Tynesider's fascination with Englishman who led life as a Native American called Grey Owl; How Arthur Andrews followed in the footsteps of Grey Owl, real name Archibald Belaney, who left England to live in Canada as a Native American.
Byline: Tony HendersonThe colourful life of the man called Grey Owl filled not just one book, but a whole library shelf of volumes. Real name Archibald Stansfield Belaney, the Englishman boarded a ship to Canada alone at the age of 17 in 1906.
From Toronto he then travelled 500km north to an island in Lake Temagami where he lived with the native American Ojibwe people, who taught him their ways and survival skills.
Marrying a woman from the tribe, he took up the life of a fur trapper and guide in the wilds.
He later married another native American woman, called Anahareo, or Pony, and under the name of Grey Owl he told how he was the son of an Apache mother and an American frontiersman of Scottish descent.
On a visit toNorth Shields library in 1976, Arthur Andrews came across the book, written by Anahareo, called Grey Owl, which had been published in 1940.
It was the start of a 40-year fascination for Arthur with the life of Grey Owl, which has seen the Tynesider make 30 trips to Canada to visit the places linked to Grey Owl and meet people who knew him.
Arthur, now retired from a career in computing and living inWest Monkseatonin North Tyneside, has also amassed a collection of all things Grey Owl, from books and autographs to images, programmes from his British lecture tours and 1930s magazines which covered the story.
"The romance of the Grey Owl story as told by Anahareo in her book was the impetus for me to have some adventure in my life, visiting some of the places where Grey Owl lived such as Prince Albert National Park in Saskatchewan, Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba, and Biscotasing in Ontario, and meeting Anahareo and their daughter Shirley Dawn," says Arthur.
Now Arthur is marking what is the 130th anniversary of Grey Owl's birth, and the 80th of his death at the age of 49.
The boy who left the home in England where his aunts had raised him went on to be one of the best known and earliest conservationists, campaigning for the protection of threatened animals like beaver and buffalo, and against fur as fashion.
His books such as The Men of the Last Frontier, Pilgrims of the Wild and Tales of an Empty Cabin, sold thousands.
He made lecture tours of Britain, privately meeting King George VI, and his portrait was painted by Sir John Lavery, who as an official First World War artist had recorded scenes in 1917 in Newcastle, such as the interior of a munitions factory and also women workers at the Armstrong Whitworth works.
Grey Owl himself served in the war with the Canadian forces in France.
In Arthur's collection is the itinerary for Grey Owl's 1937 tour, which include addressing a meeting of the Newcastle Women's Luncheon Club at the Royal Station Hotel inNewcastle.
A newspaper cutting shows Grey Owl, in native American costume and feathers in hair, with club members at the hotel. The caption of the photograph describes him as "the famous American Indian naturalist".
Other North East venues included Whitley Bay Presbyterian Church for the Women's Guild, and Sunderland's Victoria Hall at the invite of the Geographical Association.
It was on that tour that he pulled out of a planned broadcast on BBC radio's Children's Hour because the organisation would not allow him to read an appeal to youngsters "never to take the life of a defenceless animal for your own amusement" and "never to join the chase where foxes, stags, otters and hares are driven for miles by crowds of dogs and men".
Grey Owl had turned from a life of trapping to one of conservation at the behest of Anahareo, and kept his own pet beaver called Jelly Roll, who accompanied him on his tours.
He worked for the National Parks Service of Canada which supported him in setting up a beaver colony and in giving him a leading part in conservation films.
It is believed that the young Archibald saw one of the Buffalo Bill Wild West shows staged in Britain at the start of the last century.
The show also played at the Town Moor in Newcastle, plus the site of the present Linskill Centre in North Shields, and in South Shields.
The North East-born explorer described as the female Lawrence of Arabia
In turn, one of Grey Owl's events was attended, it is believed, by a young Richard Attenborough, who in 1999 directed the film Grey Owl, starring Pierce Brosnan in the title role.
After his death in 1938, the revelation that both parents were British dented Grey Owl's reputation.
But Arthur says: "He was a fascinating character. I had the good fortune to meet Grey Owl's publisher and biographer, Lovat Dickson, Anahareo and Shirley Dawn, who steadfastly promoted her father and mother's mission to protect Canada's wildlife.
"It was also 40 years ago this year that I first met Grey Owl's 1937 tour manager, Kenneth Conibear in Vancouver which was the start of a lifelong friendship. I think Grey Owl's conservation message is as relevant today as it was back then."
CAPTION(S):
Credit: Newcastle Chronicle
'Grey Owl', a native American
Credit: Newcastle Chronicle
Arthur Andrews from Monkseaton, who has studied 'Grey Owl' a native American who turned out to be from Hastings in East Sussex
Credit: Newcastle Chronicle
'Grey Owl', a native American, has been studied by Arthur Andrews of Monkseaton
Credit: Newcastle Chronicle
'Grey Owl', a native American, who has been studied by Arthur Andrews of Monkseaton
Credit: Newcastle Chronicle
'Grey Owl'
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback