Canada. Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. Library and Archives Canada, C-043147 /

When I was at school in the library there was a book that was written by a Red Indian who went by the name of Grey Owl.  If I remember correctly, I looked through the book on a couple of occasions but did not read it thoroughly.  To be truthful, I did not really think of Grey Owl until 1999 when the Richard Attenborough movie of the same name was released with Pierce Brosnan in the title role.  That was until a few days ago when I wandered into the Arcade as again, I was looking to purchase presents for one of my children.  It was as I was looking around the book section which is partially hidden under Rafter’s Café, that I found what appeared to be a slim scrapbook with the name Grey Owl written in the top right hand corner.

This mystified me slightly so I opened it up and found that the scrapbook was full of newspaper and magazine cuttings about Grey Owl.

They initially reported his death in April 1938 but other cuttings were far more acidic as after investigations it was found that Grey Owl did not have North American Indian ancestry as he claimed, but was plain old Archie Belaney from Hastings.  This did not come as a surprise to me as every so often the story of Grey Owl would spring up in newspaper articles usually during the silly season when there was not much else to write about.

There was also a huge exhibition in London in the mid -seventies and his name was mentioned in passing at the time.  I had always liked Red Indians (or Native Americans as I believe they are called now) and in my misspent youth, I read a number of books about them.

I can remember the movie Soldier Blue (1970) which dealt with the 1864 Sand Creek massacre as well as Dee Brown’s magnificent book Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee which was also published in 1970.  But there was very little written about Grey Owl, it seemed in a way that his reputation had been so damaged by the revelations after his death that people did not treat him seriously.  As I have noted, he was the subject of newspaper and magazine articles but was treated to some extent as a curious character. An imposter from Hastings.  But Archie Belaney/Grey Owl was a much more interesting character than that and his story is so incredible that it would be hard to make it up.

Archie was born in Hastings on the 18^th of September 1888.  He was the son of George Belaney and his wife Katherine (Kittie).  His father was an interesting person who in the years prior to Archie’s birth emigrated to the USA.  Kittie was in fact George’s second wife and had accompanied George and Elizabeth (Kitty’s sister and George’s first wife) to the United States.  Sadly Elizabeth died sometime after their arrival and George asked Kitty (who had not even reached twenty) to marry him.  Strangely enough, this request would have been considered illegal in Britain but was not against the law in America.

Soon after George and Kitty moved back to Britain settling in Hastings where Archie was born.  Sadly, George left her soon after their return to the United States when Kittie became pregnant again.  Archie remained in England and was cared for by his father’s mother Juliana and his sisters, Julia and Janet.  This said, he saw his mother on a number of occasions during these years.  Archie attended Hastings Grammar School where he excelled in a number of subjects.  It was during this time that he developed an interest in the Native Americans and their culture.

After leaving school Archie worked in a timber yard in Hastings.  He was later fired from this job as he lowered a firework down the chimney of company office as a practical joke (Archie was very fond of practical jokes and pranks).  However, this misfired and he nearly burnt the building down.  Archie had obviously outgrown Hastings and he was allowed to travel to Canada in search of adventure. 

He left the UK on the 29^th of March 1906 and sailed for Halifax.  Initially. the thought was for him to study agriculture in Toronto but Archie soon found himself in Ontario where he worked as a fur trapper and a wilderness guide as well as a forest ranger.  It was at about this time that he assumed the identity of Grey Owl.  He told people that he was the son of a Scottish father and an Apache mother.  This was an obvious fabrication as Archie’s family tree was mostly English on both sides and only his paternal grandfather had any connection with  Scotland. He continued his natural education as well as earning money elsewhere and soon developed an interest in the Anishinaabe people.  He studied their language and culture and became involved with one of his co-workers, Angele Egwuna and in August 1910 they married.

In 1915, Archie enlisted with the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force and this is where his life became a little messy.  He also suffered an injury that would lead to his exposure after his death.  Archie noted that he had been born in Montreal and was vague as to his marital status.  He further complicated things by noting that he had been a Mexican Scout with the 28^thDragoons.  Soon Archie was shipped to France where he served as a sniper with the 13^th (Montreal) Battalion of the Black Watch.  He was seen as a good soldier by his comrades who also accepted his story about his Indian heritage.  Archie was wounded twice during his service overseas, once in January 1916 and again more seriously in April 1916 when he was shot in the foot.  The wound became gangrenous and he was shipped back to Britain.  Archie spent the next year in the UK and two events of significance occurred during this period.

