One of my favourite documents at the Archdeacon Buckle Memorial Archive is the scrapbook of Bishop Llewellyn Jones (1878-1917). It consists of two large volumes where someone, perhaps the bishop himself, pasted important published documents from that period. It is so fragile that each time it is opened a few crumbs are left on the table. One of my goals for this year is to have this scrapbook properly digitized so that anyone can take a leisurely stroll through its contents.
Many of the documents are printed pieces of correspondence relating to Queen’s College, Diocesan Synods, services being held at the cathedral, etc. You will find among them references to restoration of the cathedral following the 1892 fire. There is a partial index containing this letter that I want to read the next time I unwrap the old book—Bishop’s Letter to Clergy about a General Election.
One of the documents (handwritten in ink) is a two-page list of the churches that were consecrated throughout the diocese before the time of Bishop Jones. For example, it records that the first St. Matthew’s Church, in Bay Roberts, was consecrated in 1827 by Bishop Inglis of Nova Scotia. A second St. Matthew’s Church was consecrated by Bishop Field in 1861. At the bottom of the page, written in pencil, it states that a St. Barnabas Church, in Flower’s Cove, was consecrated by Bishop Kelly in 1870, and a St. Paul’s Church, in Red Bay, was consecrated by Bishop Kelly in 1869.
There are also copies of some secular documents from the time of Bishop Jones. Of special interest for us at this time when many are wondering when we will be able to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and others are thinking that they will not be vaccinated at all, is the legislation passed by the Government of Newfoundland in 1871. Anyone refusing to be vaccinated, unless being able to show that s/he should not be vaccinated for health reasons, could be given a fine “not exceeding $2.00.”
