James Baring, 6th Baron Revelstoke, attended the opening ceremony for three new displays at the Revelstoke Museum & Archives as part of Revelstoke Homecoming 2009.

Baring joined museum curator Cathy English to open the new displays, delivering a short and emotional speech to the roughly 50 people in attendance.

English gave a brief introduction to the new displays and Lord Revelstoke’s connections to one of the new displays entitled, From Farwell to Revelstoke. “The exhibit talks about the dispute between Farwell and the CPR and we hope that you’ll take a little time to read that in a little bit more depth, and find out exactly how that happened,” said English.

Baring delivered a speech in which he emphasized the importance of studying history, and recalled some interesting things he learned recently while studying his family’s history. “It came as a huge shock to me, to know that on my mother’s side I had these people working to get the United States together -- they had to buy half of it off Napoleon, gave them the money, quite English. Fortunately he lost. Otherwise I think Barings Bank wouldn’t have been too popular,” he said.

“Then, later on, descendants of the same people get involved in ... the unity of Canada, making it a state. And the extraordinary thing was yesterday, I went to see where the last spike was driven. Having a little photograph taken in front of this monument and I turn around and I see the name of a friend of mine written on it. Euan Strathcona. And I thought, what the hell has Euan been doing here? Because he was an early founding member of the Air Squadron, of which I was the first secretary.”

Strathcona had been there commemorating his great grandfather’s involvement in the CPR project. “I never discussed this with Euan,” said Baring. “I thought we would have somehow known what our great grandfathers were doing. I’d never, never knew that they even knew each other. So, the coincidences and the things that come together are quite extraordinary. That’s enough from me. I want to declare this lovely exhibit open.”

Lord Revelstoke also donated three books to be added to the museum’s collection.

They are I Remember, I Remember by Daphne Pollen which chronicles some of his family’s history. Baring is mentioned several times, including a quote in Please, Please Me: Sixties British Pop Inside Out, by Gordon Thompson. Baring operated a recording studio in London during the 1960s. The third book is Far Horizons: A History of the Air Squadron, by Alex Martin, with a foreword by HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Baring was the founding secretary of the flying club which performs charitable works.

The three new displays are all located on the first floor:

From Farwell to Revelstoke

This display chronicles a number of events that saw the early settlement of Farwell have its name changed to Revelstoke.

In 1885, the CPR Company President travelled to Europe to find financial backing for the financially challenged railway. Edward Charles Baring, 1st Lord Revelstoke, helped raise funds to help finance the company.

CPR vice-president William Van Horne asked the Post Office Department of Canada to change the name from Farwell to Revelstoke, and the change was made on June 1, 1886.

The display features photos, early town plans, as well as documents related to the era in Revelstoke’s history, as well as the Baring family history.

Manning’s –

The display chronicles the early history of the Manning’s confectionery store and candy factory, which was opened by Horace Manning in 1903.

The Manning’s building at 302 Mackenzie Ave. originally included an ice cream parlour on the first floor and a candy factory in the basement. The business manufactured chocolates and candies, and many of the original chocolate moulds are on display. Jack Pugsley was the candy-maker and continued on when the business passed on to new owners. John Kwong bought the business in 1955, and also operated a Chinese restaurant in the building.

In 1960, the business was sold to the Chung family who discontinued the candy factory. Manning’s remains a popular Chinese restaurant to this day.

Earle & Estelle Dickey

Born in Revelstoke in 1893, William Earle Dickey served as the chairman of Revelstoke tourism and publicity bureau of the Revelstoke Board of Trade.

He took many photographs for tourism brochures and also sent photographs and articles on local events for publication in newspapers such as the Vancouver Sun.

He married Estelle Elizabeth Jones in 1920. The couple worked as a team, with Earle taking photos while Estelle developed prints and also hand-coloured many prints for sale worldwide.

The exhibit features a sampling of their works, including many stunning nature images.

The Revelstoke Museum & Archives has about 1,500 prints, slides and negatives produced by the Dickeys that were donated by their family to the collection.