It appeared that there were complications with his wound which necessitated the amputation of one of his toes.  Also, he married again (even though he was still married to Angele) this time to a childhood friend named Constance Holmes.  In defence of Archie, he might have treated his previous marriage as a’ la facon du pays which roughly translated means according to the customs of the country.  In modern terms this could be seen as a kind of common-law marriage.  Whichever way it was, Archie had abandoned Angele and felt himself free to marry again.  This said, his marriage to Constance soon failed and he was sent back to Canada in September 1917 having received an honourable discharge as well as a disability pension.

In 1925, Archie met nineteen year old Gertrude Bernard (who is better known as Anahareo) who became a major influence within his life.  They had a passionate relationship and were joined together in an Anishinaabe wedding ceremony.  Anahareo (1906-1986) was one of these people who were really ahead of their time.  Whilst today in the civilised world we respect animals and respect their rights to exist peacefully, this was not the case ninety years ago and many creatures were slaughtered without thought.  This woman from a Mohawk Canadian background began to change Archie’s thoughts about the wildlife that surrounded them.

He began to think deeply about conservation and soon ceased trapping all together as Anahareo had illustrated the suffering that creatures caught in traps had to endure.  She also encouraged him to start writing.  Anahareo and Archie had a deep interest in beavers and they both raised a pair of beaver kits.  Previously to this, Archie’s only contact with the beaver population was to set traps for them so that he might sell their pelts.

His first article appeared in the English magazine Country Life (under his birth name A S Belaney).  He also published a number of articles under his Indian name of Grey Owl.  In 1928, the National Park Service even made a film with Archie and Anahareo which showed them raising two beavers who had lost their mother.  In the period between 1930 and 1935, Archie wrote over twenty articles for the Canadian Forest and Outdoors magazine and it was during this time that he published his first book The Men of the Last Frontier (1931).  Archie and Anahareo (and their beavers) also travelled around a great deal in search of better habitats for the beavers.  But it was not all sweetness and light as Archie’s past was about to catch up with him.

He told his publisher the following fantastic story.

That he was the son of a Scottish father and an Apache mother.   He claimed that his father had been a scout during the 1870 Indian Wars.  He said that his mother and father had in later years been part of the Wild Bill Hickok’s Western Show which had toured England.  And that he had been born in Hermosillo in New Mexico in 1888 when the show had visited the state.

Archie’s downfall however was not because of his deception, but because of his alcohol intake.  He returned from the First World War with a drink problem (which was not surprising if one thinks of the carnage witnessed).

In 1936, Anahareo left him taking their daughter Shirley Dawn (1932-1984) with her.  Later that year the charismatic Archie/Grey Owl married a French Canadian woman named Yvonne Perrier.  This was to be his last relationship.  Archie’s fame grew with his books and articles and in the period between 1935 and 1937 he toured both Canada and Britain.

It was during one of his tours that he visited Hastings where he, even though he was dressed in traditional Ojibwa clothing, was recognised by his aunts (although they did not say anything at the time).

One of his books, Pilgrims in the Wild (1935) was selling very well (5000 copies per month).  Remember you belong to Nature, not it to you was a favourite saying of Archie’s and he even met the King and Queen in 1937.  But this was the beginning of the end for Archie for as well as his serious problems with alcohol, he was very concerned about being exposed as a fraud.  One journalist, an Ed Bunyan of the North Bay Nugget had done his research and knew that Grey Owl was indeed a fake.  But he chose not to run the story.

However, Archie’s health was giving serious cause for concern.  The hectic schedules of his tours as well as his excessive alcohol consumption had taken their toll.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Fremte

In the April of 1938 Archie returned to his cabin (Beaver Lodge) on the Ajawaan Lake and it was there that he collapsed and was found unconscious on the floor.  He was taken to a Prince Albert hospital but died there of pneumonia on the 13^th of April 1938.

Archie/Grey Owl was only forty nine years old.  His exposure was almost instantaneous and the first story was run on the day of his death.  The Times picked up on the story and soon his publisher had to admit that his friend had lied to him.  The consequences were rather dramatic as publishers ceased the publication of books by Grey Owl.  Some were even withdrawn.  There was also a decrease in donations to the conservation causes that Archie/Grey Owl had been involved with.  And this is what makes my scrapbook so haunting for it timelines the period between the reports of the death of Grey Owl and the subsequent exposure of his fraudulent identity.

