Horace Boultbee was born October 1, 1875 in the City of Bangalore,
India Bangalore, India, the son of William Boultbee and Marian Mulock
Boultbee. His father was involved with the construction of the Madras
Railway. Bangalore is located in the south-central section of India,
at an elevation of 1,000 metres above sea level. The elevation gives
it a pleasant climate even during the summer months. Many years later,
Mulock:Marian Marian wrote to her son Boultbee:Horace Horace about why
he was born in Bangalore: We had rented a fine residence in
large grounds for 3 months - in order to get away from the heat of Arkonam
in September. However, in Military Cantonments in India, this is
the way the Magistracy do things.
In 1876, the family returned to Canada on a two-year furlough.
The children were left in the care of a friend, Mrs. Ambrose, Mrs. (Aunt
Phoemy) Ambrose of Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton, and the parents returned
to India until the
work on the railway was completed. The parents returned to retire
in Canada in 1882.
Horace was educated at Upper Canada College in Toronto, and at
the University of Toronto University of Toronto where he graduated
in 1897 with a degree in Political Science. He related to his son Boultbee:Richard
(b1906) Richard once that calculus was a requirement for most courses at
the University, but the subject had not been taught at the College in those
days. Consequently he was advised to take Political Science
which did not require calculus as a subject. How a small event can
affect our later choice of occupation!
Early in 1898, he obtained work as a journalist for the Toronto
Globe Toronto Globe, reporting local events, and a few years later
was reporting political stories for the Globe from Ottawa. In 1904,
he transferred to the Toronto Mail & Empire Toronto Mail & Empire
as their Ottawa political reporter, and the earliest record we have of
this period is an October 26, 1904 clipping of a political meeting, with
the by-line of Horace Boultbee.
Horace married Nan Greer:Mary Anne (Nan) Greer, the daughter
of James Greer:James Greer and Greer:Margaret, see Haliburton Margaret
Haliburton, Margaret Haliburton Greer of Toronto. Both Horace and
Nan were long-time members of the choir at St. