat. "I had meant to go on, but my voice caught in my throat. Because,  speaking all this, telling the best story I had ever told, I realized it was true. Whether speaking it made it true (for that is the strangeness of words) or whether speaking it made me know it to be true, I could not tell. But in that moment, I found I loved him. He was all I had left to love, and the force of it knocked the wind out of me so that I could not speak."

The Hangman in the Mirror is a historical fiction novel with a dark, depressing tone. It is more suited for much older teen readers or even adult readers due to the language and subject matter. The author has written a play about Francoise Laurent and it probably would have been better if another writer had tackled this story for teens. As a playwright, Cayley's vision of Francoise Laurent as a devious, calculating young woman who steals her employer's gloves in a fit of anger offers an interesting story for the stage but is maybe too dark a story for a teen novel.

Book Details:
The Hangman in the Mirror by Kate Cayley
Annick Press 2011
229 pp.