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Alfred Edmonds

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alfred M. Edmonds (1821 – November 23, 1893) was a Canadian artist, draughtsman and cartographer.

Birth

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Edmonds was born in 1821 at Bishopstone, Berkshire, England.[1]

Professional career

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He was listed as a school teacher in Burnstown, Ontario, in 1863.[2] He was also listed as a draughtsman in the same year.[3] In 1872 he produced a sketchbook for the Haycock Iron Mine of Cantley, Quebec.[4] From 1881 until his death, he was a cartographer for the Canadian Pacific Railway and then the Canada Department of Railways and Canals. In 1884, he is recorded as an assistant to Sir Sandford Fleming[5]

Honors

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Edmonds was awarded a prize in the category Pencil Drawings at the Upper Canada Provincial Exhibition of 1863.[6] He received a commission from the Governor General of Canada, Sir Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Marquess of Dufferin, in 1873.[7]

Death

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Edmonds died of natural causes[8] in Ottawa on November 23, 1893, and is buried in Beechwood, the National Cemetery of Canada. The death occurred in the Ottawa Protestant Hospital. Edmonds was a jail inmate at the time.[9] When arrested, Edmonds was referred to as "a pale, delicate-looking man, who it is thought was insane."[10] A coroner's inquest concluded, "We wish ... to express our disapproval in the detention in jail of such a case ... which was one for a charitable institution."[11]

Sketch from Haycock Mine Sketchbook, Library and Archives Canada

References

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  1. ^ Register of Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa, 1873 to 1990
  2. ^ Art in the Backwoods, Ottawa Citizen, November 7, 1865.
  3. ^ Harper, J. Russell. (1970). Early Painters and Engravers in Canada. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
  4. ^ Artist's file: A. M. Edmonds. Library and Archives Canada, 1989 and 1991.
  5. ^ Starks Pocket Almanac, 1884, p. 237.
  6. ^ Harper, J. Russell. (1970). Early Painters and Engravers in Canada. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
  7. ^ Artist. Ottawa Citizen, December 27, 1873.
  8. ^ Ontario deaths, 1839 to 1938.
  9. ^ Register of Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa, 1873 to 1990
  10. ^ The Ottawa Journal, Feb. 28, 1893, page 1
  11. ^ The Ottawa Journal, November 25, 1893, page 4
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