Sepia Saturday #108: The Wings of a Dove
Mabel Wilson Fenwick, circa 1912.
My husband’s great-grandmother, Mabel was born in 1867, in Delgany, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. She was the daughter of a British-Army Colonel by the name of Augustus Wilson, and Adelaide Elizabeth Badham-Thornhill, descendant of Henry Badham Thornhill of Castle Kevin in Cork. (My husband’s obviously the one with the wealthy, Irish side; I come from the northern peasants!) (More on the Wilsons in the weeks to come.)
Some time between 1871 and 1891, Mabel came to Canada with her father and mother and seven siblings. There is no Census for 1881 with her name on it, that I can locate.
In 1898, she married Thomas Emery Fenwick, a well-to-do textiles-merchant, originally from Richmond, Yorkshire in England, It was her first marriage, and his third (he was twice widowed). They set up house in Hochelaga (now Montreal) and had two children of their own, along with two of Thomas’ from an earlier marriage.
The Fenwicks eventually moved to York, Ontario (now Toronto) where Thomas set up his business, and they had another child—a daughter, Edith Barbara “Betty"—my husband’s grandmother.
Mabel was always well turned out and I suppose this hat could be considered the height of fashion to some, but to me, it appears that she’s about to lift off!
I have taken the liberty of adding a couple of lines to an old children’s rhyme below:
Mabel, Mabel, if you’re able,
Take your elbows, off the table,
And when you’ve finished doing that,
Please remove that frightful hat!
I’m joking! Hats off to my husband’s great-grandmother, Mabel Wilson Fenwick, who had the panache to carry off such prominent headgear in the early 20th Century! Talk about your FASCINATORS!
Visit the Sepia Saturday blog where you’ll find tons more fascinating things to read and photos to peruse.
Me, in one of my many hats – literally!
I found a photo of a hat that has the winged element of Mabel’s hat. This one makes Mabel’s look good! I’m still looking for the actual one.
Photo borrowed from http://dorotheascloset.com
2012/01/13 at 2:04 pm
Somehow a dove does not seem appropriate for snow,
On a different tack – we live less that 20 miles from Richmond in Yorkshire and Fenwick is a common nam in the area.
2012/01/13 at 2:18 pm
Hi Bob! Well, there may be some relatives hanging about, I suspect.
No, it’s definitely not a snowy sort of hat, is it?
2012/01/13 at 3:01 pm
She looks kind of cold too. Maybe she was not expecting to have such a long stop in the cold for a photograph.
2012/01/13 at 3:31 pm
Kristin, I think you could be right about that! And believe me, Toronto in the middle of winter is darned cold!
2012/01/13 at 3:05 pm
I wonder if the hat was a gift and she felt obligated to wear it.
2012/01/13 at 3:31 pm
Judging by her face, Colleen, that may well be the case!
2012/01/13 at 5:18 pm
She looks to be tall!
2012/01/14 at 10:11 am
You should see a picture of her with her husband; she towers over him!
2012/01/13 at 6:02 pm
Now that’s a hat! No offense to Mabel, but it appears she could carry a hefty scoop of snow in that hat.
2012/01/14 at 10:11 am
Agreed.
2012/01/13 at 6:10 pm
I see what you mean about taking flight. It’s certainly a very strange hat, and she looks none too pleased to be wearing it.
2012/01/14 at 10:12 am
I’d love to know its origin. Gift from a mother-in-law, perhaps?
2012/01/13 at 10:35 pm
Mabel had courage! Fascinator indeed! I like your plaid fedora.
2012/01/14 at 10:12 am
She sure did! Thanks, it’s one of my favourites.
2012/01/14 at 12:11 am
Hats are such a funny thing. I really appreciate them for the outlandish accessory that they provide for otherwise plain fashions. Thank God for hats!
2012/01/14 at 10:13 am
I appreciate them for hiding a bad hair-day!
2012/01/14 at 7:29 am
That check number looks great! ♥
2012/01/15 at 12:59 pm
Thanks, Penny! For some reason, your comment ended up in my spam queue, but I rescued you!
2012/01/14 at 8:12 am
I love this hat and the story. Pics with snow in them are always a favourite of mine too!
2012/01/14 at 10:13 am
Thanks! Yes, a snow-shot always has something extra, doesn’t it?
2012/01/14 at 8:21 am
I hope those aren’t doves on her hat.
2012/01/14 at 10:15 am
I hope they aren’t too – even stuffed doves would be ghastly!
2012/01/14 at 6:44 pm
It’s a very unusual kind of hat. I know that hats were pretty outlandish in the early 1900s and 1910s but usually the wings were real wings, entire wings. These look more paperish or even stiff fabric than real. This is probably way out there but is it possible that the hat indicated her membership in some organization, Kat?
2012/01/14 at 8:22 pm
I hadn’t thought of that, Nancy. I’m not sure which organization that would even be.
2012/01/14 at 8:46 pm
Well, I’m probably way off. The wings just looked more like an emblem to me than a fashionable hat.
2012/01/14 at 8:48 pm
Oh, no. I agree, but I don’t think there was anything in Ontario that had that sort of emblem. (I might be wrong.)
I’ve been poring through hat websites trying to find something like it and it seems to be a hat-style that was popular in the late Victorian era. As my husband says, maybe she created it herself!
2012/01/15 at 12:10 am
It almost looks like a butterfly on her head. A pet butterfly that road on her head wherever she went.
2012/01/15 at 8:42 am
It does look like a butterfly, Tattered! Someone should have called, “Guinness” though!
2012/01/15 at 5:50 am
Two glorious photographs and a wealth of information sandwiched in between. I know if we dug long enough we would be able to link you back to Yorkshire, even if it is via your husband.
2012/01/15 at 8:43 am
Thanks, Alan! Speaking of digging, have you watched the British, “Who Do You Think You Are” programs? We get an American version which is utterly absorbing, but I would love to see the British ones.
2012/01/15 at 6:59 am
Great post, Kat. I think Mabel would have gladly swapped with you.
2012/01/15 at 8:44 am
Ooh – I wonder if I could photo-shop swap? Thanks, Martin!
2012/01/15 at 8:36 am
Kat you are cute as ever. Loved this post and reading about your family. There are many fashions we look back on and laugh at just as our kids and grands will but it makes for great blog material.
Hope you have a great year.
QMM
2012/01/15 at 8:45 am
You’re right about that, QMM! I have tons of things that I look back on and think, I wore THAT?!!! And yes, it does make great blog material.
2012/01/15 at 9:08 pm
Quite the topper; lift off for sure…Still Mabel does appear to be put together. Are those feathers atop the hat? Or a very stiff starched in place adornment?
2012/01/28 at 11:57 am
Oh yes, she was always well-dressed. I have photos of her as a stately older lady with a fur collar and another hat!
2012/01/16 at 11:50 pm
A fun photo and great comments too.
2012/01/28 at 11:58 am
Thanks, Mike! Sorry it’s taken so long to get to this one – I have been away from this blog for a spell.
2012/01/17 at 6:42 am
A lovely tribute to Mabel, and nice that she is remembered a century or more later. We too soon loose sight of our heritage even though it is what has made us who we are today.
2012/01/28 at 11:58 am
I agree, Peter. I think Sepia Saturday is of real value; so many lives are being memorialized for ever with these posts.
2012/01/17 at 1:06 pm
As lovely as it is, I don’t believe I’d ever be brave enough to wear that first hat! But she does look adorable in it! Your post came full circle with Wings of a Dove, nice touch!
2012/01/28 at 11:59 am
I might wear it for Halloween, Karen! Thanks for reading (and I’m sorry this response is so late.)