How Is John Bulmer Rutherford Related to James Augustine Rutherford?

John Bulmer Rutherford (known as Bulmer to his family and friends), my husband's grandfather, wrote to his mother, Ida (Bulmer) Rutherford of Montreal, while he was serving during World War I.  We recently found two of his letters among some family papers.  One of them was sent from Highclere Castle in England, where he was visiting relatives. Below is a transcript of the letter, which was only partially dated, but must have been written in 1918.

"Highclere
Oct 13th

Dear Mother, 

As you see I am at Highclere just now and am having a very restful time for a few days.  I received Dad's cable yesterday but it is very late and I am not going to answer it as I know you have the information you wanted by now.  As soon as I arrived in London I went to Mr. Rowson's place to make sure he had the news but I presumed that Mr. Hodgson would have been informed officially some time before.  I wrote to Mrs. Williams at Liverpool and asked her to break the news to Marjorie if she had not already been informed.  It turned out that she was sick at the time and the doctor would not let them break the news.  I went up to Liverpool on Wed. night (I arrived from France Fri night) and spent the day with Marjorie Hodgson.  She was bearing it very bravely, far better than I thought she could stand it considering that she had been ill.  She said that General Dodd's cable had arrived at home in addition to Mr. Rowson's.  It had helped her a lot to know that Sid had not suffered in the least.  I brought her the little personal things that he would have wanted kept.  I also wrote to Mrs. Hodgson and presume that she has received the letter before this one.

Sid and Oliver Becket were both killed instantly by the same shell just two hours after the opening barrage of the battle for Cambrai.  It dwarfed into insignificance everything up till that time but as you have seen the casualty lists you will realize that Canada had to pay the price of her victory.  It was the pivot point of the whole front and all these later victories have come about as a result of what the Canadians accomplished there.  It had to be done and nobody else could do it.  When I came away the greatest part of the battle was over & the city was below and in front of us and within easy reach of our guns though not in our hands.  Of course since then it has fallen. 

I was staying in town with the Blaiklocks or Col Birks  whichever you please.  I told Polly B. that she ought to call it the 16th Canadian Gloucesters (16 Gloucester Sq) as their passing visitors certainly number a battalion.  She was very struck with the idea so it is christened as such.  Geoff Williams and Geordie Nick were both staying there at the time in addition to many others so it was very fine.  Mrs. Blaiklock is a wonderful hostess and Col Birks is fine.  I went up to Liverpool and came back to town for a day and then up here on Sat.  Uncle Jim is away to-day but expects to be back to-morrow.  Kenneth, the youngest boy, a little younger than I am, is here at present.  It was a perfect day to-day the first for some time and we were out on the lake and tramped through the park and incidentally took a few photos, which I will send home if they turn out.  I am feeling very comfortable (sic) arrayed in some of Ken's clothes (civvies).  I am not going to Scotland as I do not particularly want to go alone.  Nick might have gone up but it is too late as he has to report to his depot to-day.  I just missed Fred Peverley by a few days as he went back to France just as I arrived in Eng.

By the looks of things the end of the scrap seems to be in sight now.  This is not the time to talk peace though.  Not when we have him more or less on the run.  The time to talk peace is when he says he surrenders unconditionally, which he will do sooner or later.  I do not understand why they address all their notes to Wilson.  I guess they are afraid of the Americans in the future for they have really had little to do up till now.  I am going up to town for a couple of days before going back which I do on the 18th.  

With love to all the family,
Your Loving Son, 
Bulmer"

The Sid Hodgson that Bulmer discusses in this letter is a fellow Montrealer and McGill student, Sidney James Hodgson, who was killed in battle in September of 1918, at the age of 20.   Bulmer obviously survived the battle.

