I believe that family is integral to the experience of war.
Like other soldiers, George Stephen Cantlie had two families – his family at home and his regimental family. Cantlie led his regimental family, the Black Watch of Montreal, overseas and into battle at Mount Sorrel and the Somme. A member of the militia from age fourteen, he embodied Montreal’s Scottish heritage and military tradition. To his wife and five children he sent home a stream of letters. For his youngest, “Wee Celia,” each surviving word and flower is a poignant reminder of his thoughts in time of war.
– Viveka Melki
George Stephen Cantlie (1867-1956)
Cantlie was a soldier for much of his life. A boy soldier from the age of 14, he had served with various Montreal regiments from the 1880s onwards. When he enlisted in 1914, he was 48 years of age. Cantlie took command of the 5th Royal Highlanders of Canada, the Black Watch of Montreal that went to Europe as the 42nd Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. The regiment left Montreal in June, 1915, after an impressive march led by Cantlie from its armoury on Bleury Street to the troop ship waiting in the Montreal harbour.
The Black Watch regiment fought at the battle of Mount Sorrel in 1915. At the battle of the Somme in 1916, many of the regiment’s officers and men were killed and Cantlie was slightly wounded. Considered too old to command a battalion in the field, Cantlie spent the rest of the war in England as the commanding officer of the 20th Reserve Battalion, drilling soldiers to reinforce the Montreal battalions at the front that were depleted with every military engagement. His letters home throughout the war to his wife and five children provide a portrait of a caring father and regimental commander continually fretting over his men.
Described as an “officer and a gentleman” in various fulsome obituaries published on his death in 1956, Cantlie was associated with the Black Watch for a remarkable 71 years. He was the father of the regiment, closely identified with its values and its roots in Montreal’s Scottish community.
Learn More About George Stephen Cantlie:
George Stephen Cantlie is the subject of a feature article in the Winter 2011 issue of The Red Hackle, the magazine of the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada.
http://www.blackwatchcanada.com/images/stories/red_hackle_16.pdf
Press on the pictures below to show content:
Optical crystal
“Three roses intertwine to represent family, and the contrast of war vs home, night and day, 3 letters float on a cloud.”
– Mark Raynes Roberts
Olfactory memory
“Dreams of family home at bath time. A crackling wood fire sharpens notes of leather that emerge from the stable.”
– Alexandra Bachand
George Stephen Cantlie (1867-1956)
“George Stephen Cantlie is the central figure in this exhibition. His letters to his youngest daughter Celia provide the inspiration for WAR Flowers.”
– Alexander Reford
Cantlie’s Letter
Cantlie's Letter
Botanical Approach
Conservation issues for George Stephen Cantlie’s botanical specimens to be displayed in the WAR Flowers exhibit
Contractual expertise by Céline Arseneault, botanist and archivist (retired botanist and librarian at the Montréal Botanical Garden) May 2016
Conservation assessment
- The dried flowers specimens had been conserved pressed in the original letters/papers/envelopes for nearly 100 years, with one exception where a later envelope included a flower.
- Some flowers had pieces of fabrics or textiles attached to them.
- Some flowers had rubbed off or left their print on the papers.
- The flowers were dry, brittle and in some cases very fragile and broken in pieces (included in the paper/envelopes).
- Some envelopes included more than one specimen and more than one plant species.
- The flowers hold historical value but no biodiversity value like scientific herbarium pieces because they were not documented as such.
- Botanical identification has been made in accordance with the letters’ indications (dates, locations) and material available (mostly flowers only, visual colours, few leaves) for tentative scientific genus identification.
- The flowers have historical significance in the context of Cantlie’s archives, as a part of the correspondence addressed mainly to his daughter Celia (or exceptionally wife/other daughters). They are seen as item “objects” in the scope of the Rules for Archival Description by the Canadian Council of Archives:
http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca /RAD/RAD_Chapter11_Dec2002.pdf - The primary purpose of the present assessment was to avoid altering the integrity of these objects.
- The accompanying papers, letters and envelopes bring major significant value (dates, paper headings, postal stamps, annotations, writings, etc.) to the objects. See link above.
Original plan for the exhibit: Inclusion of flowers into resin pastilles
The original exhibit proposal included stand‐alone encasing flowers into transparent polymer‐type resin (“pastilles”), each one to be temporarily encased in a crystal sculpture for display purposes.
Conservation issues regarding acrylic resin encasing
Transparent acrylic‐type or polymer‐type resin can be used successfully for fresh botanical specimens, however:
- Dried botanical specimens are organic and brittle.The brittleness accentuates with dryness, age and manipulation. Humidity and change of environment can cause rapid deterioration by moulds, dust mites or otherwise. Older pigments and botanical specimens themselves are also more fragile to heat and light. https://www.nps.gov/museum/publications/conserveogram/01‐03.pdf — http://conservation.myspecies.info/node/35
- Encasing in acrylic‐type resin implies a heating process which creates static energy as well as thermal energy. Statics augments brittleness and specimens risk “exploding” into the resin.
- Because of their historical value, there were no available sample specimens that could be used as an experiment to validate the previous statement.
- At this point, where flowers have already been subjected to change of colours due to time, we can assume that polymer encasing would accelerate the discolouration.
- No studies are available regarding the long‐term conservation (discolouration, deterioration) of the acrylic resin itself.
- This type of encasing is not generally recommended for archival or historical conservation as it alters the specimens.
- This type of encasing is NOT recommended in the conservation literature for older, organic material, such as botanical specimens and papyrus (references available on request).
For these reasons and in regard to further deterioration of the specimens, encasing in acrylic resin was not recommended for the Cantlie’s flowers.
Conservation issues regarding stand‐alone two‐glass panes encasing
Even pressed, the dried flowers have thickness, some more than others, and may not be encased easily in two panes of glass (or acrylic) with a frame moulding, particularly because of their brittleness and for practical and esthetic concerns (e.g type of transparent glue applied on the glass, type of moulding, etc.).
Mounting
- As stated above, the dried flowers seen as objects have no significant historical value when separated from the archival fonds and their accompanying pieces.
- Archival conversation aims to preserve all parts of an item (or a historical record) together.
- Producing a series of botanical specimens in stand-alone frames would contradict archival conversation.
- Float mounting thus included a non-acid paper in an off-white texture and colour.
- Stable polymer archival glue was recommended by the Marie Victorin Herbarium of Université de Montréal to be used both on flowers, which we use also for the papers records.
- High-standard museum-recommended frame acrylic, in a non glare acrylic glazing matte finish, was used instaid of glass after studying the travel requirements of the exhibit and to minimize reflection for glare-free viewing.
- The pre-layouts were realized by Céline Arseneault and Viveka Melki in the Spring of 2016 and each layout was documented: botanical identification, measurements and text transcription of each record in a preliminary archival description of the Cantlie Fonds.
- 17 final layouts (including 19 pieces) werw then frames by the experienced framer at « Au Coin des Artistes » in Montreal under the supervision of Céline Arseneault for the purpose of conservation and to be included as the main raison d’être of the War Flowers exhibit.