Social More Rules Pre World War 1 Winnipeg Society
When one visits Dalnavert, the restored mansion home of Hugh Jon Mc Donald – a former premier of the Province of Manitoba and the son of Canada’s first prime minister – Sir John A. Mc Donald , one is struck with the symbol of a small silver plate nearby the front door to the estate. This small plate is most symbolic , it was the place were calling cards were kept. It was the job of one of the main servants to inspect the cards left carefully , to evaluate if the caller was worthy of meeting the master at some point several days later. As such this served as a gatekeeper and enforcer of social standards and norms , in the pre World War 1 era , with all its instinsic rigid social class structures. This was after all Winnipeg , a part of the British Empire
Like the caste system of India , where each group sat in a “pecking order” and knew it well. Those below you in stature knew well that “you were better than them”. There were in addition many newcomers to the city of Winnipeg from Ontario and Britain who while being considered “socially acceptable” , had to be vetted and this either chosen to be welcomed or excluded.
In a city of self made men where almost everyone with money had worked very hard to get it, denying access to the local version of “society” could well be tricky. Leaders of local Winnipeg society , for example such as Mrs. Colin Campbell, the wife of Manitoba’s Attorney General, reinforced a system of “door keepers”, controlling in essence who was in …. who was “out”, who was invited and who was excluded.
Thus the parties given by wealthy hostesses like Mrs Agustus Nanton and Mrs. George Galt were described in the society collumns in the local established newspapers of note , so that those lower down in the totem pole pecking order could read about it and relish the tidbits of society gossip thrown in their paths.
Mrs. Hugh Phillips , the wife of a most successful Winnipeg lawyer in 1912 , recalled many many years later “ I remember Mrs. Sutherland – Lady May we called her because she held her head so high and was so grand. She had a satin blue dining room. She told W.F. Alloway to be careful of the chairs. He had sat down and put his feet up on the other chair. Mrs. George Galt and her husband also entertained on a grand scale. Her husband , George, and his brother John Galt where partners in a large grocery which among other things the firms’s popular “Blue Ribbon” brands. In January 1912 the Galts moved from their home on the corner of Broadway and Donald. to a beautiful new house at 460 Wellington Cresc. George Galt had designed many features of the house and made sure that it had plenty of room for entertainment and entertaining. The music room was eight meters long and 5 meters wide . The Galts daughter Alice recalled , years later “We entertained at home a great deal . We would have sing songs and roll back the rugs id we wanted to dance. We had any number of small parties of about a dozen people or less . We had gotten our first gramophone in 1908, but if we wanted to dance mother would play …When we were going to have a dance my sister and I my sister and I carried up most of the furniture up to the third floor to the would be billiards room so that if people wanted to go up there and sit they could.
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