This letter is particularly important for the light it sheds on relationships between Canadian Rutherfords and those who remained in Britain.  Specifically, who was the Uncle Jim who hosted Bulmer during his stay at Highclere?  I believe "Uncle Jim" was in fact James Augustine Rutherford, the Estate Manager at Highclere.  According to census records, his youngest son, Seymour Kenneth Rutherford, was born around 1900.  Bulmer was born in 1897, and so would have been three years older than Seymour, or Kenneth as he appears to have been called.  However, although James Augustine Rutherford (who was born in 1856) was a generation older than Bulmer, he could not have been Bulmer's uncle.  I believe that they are cousins.  

Bulmer was the son of William Rutherford Jr. and Ida Bulmer, and the grandson of William Rutherford Sr., who immigrated from Scotland, and Elizabeth Jackson.  He would have been the great-grandson of James Rutherford of Jedburgh, Scotland, and his wife Helen Paton.

James Augustine Rutherford, on the other hand, was born in Stallingbusk, Yorkshire, England in September of 1856 to James Rutherford and his wife Ann Foster.  His siblings were Helen (1858), Jane Elizabeth (1861), Ann Isabella (1863), Maggie Laird (1865), John Edward Foster (1869) and William Archbold (1871).   His father, James, was a land agent and later a gardener, and census records consistently show that he was born in Scotland around 1828.   One of his children carried the family name Laird (Maggie Laird Rutherford), and one of James Augustine Rutherford's did as well (Godfrey Laird Rutherford).  (Laird was Helen Paton's mother's maiden name).  I believe that James the father of James Augustine was a son of James Rutherford, forester, and Helen Paton, of Jedburgh.  Their son James, who was William Rutherford's brother, was born on November 9, 1829, in Inchinnan, Renfrewshire, Scotland.   If I am correct, then William Rutherford Jr., Bulmer's father, would be James Augustine Rutherford's first cousin, and Bulmer would be his first cousin once removed.  I have to say that there are a few genealogies online which state that the James Rutherford who was born in 1829 lived and died in Scotland, but I don't see any sources, and I believe that my theory explains the relationship between Bulmer and the Highclere Rutherfords. 

By the way, Highclere Castle, home of the Earls of Carnarvon,  is now famous as the estate where the TV show Downton Abbey is filmed.  James Augustine Rutherford was the estate manager when the 5th Lord Carnarvon (of King Tutankhamen fame) lived there.

Here is a picture from the book Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey:  the Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle by Fiona, Countess of Carnarvon (London, Hodder and Stoughton, 2011).  Major J.A. Rutherford (James Augustine Rutherford) is front and centre. 

Here is some evidence of John Augustine Rutherford's leadership in military matters before the start of the war, from the Reading Mercury newspaper, May 12, 1900.

And here is a death notice for Major Rutherford, from the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer Newspaper, June 11, 1929, p. 10.

1921 Census of Canada

The 1921 census of Canada has recently been released.  Here's what it has to say about our family:

In 1921, Arthur and Minnie Scott, St. Andrew's Ward, Montreal, were living with their very recently widowed 26-year-old daughter, Norton Fry, and her daughter (their granddaughter), the 2-year-old Mary Fry.  Arthur is listed as an import broker making $2,000 (I assume annually).  They are renting a brick home for $150.00/month, and they have two female live-in servants.  I am sooo jealous. 

William Rutherford, Jr (age 56) and his wife Ida (Bulmer) Rutherford (age 54) were living in Westmount, sub-district 62, with several adult children:  John Bulmer Rutherford, age 24, Ida Jean Rutherford, age 22,  Andrew Scott Rutherford, age 20, and E. Marjorie Rutherford, age 19.  Also part of the household is Jane Bulmer, age 50, Ida's younger sister.  They have one live-in servant.  William and his son William Jackson are listed as merchants, while John Bulmer is an accountant (probably of his father's lumber company) who makes $720 annually.  Andrew and Marjorie are students.  They own a brick home with ten rooms (I'm not sure which rooms are included in the count).   It's interesting how many adult children are still living at home, even the men.

