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HAMILTON, Lady Henrietta

Born
Stanmore, Middlesex, England, 1780
Died
London, England, 1857
Biography synopsis
Lady Henrietta Hamilton came to Canada in 1818 with her husband, Sir Charles Hamilton, who was appointed Governor of Newfoundland as a result of his illustrious naval service. She was the first wife of a governor to actually live in the colony, where her residence was Fort Townsend. During her husband's term, a Beothuk woman named Demasduit was captured on an unsuccessful expedition to open communication with the native people. Lady Hamilton painted an ivory miniature of Demasduit, whom she called Mary March. Considered by many to be the only representation of a Beothuk painted from life, the portrait is now in the Portrait Gallery of Canada. Hamilton's other well-known work is "Woodlands Cottage." The artist returned to England when her husband's service ended, in 1824.
Media used
Painting
Watercolour
File & Archive locations
Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, ON
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Writings about
"Festival of St. George." Mercantile Journal 27 Apr. 1820: 3
"Festival of St. Patrick." Mercantile Journal 23 Mar. 1820: 2
"Mary March painting sold; Halifax dealer jumps the gun." Advertiser (Grand Falls, Newfoundland) 17 Jan. 1977
"Mercantile Journal." Mercantile Journal (St. John's (Newfoundland) 30 Mar. 1820: 3
"Mercantile Journal." Mercantile Journal (St. John's (Newfoundland) 24 Jul. 1818
"Mercantile Journal." Mercantile Journal (St. John's (Newfoundland) 24 Jan. 1822
"Mercantile Journal." Mercantile Journal (St. John's (Newfoundland) 28 Feb. 1822: 2
Burant, Jim, et al. A Place in History: Twenty Years of Acquiring Paintings, Drawings and Prints at the National Archives of Canada. Ottawa: National Archives of Canada, 1991
Fardy, B.D. "Chapter V: Living in Captivity." Demasduit: Native Newfoundlander. St. John's, Newfoundland: Creative Publishers, 1988
Great Britain. Colonial Office. "No. 41: A Report of the State of Newfoundland." Newfoundland returns to an address of the Honourable House of Commons to His Majesty, dated the 4th instant, for papers relating to the island of Newfoundland London: Great Britain, Parliament, House of Commons, 1824
Hamilton, C. "Gentlemen..." Mercantile Journal (St. John's, Newfoundland) 17 Oct. 1822: 23
Hardy, Christian and Ingeborg Marshall. "A New Portrait of Mary March." Newfoundland Quarterly 73.3 (Fall 1977): 25-28
Huneault, Kristina. I'm Not Myself at All: Women, Art, and Subjectivity in Canada Montreal; Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2018
Marshall, Ingeborg. "The Miniature Portrait of Mary March." Newfoundland Quarterly 73.3 (Fall 1977): 5-7
McIntosh, Theresa. "Newfoundland as recorded by women." Archivist 16.2 (Mar-Apr. 1989): 20
McKenzie, Ruth. "Fanny Amelia Bayfield (Wright)." Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online Ottawa: Libraries and Archives Canada, 2008
http://www.biographi.ca/en/
National Archives of Canada. Facing History: Portraits from the National Archives of Canada. Ottawa: National Archives of Canada, 1933: 39
O'Byrne ESQ., William R. A Naval Biographical Dictionary: Comprising the life and services of every living officer in her Majesty's Navy. London: John Murray, Publisher to the Admiralty, 1849: 449-450
O'Neill, Paul. "The Governors." The Oldest City: The Story of St. John's Newfoundland. Erin, Ontario: Press Porcepic, 1975: 141-142
Prowse, D. W. "Reign of George III." A History of Newfoundland. St. John's: Dicks and Company Ltd, 1971: 406-11
Quilliam, Tom. "Portrait of namesake beyond means of Mary March Museum." Advertiser (Grand Falls, Newfoundland) 13 Jan. 1977: 6
Robbins, John Everett, ed. Encyclopedia Canadiana. Ottawa: Canadiana Company of Canada, Grolier Society of Canada, 1957
Robinson, Hercules. "Analyses." Private Journal kept on board the H.M.S. Favorite on the Newfoundland Station. 1820
Royal Society of Canada. Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada for the year 1891. Montreal: Dawson Brothers, 1892
Smallwood, Joseph R. ed. Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador. St. John's: Newfoundland Book Publishing, 1981-1994
Stephen, Leslie and Sidney Lee, eds. Dictionary of National Biography. London, England: Smith, Elder and Co, 1901
Tocque, Philip. "Mary March, Red Indian, or Boeothick of Newfoundland." Wandering Thoughts or Solitary Hours. London: Thomas Richardson and Son, 1846
Tocque, Philip. "The Boeothics or Red Indians of Newfoundland." Kaleidoscope Echoes. Toronto: Unknown, 1895
White, Jack. "Hamilton Avenue: a centuries old Scottish connection." ? (St. John's, Newfoundland) 29 Aug. 1992: A8

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