The banners ranged from Grey Owl Lover of Wild, Dead  to Grey Owl Proved an Imposter: Mother Lives in England.  It was found that his mother (Kittie) was still alive and living in Devonshire.  The loss of his toe was the final clue that confirmed that Grey Owl was indeed Archibald Stansfeld Belaney from Hastings in England.  It appears that Anahareo was genuinely surprised by Archie’s deception, although I personally doubt this as she was the woman who triggered his renaissance.  To be that close to someone and not to have doubts is improbable.

On the last page of my scrapbook there is an account and a very haunting photograph of Archie/Grey Owl’s last journey.  I will quote the opening to give you a flavour of the occasion:

Over 214 miles of fast melting ice and snow, on the route north of Prince Albert, two teamsters have conveyed the body of Grey Owl to its last resting place on the shore of Lake Alawaan between high fir trees.  
And here Archie/Grey Owl rests to this day next to both Anahareo and Shirley Dawn.

Whilst writing this article I wondered what prompted Richard Attenborough to make the movie about Grey Owl in 1999.  I found out that Richard and his brother David actually attended a lecture given by Grey Owl in Leicester in the 1930s.  To me that was as good a reason as any to make a film about this enigmatic man.  I have not seen this movie but have been told that it is a fine account of Archie/Grey Owl’s life.

At present I am on the lookout for the DVD.

As I noted earlier, I came across the scrapbook totally by accident.  I also came across a copy of Archie’s book Pilgrims of the Wild.  It gives a fine account of his work with Anahareo during the period they were together.

I am not aware if I have exhausted the arcade’s supply of Grey Owl memorabilia and Grey Owl books.  But if I have I apologise.  However, the books are pretty easy to find although you might be hard pressed to find such an interesting scrapbook.

Happy Hunting.

Stuart Miller-Osborne

It is with great sadness that we announce that our dear friend and colleague, Betty Fuller passed away peacefully in her sleep on Friday, 3rd February 2017.

Betty has been a dear friend of Hazel and Adrian for over 40 years and has been at Hungerford Arcade for all of that time.  She was a very knowledgeable lady and loved to deal in quality sofas and armchairs and had built up a substantial clientele over the years.  Betty often brought one of her dogs into the Arcade when she was staying here all day and loved to go out lunch time to give them a good walk on Hungerford Common.

Betty lived life to the full and liked nothing more than going to antique fairs, buying, selling and meeting up with old friends and acquaintances that she had struck up friendships with over the years.

We will all miss Betty very much.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to her daughter and business partner, Sarah Jane and all Betty’s family and friends.

Hungerford Arcade have many, many overseas visitors.  Twice in a few months we have had members of the Hungerford family whose ancestors spread their wings to the USA. There is a group on facebook organised by William R. Hungerford who are building up the ancestry of the family by getting together with other family members in America and the UK who can add what they know from their side of the family.  It is all very interesting and to think it all started from our small market town,  Hungerford.

The second visit was Crystal Gaskell from New York and her daughter Emma who is engaged to a Brit but lives in Amsterdam.   Crystal’s maiden name is Hungerford, but she did not know about William R Hungerford who is tracing the family ancestry.  I put her in touch with William and hopefully they will both find new threads on this remarkable family.   It was wonderful meeting you both and thank you for letting me tell your story.   Rita

Some of you may recall the blog that I published a few months ago after William R. Hungerford visited us and gave a brief history of the Hungerford Family.  He can trace them back to the 11th century!   You can read it by clicking on this link.  http://www.wallingfordarcade.com/?s=Hungerfords

Monopoly is one of those games that everybody knows how to play. Infuriating for everybody playing it, apart from the winner and yet we still go back to play another game.  Although it originated in the US, it is a British classic and it is the British version of the board which was used throughout the Commonwealth.  If I ever find myself in London I’m always excited to see one of the street names from the famous board on an actual street sign.

I recently came across an edition of the game which was produced during the Second World War.  This was a time when resources were scarce and people needed a distraction from the threat of air raids and invasion.  So the continued production of board games and other forms of entertainment was important for public morale.

The interesting thing about this wartime edition of the game is the alterations that were made to the game pieces.  All available metals and plastics were being driven towards the war effort so the pieces, instead of being cast in metal are made from card slotted into a wooden base, all of the houses and hotels are made from wood dyed the correct colours and the money is only printed on one side.

Probably the most interesting part is the dice “spinner”, made from cardboard due to “the difficulty of obtaining dice”.  Whether or not the spinner offered the same random nature of dice I’m not sure but I suppose in times of need sacrifices had to be made.  It might seem like a small amount of plastic could have been spared for things like dice, but it wasn’t just the materials but also the manufacturing time and labour which had to be concentrated more on the war effort.  Every available factory and machine would have been commandeered for the good of the country.

