| | LEVEL OF DESCRIPTION: | Fonds | | No.: | PR2990 | | TITLE: | Colin and Norman Hardwicke fonds | | CREATOR: | Colin and Norman Hardwicke | | DATE RANGE: | 1912 -1916, 2004 | | EXTENT: | 141 photographs. -- 0.01 m textual records. | | ADMINISTRATIVE | | HISTORY/BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Colin Hardwicke arrived in Canada in 1903, with his mother Gertrude Grace Hardwicke (Lawson), at the age of nine. He and his mother took the train to Regina, and Gertrude found work as a housekeeper with the Stewart family, thirty-five miles northeast of Regina. After working for the Stewarts, the Hardwicke's moved between several positions, including a position in Winnipeg. Gertrude met John Edward Medland in North Battleford and later married him. Colin attended school sporadically throughout his childhood. At the age of eleven, he began working as a messenger boy for the shoe department of George Craig and Company Store. In 1909, Medland started working for his former employer, J.D. McArthur, in Edmonton. In 1911, Colin took a position in Edmonton and as a cache keeper for the Canadian National Railway (CNR) at Lobstick River. Between 1912 and 1916, Colin Hardwicke worked for the CNR in a variety of capacities. He moved from the position of cache keeper to timekeeper and then acting manager.
After serving in World War I, Colin married Beatrice Ould. Colin then gained employment with the Western Gramophone Company. Colin and Beatrice had three children: Eleanor, Gerald and Norman. In 1936, the family moved from Winnipeg to Mexico to start an accommodations business for tourists, Canada Courts, next to the Pan American Highway. Colin and Beatrice returned to Canada in 1955, and moved to Victoria, British Columbia. In 1957, they sold Canada Courts. Colin died on August 12, 1981 and Beatrice died on July 22, 1986.
| | CUSTODIAL HISTORY: | In 2006, Norman Hardwicke, Colin Hardwicke's son, donated the material to the Provincial Archives of Alberta. | | SCOPE AND CONTENT: | The fonds includes a photo album documenting Colin Hardwicke's experience working for the Canadian National Railway (CNR) from 1912 to 1916. The album includes images of people, places, and events around the building and development of railways in Northern Alberta taken by Colin Hardwicke while he worked for CPR. The fonds also a biography written by Norman Hardwicke in 2004, the Colin and Beatrice Hardwicke Story. | | GENERAL NOTE: | Information for biographical sketch sourced from the fonds. |
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