John Galloway Scott (age 84) and his wife Mary (Elliot) Scott (age78)  are living in Toronto North, Ward 4, 29 Dunvegan Road.  For those of us in Toronto, 29 Dunvegan is in the St. Clair/Avenue Road region.  Very posh.  With them is their daughter Helen Scott, age 37, "Janey" C. Elliot, Mary's younger sister, age 67, and two female servants, one cook and one maid.  John is retired and none of the three ladies of the household have an occupation.  They own the home.  

Westmount Soldier's Wives League

I'm always excited when I discover something about the lives of women in our family.  They're more elusive than the men, but no less interesting.  Here's an organization that the Rutherford and Scott women involved themselves with during World War One, or "The Great War" as it was called at the time:  

The Westmount News, November 6, 1914

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN WESTMOUNT WOMEN ENROLL IN SOLDIER'S WIVES LEAGUE

"At the first business meeting of the Westmount Soldier's Wives League held Wednesday morning in Victoria Hall, Westmount, with Mrs. William Rutherford in the chair, the following ladies enrolled in the League:  ...Mrs. William Rutherford....Mrs. A. Rutherford...Mrs. Arthur H. Scott....
It was decided that the League should hold a meeting every Wednesday morning at 10:30 o'clock in Victoria Hall.    Groups of workers were formed to sew and knit for the Westmount Rifles, and it was announced that the Lady Scott chapter of the Daughters of the Empire would make and donate the 'housewives' for the regiment...." 

A "housewife" was a sewing kit that a soldier could carry around with him, with needle, thread, buttons, etc.

An example of a WWI sewing kit or "housewife"--this one is American.

This one is British.

Mrs. William Rutherford (Ida Bulmer) was the chair of the first meeting, although her husband, William Rutherford Jr., would have been 50 years old in 1914, and was unlikely to go to war.  William and Ida Rutherford's son (my husband's grandfather) John Bulmer Rutherford enlisted on March 21, 1916, at the age of 20.  We have in our possession a diary he kept during his training period.  He emerged safely from the conflict. 

Mrs. Arthur H. Scott (Minnie Davis) was not the wife of a soldier either. Her husband Arthur was 49 years old at the time.  She was the mother of Howard Elliot Scott, who did enlist on August 4, 1915.  He died at the Battle of Courcellette, September 16, 1916 (this battle was part of the Somme offensive).

Mrs. A. Rutherford was perhaps the wife of Andrew Rutherford.  Andrew was the brother of William Jr., and married a woman named Florence Mathilda Cornelia Paris on June 7, 1905.   However, their children, born between 1906 and 1910, would have been too young to enlist in this conflict. 

It seems that you did not actually have to be a soldier's wife to join...perhaps just a woman wanting to contribute to the war effort.

A postcard, circa 1910, from the McCord Museum, of Victoria Hall, where the League met weekly.

What was the scope of this organization?  There are a few more mentions of the League in Montreal newspapers over the course of the war.  The Montreal Gazette ran this column on  January 6, 1915:

WILL PAY MONTHLY FEES

MEETING OF WESTMOUNT SOLDIERS' WIVES' LEAGUE

" The Westmount Soldiers' Wives' League held their first meeting of the New Year in Victoria Hall yesterday morning.  There was a lengthy discussion over the question  of monthly fees, with the final decision that each member should pay the sum of twenty-five cents per month.  It was also decided to hold a monthly meeting of a social nature for the wives of the Westmount Rifles men, the first of these to be held from three to six on the afternoon of January 20th in the lodge room of Victoria Hall...The visiting report showed twenty-one families now on the league's visiting list.  A letter received from Major Stewart, thanking the league for the plum puddings supplied for the Christmas dinners for the Army Service Corps,  was read at the meeting.