It’s amazing that buying a Second World War era Monopoly set would cost you little more than buying a brand new edition of the game.  This set is worth between approximately £10-£15 and a new set can be found for as little as £12.  I think if you’re looking to buy a set, try to get hold a more interesting, slightly older edition.

Of all the artists which one can loosely term Romantic, my favourite by far is Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) whose work at once incorporated the Romantic with the Gothic as well as being very mystical.  I have viewed his paintings both here and abroad and they never cease to amaze me.  You may have well have seen a Friedrich in reproduction as his genius has become more recognised by each passing generation.

Please, if you are lucky enough to be able to view a Friedrich do so.  You will not regret your decision.

But this short article is not about Friedrich or indeed Romantic Art but about one or two items recently spotted in the Arcade.

I have always been a fan of garden and park furniture be they positioned in the strong sunlight of a Mediterranean garden or in a windswept coastal garden in Whitby.  The furniture in both our gardens and parks is occasional furniture.  We might rest on a Victorian bench and eat our sandwiches in a park .  Or on a hot day we might sit under a tree on a bench in our garden.  We do not use them often but would miss them if they were not there.

If one has a decent sized garden then I think that we all have a touch of the Capability Brown about us.  We want our garden to look good even if it is not used that often.  One does not have to adopt a Classical design, really it is all a matter of taste.

I am something of a garden voyeur (especially if I am travelling by bus) and love to look at other peoples gardens.  Some are unloved and resemble bombsites whereas others cherish every blade of grass.  Some are awash with children’s toys whilst others resemble a Samuel Beckett stage set.  Even on the short journey to Swindon, I have seen Zen gardens, Modernist gardens and gardens that resemble memories from St Mary Mead.  What would Miss Marple have made of it all?  Near Reading there is a Japanese garden all set in a space similar to that of a bus stop.  But it works even with a rather prominent Japanese gate.

I call it my sleeping hobby as because of time constraints we have a back to nature garden.  This translated means a garden that requests the minimum of upkeep but still looks good.  It is good for the bees and the frogs can hide from the inquisitive cats is my excuse.  But yesterday on a trip to the arcade, I saw an item which although not a piece of garden furniture would have been a splendid addition to the right type of garden.

What was it you may ask?

A beautiful cross which appeared to me to be made of iron as it exhibited rust stains and this added to its rough aged appearance.  It was about three feet high and immediately reminded me of the cross in Friedrich’s masterpiece The Cross in the Mountains (1807).

Whilst the cross in the painting was very plain and viewed at a considerable distance, the fir trees that are depicted nearby give it a sense of the organic.  And this was what I admired about this cross.  It had been constructed using man made materials and exhibited a certain decoration but the feeling it gave me was that it once had been high on a nearby chapel.  I did not look at the price but I would have considered it if my garden had been large and slightly shrouded.

If the cross had been located in a clearing imagine the vista on a misty morning or with the sun either setting or rising behind it.  Or on a bleak January day covered in part by snow with either the luxurious evergreens or the skeletons of winter trees nearby.

Sometimes when one is looking at antiques one finds an item that is so stunning that it takes your breath away.

The cross was in a small unit and one of its near neighbours was a beautiful Madonna.  I do not think that she would have taken benefit from being exposed to the elements but in a sheltered position she would have been a welcome addition to any house or garden.

I rather like Madonnas and possess a couple of smaller but equally beautiful ones. There is a sense of peace emitted even from the most damaged plaster Madonna.

As with the cross, one can look at a Madonna and feel a sense of tranquillity.  The combination of the two along with some weathered stone benches gave one a feeling of calm which I feel was shared with some of my fellow visitors on that day.  These are both obviously Christian symbols but to me the combination transcended religious parameters.

A friend of mine has a small stream running through his garden and he has placed a number of Buddha’s along its line.  The effect is stunning especially if on a calm summer’s evening he illuminates the stream with candles or lanterns.  But my friend is no more of a Buddhist that I am a Mormon.  He just enjoys the peace and calm.  Whilst he or I might be accused of having a Sunday supplement view of life I do not think that God would worry too much.

Religious icons in my view are not only there to be marvelled at but to be enjoyed and admired.  I cannot think that Andrei Rublev when creating his wonderful icons was not aware of their beauty.  Beauty is all around us and obviously there to be shared.  It is a gift and if one decides to create a garden with religious iconography as its main or partial theme then who I am I to cast the first stone.

