In this episode, Saint John - Nothing Happened Here goes back to the 80s. Also, it is revealed that a big decision must be made.

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In this episode, we discuss the Fenian movement of the 1860s and its effects on Saint John during security scares in late 1865 and the spring of 1866, including its political impacts in the latter year and beyond. Founded on both sides of the Atlantic by former members of the Young Ireland movement of the late 1840s, the Irish Republican Brotherhood was dedicated to the liberation of Ireland from British rule and the establishment of an independent republic. A secret society whose membership and activities were far from secret in the United States, it was opposed by the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church because of its radical goals and acceptance of physical force as opposed to gradual reform. American Fenianism channeled bitter memories among immigrant communities of the Irish Famine of the late 1840s [see episode # 4, The Irish Famine Migration].

One wing of the American movement, which attracted thousands of Irish Americans with Civil War combat experience, wanted to attack Canada to put pressure on Great Britain, but the O’Mahony wing believed in fomenting an uprising in Ireland. Fueled by press speculation as well as genuine intelligence from British officials on a possible raid, many citizens of Saint John in late 1865 feared a Fenian attack. In 1866, the provincial authorities prepared for an attack and/or uprising on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day. In short order, hundreds of American Fenians began to gather on the Maine-New Brunswick border, seemingly intent on making some type of military incursion. The arrival of a schooner with a cargo of rifles and ammunition made the situation on the border - 75 miles from Saint John - potentially critical. As tensions mounted, the New Brunswick government sent volunteer militia infantry and artillery units to the border, joined by British troops from Halifax and five Royal Navy vessels.

The episode discusses a mysterious “Fenian circular” that appeared on the streets of Saint John near the height of the 1866 crisis and explores whether it could have been an example of ‘black propaganda,’ designed to discredit not the Fenians, but the current Anti-Confederation government of New Brunswick. We also examine evidence- admittedly slim- that is suggestive of a Fenian cell in the city and any lingering support for physical force republicanism in later years. By the middle of the 1910s, this became the dominant approach towards securing the independence of Ireland. Finally, our trip back to the 1860s explains how the Fenians, despite their avowed opposition to the federal union of the colonies of British North America, can be considered Fathers of Confederation.

The song “Down by the Glenside/The Bold Fenian Men” written by Peadar Kearney was performed by Morgan Driscoll, backed up by John Lawrence on fiddle and Greg Marquis on guitar. It was recorded at O’Leary’s Pub in Saint John.

Show Notes: https://www.nothinghappenedhere.ca/post/except-for-the-fenian-threat-of-1865-1866

This episode, released close to International Women’s Day (March 8), recalls an important political reform cause in Saint John’s past that was part of a national and international movement: the fight for women’s voting rights. Starting in the late 1800s, the Saint John Women’s Enfranchisement Organization, which was a spinoff from a national organization, worked tirelessly for the provincial franchise for New Brunswick women as a citizenship right.

The Saint John suffragists, who had male allies, were the most active group in the Maritime provinces working on the issue. The stories of its key members, such as Emma Fiske, Mabel Peters and Ella Hatheway, deserve to be better known. Many were involved in other causes, such as public playgrounds for the urban poor, temperance and worker’s rights and became involved in reform activism because of strong religious convictions. They held meetings, wrote letters to newspapers, organized petitions, lobbied politicians and even drafted legislation. Although mainly middle class in background, their challenging of the status quo was met by inertia, ridicule, hostility and misogyny.

Saint John’s suffragists hosted the prominent American abolitionist, social reformer and women’s rights champion Julia Ward Howe in the 1890s and in
1912, famous British suffragette Sylva Pankhurst, who was on a North American speaking tour. Although the Saint John Women’s Enfranchisement Organization avoided the militant tactics of their high profile British ‘sisters,’ they were inspired by their struggles and shared their goals.

The long and determined campaign of Saint John’s suffragists finally succeeded in 1919, when all women, regardless of their marital status or personal property holdings, were extended the right to vote in provincial elections. The exception were First Nations women who lived on reserves (who would have to wait more than 4 decades).

This episode ends with an interview with the leading expert on the history of women’s voting rights in Atlantic Canada, Dr. Heidi MacDonald, Dean of Arts at the University of New Brunswick Saint John. Dr. MacDonald is the author of We Shall Persist: Women and the Vote in the Atlantic Provinces (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2023): https://www.ubcpress.ca/we-shall-persist

Show Notes: https://www.nothinghappenedhere.ca/post/except-for-the-fight-for-women-s-voting-rights