The ladies will continue their knitting meetings for some time longer, and sewing meetings will be started soon. Mrs. Edmund Sheppard will be at Victoria Hall every Saturday morning from eleven to twelve to give out wool and receive completed work.  At the meeting at half-past ten next Saturday the Rev. A.P. Shatford will give an address."  

On September 15, 1905, the Montreal Gazette ran this notice:

CLOTHING FOR CHILDREN 

WESTMOUNT SOLDIERS WIVES LEAGUE MAKES REQUEST

"A special request was made at the meeting of the Westmount Soldiers' Wives' League yesterday morning for clothing for children about nine years old, and particularly for two overcoats for boys. The Soldiers' Comforts Committee asked for gramophone records, soap, writing pads and envelopes to be sent to the men at the front.

It was decided that instead of the three hundred pairs of socks previously voted for the fifth mounted rifles, that six hundred pairs would be sent. 

Tomorrow is the Red Cross sewing meeting of the League and, while last week's meeting was largely attended, the ladies would like it to be known that others would be welcome.  They have now ten sewing machines for the purpose of Red Cross work."

Sometime during 1915 the League edited and published a fundraising cookbook, imaginatively titled The Cook Book.  Chapters include witticisms such as "How to Preserve a Husband" and advice on "Good Rules for Housekeeping".   I wonder if Ida Rutherford or Minnie Scott contributed recipes?  Unfortunately, I can't find an image of it, but it is described in Culinary Landmarks:  A Bibliography of Canadian Cookbooks, 1825-1949 by Elizabeth Driver.

"The Cook Book.

Q86.1 1915

The/ cook book/ edited by the/ Westmount Soldiers'/ Wives' League/ Westmount Canada.

DESCRIPTION:  22.5 x 150 cm... Small tp illustration of soldier (2  cm high)...Thin card, with image on front, drawn in art-nouveau style, of a woman carrying a plate;  stapled...

Notes:  the aim  of publication, according to p 3,  was "to augment [the Leagues'] Treasury and provide further comforts, etc. for "Our soldier boys at the Front."  Arthur G. Racey...who did the cover design, was a cartoonist at the Montreal Star at the time The Cook Book was published.  Albert Samuel Brodeur, Alberic Bourgeois, Georges La Tour...and Napoleon Savard were book illustrators."   

 Towards the end of the year the League tackled another new enterprise.  This is from the Montreal Gazette, December 1, 1915:

FUND FOR WIDOWS

WESTMOUNT SOLDIERS' WIVES' LEAGUE MAKING PROVISION

"The Westmount Soldiers' Wives' League, at their meeting yesterday morning, voted $1,000 of the eighteen hundred of so which they cleared at their bazaar, as the nucleus of a fund for widows and orphans of soldiers.  They hope to add to this fund from time to time.

The sum of $25 was voted to Captain Bateman to be used for tobacco for the officers and men coming aboard the hospital ship of which he has charge, running between France and England.  

Arrangements were made to send five hundred pairs of socks to Lt-Col. Gunn for the men of the twenty-fourth and five hundred to Lt.-Col. Fisher for the twenty-third....as owing to the condition of the trenches a great many socks are required..."

Here's a snippet on the importance of lots and lots of socks in the trenches from the Australian history journal InsideHistory: 

“Woolen socks were vital during the war and had to be hand knitted to exact standards so they were seamless and comfortable. Aussie soldiers in the cold and muddy trenches needed a continuous supply of clean, dry socks to protect them against the debilitating ‘trench foot’ and they were often sent in ‘comfort boxes’ with cigarettes, food and mail. “The Library’s extensive WW1 collection includes over 900 diaries, with many entries revealing how socks were an obsession for many boys, along with letters and their pay.”

The League seems to have been a very business-like organization, whose mandate stretched as the War went on.  It seems that our women threw themselves into the cause within months of the War's declaration.  Ida (Bulmer) Rutherford chaired the first meeting, which suggests that she may have been  a driving force among Westmount society during her time.