As I travel around I quite often see items associated with churches and although these can be a little expensive they are quite beautiful.  I recently found a number of Minton tiles obviously created for a church restoration during Victorian times.  The condition of these tiles was very fine which made me think that they had not been used and had been stored in a long forgotten cupboard before somebody realised that they might be worth a few pounds.  I also found some carved pew ends which I think are known as poppy-heads which appeared to date from Victorian times although their history can be traced back to medieval times.

Complete pews are often found as well as offertory items and other bits and pieces associated with the embroidery of the church.  Just over a year ago I located a couple of rather tired but nonetheless beautifully embroidered stoles in the Arcade.  I nearly purchased them but decided otherwise.

I do not really collect religious artefacts as I do not have the room.  But if I had lived in a house with a spacious garden then I might have purchased the beautiful cross and would have set it between the pines at the top of the garden so that I could observe it from a distance in silhouette against the low Berkshire sun.

Happy Hunting  

Stuart Miller-Osborne

Hungerford Arcade are always proud to promote our dealers.  Here we have Sue and Dennis Brockwell (Unit 43) who are now also on line.  You can see them here on the ‘Dealers’ page on our website and by going direct to their new website at:

www.antiquejewelleryboutique.com

Jeanette Parker (L) (Great niece of Flt Sgt Ernest Hugo Traeger) with Rita

Hungerford Arcade New Year’s Day.  A lovely couple, Staff Sgt. RE Ret’d Ian Parker and his lovely wife, Jeanette were staying nearby and decided to visit Hungerford. They made a bee-line for the Arcade, which they loved and bought some very interesting items.

,

Avro Lancaster By Kogo – Own work, GFDL, Link

Ian then began telling us that they had come up from Kent for a few days covering New Year and would be visiting Welford Airfield to see the Memorial Site where Jeanette’s great uncle, Flight Sergeant Ernest Hugo Traeger, a secret Lancaster bomber radio operator and the rest of the crew are remembered.

Ernest was part of the crew of Lancaster bomber DV290 which was a secret plane with a crew of 8 instead of the standard 7.  Ernest being the 8th member.  This plane had two radio operators, but only one that could speak German and that was Ernest.  The crew were made up of four British, two Australians and two Canadians.  Ernest was one of the Australians.

Ernest Traeger’s role was speaking directly to the German night fighters, who thought they were receiving instructions from their own leaders, when in fact, it was Ernest sending them in different directions so that a path could be cleared for the Lancaster bombers to get through.

Lancaster V290 went on many missions.  On the last one, out of 500 Lancasters that went out, 101 were lost over Germany.  Coincidentally, V290 belonged to 101 Squadron.

On 31st March 1944, on their way back to Welford Airfield and not having responded to any of the air traffic controller’s radio calls, they were considered to be the enemy and the order was given to turn off the runway lights just as they were coming in to land.  In the darkness, the Lancaster went nose down into the ground, killing all on board.

When the wreckage was examined, it was with great sadness and shock to discover that it was a British aircraft, Lancaster bomber DV290.  The aircraft had been badly shot up over Germany and had limped home.

Welford Airfield, which still exists today, created a memorial site and every year on 31st March hold a Military Memorial Service for the crew of Lancaster DV290.  Ian and Jeanette have attended the ceremony each year for the past ten years and will be back again this year.

The Crew of Avro Lancaster DV290

An ABC-Equipped Aircraft

Of

“C” Flight

101 Squadron

RAF Ludford Magna

FS  E.R.Thomas RAF                         FS  L.R.McNay

Sgt D.A.Addy RAF                            Sgt D.R. Billson

WO  A.N.Rice  RCAF                        Sgt R.A.J.Collier

FS  A.H.Wilson  RAAF                      FS E.H.Traeger

Who died when their

Aircraft crashed on this airfield

During the early hours of the 31^st of March 1944

Whilst returning from a raid on Nuremburg

Hungerford Arcade had yet another talented lady visit us for a specific purpose.  Jane Lewis is a Lace maker, Designer and Teacher.  She came to the Arcade looking for any antique that required a chunk of tlc.  

Although Jane specialises in old Buckingham Lace, she has yet another string to her bow, buying tatty old parasols – the tattier the better, as long as the frame is sound, she can completely restore the parasol to its former glory.

A collection of ten patterns by Jane in beautiful Bucks Point lace.

Hungerford Arcade, co-owners, Adrian and Hazel, managers, Alex and Rita, staff and stallholders, wish all our friends, customers and visitors from across the world, a very happy New Year!