Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
The box belonged to the donor's father, Britton Osler. It was purchased at the Army & Navy Cooperative Society in England, an early cooperative department store founded in 1871. An inscription on a big "Cunard" stamp on the side of the box tells us that the box travelled on the Lusitania, towards New York, leaving its departure point on Feb. 26 of an indeterminate year. The RMS Lusitania is of historical interest because its sinking by a German torpedo in 1915 was the second greatest civilian ship disaster after the Titanic. Some consider this event to be the catalyst for the United States entering the First World War. The Lusitania started service for the Cunard Line in 1907 so we know that the trip was taken during a small eight-year window.
The Ellis Island Foundation has scanned manifests of all the ships that entered the port of New York between 1892 and 1924. From these records, we learn that Britton Osler travelled from Liverpool, arriving in New York on March 5, 1910, on his way to his residence in Toronto. He was 36 year old, a barrister, and married at the time. He was 5'9", with a dark complexion and dark hair. His declaration reveals that he had been in New York earlier that year, that he was carrying at least $50 and that he had purchased his ticket himself. He claimed to be sound of body and mind and reassured the authorities that he was neither a polygamist nor an anarchist.Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
E. Henrietta Osler came from a prominent Toronto family with strong connections to the legal profession. While not much information is available on Henrietta, it appears she was the Chief Commissioner of the Girl Guides of Canada at some point and may have been a philanthropist and a collector of French Realists and Impressionist art.
Her grandfather was Featherstone Osler (1838 - 1924), a Bencher of the Law Society and its Treasurer from 1921 to 1924. He was also a judge of various courts. Justice Osler was one of nine children and his siblings included brother Britton Bath Osler, a prominent criminal lawyer and founder of what is now Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt; Sir Edmund Boyd Osler, a successful businessman and politician; and Sir William Osler, an icon of Canadian medicine.
Ms. Osler's father was (Featherstone) Britton Osler (1874 - 1943), a partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt and a Bencher of the Law Society from 1930 to 1931. Her mother, Marion Pickton Gwyn, was the daughter of lawyer Herbert Charles Gwyn, and at least one of her brothers, Britton Michael Osler, was also a member of the legal profession.
