Have you ever wondered why you are the way you are?

I’m learning that our present lives – our thoughts, beliefs, values, actions – are inextricably linked to the past, to the decisions made and events experienced by our parents, by their parents, and our ancestors. History is not a list of facts in a textbook, but a series of events that impacted generations before us and have been indirectly passed on to us, for better and worse. To begin to appreciate how we’ve been shaped by that history, we can go back and put ourselves in those times through characters with whom we can relate. We can then begin to appreciate how the inner lives of those in our past have impacted ours. That’s the beauty and magic of historical fiction.

I’ve often wondered why my family and many original families of my hometown of Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland & Labrador carried themselves in a certain way, with pride (perhaps excessively so at times) when, for the most part, they were regular blue-collar workers.

I had a sense my hometown was unique, but didn’t fully appreciate how much so until I started researching it. My theory is that my family’s seemingly outsized pride originated with the unique and eccentric British foundation of our town and the lasting imprint that had upon my grandfather and his family.

A Unique Village is Created

Grand Falls was created by influential British press baron, Lord Alfred Northcliffe, who controlled 40% of the media in England at the beginning of the 20th century. He worried war in Europe would disrupt the supply of newsprint to his many English papers. He risked his reputation and invested over $4 million between 1905 and 1909 on building a massive world class pulp and paper mill in the bleak Newfoundland forest.

Described as the Napolean of Journalism, he met with prime ministers and American presidents and was a sought-after speaker and advisor.

He and his wife, Mary, socialized with families like the Astors and Vanderbilts and luminaries like Thomas Edison and Mark Twain when visiting America, before boarding a boat, then s train to visit my hometown on the remote and mystical island of Newfoundland.

Unlike the rest of Newfoundland, which was dependent upon the cod fishery, Grand Falls was fiercely independent. It became a world class pulp and paper industry town supplying newsprint to the Times of London and other leading British and American publications.

Only employees and people approved by “the Company” were allowed to live within the town’s boundaries, nestled in the crook of the Exploits River. It was a closed town, inside a bubble controlled by the British aristocracy, with supplies delivered from England. As such, it had its own social mores, classes, and rules.

Employees were paid cash wages, unheard of in most communities on the island where the barter exchange of codfish for supplies (known as the “truck system”) was the norm. The juxtaposition between Grand Falls and most communities of Newfoundland was jarring.

The town was designed based on a new urban planning concept, “the Garden City Movement,” the first time this experiment was attempted outside of England (Grand Falls (NL) – Canadian Utopias Project). As a result, streets, parks, houses, and districts were carefully planned and curated. Management lived in one area and the regular worker in another. Houses had running water, indoor plumbing, and electricity, unusual for most of Newfoundland at that time. Education and medical care were delivered by the best available resources from England, and later from Newfoundland, since the Company supplemented regular wages.

Idyllic on the Surface

Northcliffe’s biographers say he became obsessed with perfecting “his” private little town. He has been described as narcissistic with excessive hubris.

A stately three-story Tudor estate home, Grand Falls House, was built in less than three months in 1909 to provide suitable living arrangements for Lady Northcliffe and guests when they visited. This home was inspired by Lord and Lady Northcliffe’s visit to Mark Twain’s country home in Connecticut. Soil was shipped from London to Newfoundland to create an English garden on the estate grounds. But Lord Northcliffe is rumoured to have never slept a night in the home – very curious. Meanwhile, those not approved by the Company  lived in rudimentary dwellings outside town limits.

Upon the grand opening of the mill in 1909, 54 boxes of specialty goods were shipped to Grand Falls from Harrods of London as gifts. The opening of the mill made news headlines from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia. This was not a normal small town.

While on the surface, life in the new town of Grand Falls appeared idyllic, my research has revealed significant issues bubbling just below the surface.

Northcliffe was experiencing significant physical and mental distress; he and Lady Northcliffe had an unorthodox “open” marital relationship which was strained because they were not able to have children; the “Grand Falls venture” had gone significantly over budget and Northcliffe was under intense pressure to maintain his reputation and the money invested by many in this socio-economic experiment; and the quality of the early newsprint from the mill was poor, causing Northcliffe to become very agitated.

The success of Northcliffe’s Newfoundland venture owed its success to a local indigenous Mi’kmaq guide, Matty Mitchell. Interestingly, both Northcliffe and Mitchell died in 1922, neither appreciating the true benefit Mitchell had provided.

Revisiting the Past

The unique origins of my hometown combined with my grandfather’s fascinating life led me to want to inhabit his past, feel what my grandfather experienced in this world of contrasts – living in a bubble, an idyllic English-styled village, while most of the island of Newfoundland struggled to survive on the cod fishery.

I imagined what it must have been like to leave his island home for the first time and serve overseas during WWI, recover from battle wounds in a London hospital, then after the war ended, return to a booming company town, all the while under the watchful eye of British aristocracy.

This led me to begin writing a fictionalized account of my grandfather in this world. I delved deep into documents in my hometown’s heritage centre (photos, letters, journals, blueprints, financial and corporate records), as well as in the archives of the British Library in London, where many of Lord Northcliffe’s personal papers are preserved.

I walked the streets of London where Lord and Lady Northcliffe lived and worked. I devoured everything I could find about the origins of the town and the many biographies and papers of Lord Alfred Northcliffe.

While there is a great deal written about Lord Northcliffe, I found myself drawn to Mary, Lady Northcliffe; an amazing woman whose story needs to be told. I’ve imagined her perspective, leaving London, socializing in New York, then visiting remote Newfoundland. I wondered how she interacted with local townspeople. Did she meet my grandfather?

I am nearing completion of draft one of my manuscript and am excited to share my progress, and eventually my novel, with you.