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Corporate body · 1855 –1874

In 1855 the Newfoundland District of the British Wesleyan Methodist Conference was joined with the districts of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Bermuda and Newfoundland form the Wesleyan Methodist Conference of Eastern British America, retaining in this restructuring their affiliation with the British Wesleyan Methodist Conference. In 1874 the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Eastern British America joined with the Wesleyan Methodist Conference of Canada and the New Connexion Methodist Church of Canada to form the Methodist Church of Canada. The Methodist Church of Canada then became a free-standing body and its direct connection to the British Wesleyan Methodist Conference was severed. The old Newfoundland District became a Conference of the new organisation. For a discussion of the history of the various Methodist bodies in Canada see Neil Semple, The Lord’s Dominion (Montreal, 1996). For a detailed history of the Methodist Church of Canada in Newfoundland and Labrador see D.W. Johnson, Methodism in Eastern British America (Sackville, N.B., 1924).

Corporate body · 1899-1965

The Western Union Telegraph Company was responsible for the operation of the Heart's Content Cable Station from 1899 to 1965, having acquired all the assets of its predecessor, the Anglo-American Telegraph Company. In 1904, the monopoly of the company expired, but Western Union still maintained the original telegraph systems, including the cable station at Heart's Content. The company remained in control of the station until 1965, when it closed its Newfoundland operation.

White, Mary M.
Person · 1903-1995

Born at St. Johns on October 6, 1903, she was the only daughter of William White of Trinity and Lavinia Hopkins Taylor of Bay Roberts who were married at Whitbourne on December 28, 1897. Her elder brothers were Raymond Mayers Taylor White (1899-1937) and Walter George Cornwall White (October 27, 1901 - June 21, 1976). She was descended from two of the oldest Trinity families, the Clothiers and Hurdles, and was an eighth generation Newfoundlander. When she was very young the family returned to Trinity from St. Johns and there she spent her early girlhood years except for several months each year which she spent at Bonne Bay. She died at St. Lukes Home, St. Johns, on August 31, 1995 and is buried next to her father and mother at the Anglican Cemetery, Forest Road, St. John`s.

Her elementary education was taken at Trinity, followed by High School at Bishop Spencer College, St. Johns (1919-1924), where she completed her Senior Associate or Senior Matriculation. This was followed during September through December, 1924 by Teacher Training at the Normal School, St. Johns.

Miss White taught at White Rock, Trinity Bay from January through June, 1925; at Kelligrews from September, 1925 to June 1926, Petty Harbour from September 1926 through December 1927; and was appointed to the staff of Bishop Spencer College commencing in January, 1927. She remained at Spencer as a staff member, Vice-Principal and Principal until 1963. Miss White was the Lady Superintendent of Bishop Jones Memorial Hostel, a residence for girls attending Bishop Spencer College and Memorial University College, from 1939 to 1950. She was the incumbent Principal at Spencer from 1957 to 1963. In September, 1964 Miss White was appointed Lecturer in French at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Assistant Professor in September 1968, but was obliged to retire from this position because of ill health in October, 1972.

In 1927, she attended summer school at Lycee Victor Duruy, Paris, and spent the full year of 1930-31 in Paris earning the Certificate of Civilization Francaise and the Certificate of Phonetics at the Sorbonne. In 1950, she spent the summer in Brittany, Paris and England and in 1951 at summer school at the Language School, Middlebury College, Vermont. This was followed by summer school at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York from 1951 to 1955 and full-time attendance at Columbia in 1955/56, thus completing a B.S.C. and M.A. in Education from that institution. The summers of 1959 and 1960 were spent in Paris attending lectures at the Sorbonne attending lectures in Civilization Francaise.

The summers of 1965 through 1970 were also spent in Paris researching the French in Newfoundland in the 18th and 19th centuries, this was an area of high interest for Miss White. A year of sabbatical leave from MUN in 1970/71 was again spent in Paris continuing this research.

Whiteway, Louise
Person · 1901-1982

Helen Louise Whiteway (1901-1982), teacher and writer, was born in St. John's, Newfoundland in 1901, the daughter of Solomon and Sarah Whiteway. She died in 1982 at the age of 81.

Educated at the Methodist College in St. John's, Louise Whiteway had the distinction of being the Jubilee Scholar for 1919. She completed Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from Mount Allison University and a PhD at Columbia University. She taught briefly at Memorial University College.

Whiteway was the author of academic publications, including articles on the history of Newfoundland. These were published in a variety of periodicals, including the Atlantic Advocate, Dalhousie Review, and the Newfoundland Quarterly.

Person · 1828-1908

William Vallance Whiteway (1828-1908), lawyer and Prime Minister of Newfoundland (1878-85; 1889-94; 1895-97), was born on 1 April 1828 in Devon, England, the youngest son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Vallance) Whiteway. He married Mary Lightbourne of Bermuda in 1862 and they had one daughter. Following the death of his wife, he married Catherine Anne Davies of Pictou, Nova Scotia, in 1872 and they had six children. Whiteway died on 24 June 1908 in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Whiteway was educated at Tomes Grammar School, Totnes and at a private school in Newton Abbot, England. As a result of his family's participation in the Newfoundland trade, Whiteway was sent to St. John's in 1843 as an apprentice in the mercantile firm of Stabb, Row and Holmwood. Instead, he elected to article under Robert R. Wakeham, a prominent local lawyer. He was called to the Newfoundland Bar in 1852.

While practicing law Whiteway was encouraged by businessman Charles Fox Bennett to stand for the Newfoundland House of Assembly in a by-election in 1858. He was elected member for Twillingate-Fogo District and was re-elected in elections held in 1859, 1861, and 1865. He was named Queen's Counsel (1862) and nominated Speaker of the House (1865). Defeated in 1869 as a Confederate candidate, he returned in 1873 to represent Trinity District (1873-85). He was Solicitor General (1874-78) and Attorney General (1878-85).

In 1878 Whiteway replaced Frederick B. T. Carter as Prime Minister and won a general election, based on Conservative-Protestant support. Following dissension in the administration, heightened by the aftermath of the Harbour Grace Riot (1883), Whiteway temporarily retired from political life in 1885.

In 1887 Whiteway announced his return to politics. After the defeat of the Reform Party (1889), Whiteway became Prime Minister and was re-elected in 1893. Following the election scandals (1894) he was disqualified as an MHA by the Supreme Court. Special legislation enacted by the Liberal government allowed him to take his seat in 1895. During his final term as Prime Minister (1895-97) Whiteway represented Harbour Grace District. Whiteway served in the Newfoundland House of Assembly for a total of 30 years, 14 of these as Prime Minister.

Whiteway devoted most of his political career to the construction of the trans-insular railway, completed in 1898. He was also an early supporter of confederation with Canada as a means of developing the natural resources of the island. He abandoned the idea only when it led to his defeat in the 1869 general election. Whiteway's commitment to resource exploitation led to the construction of a dry dock in St. John's, and agreements with France regarding the development of French Shore. Whiteway was also instrumental in securing a $1,000,000 award for Newfoundland as compensation for fisheries concessions granted to the United States by the 1871 Treaty of Washington. Whiteway prepared the Newfoundland case, and argued it successfully before the 1877 Halifax Fisheries Commission.

Whiteway was chosen first Worshipful Master of the Avalon Masonic Lodge in 1859 and eventually became Grand Master in Newfoundland. He was the first Newfoundlander to be made a member of the Imperial Privy Council, and in 1880, he was knighted in recognition of his service to the British Empire.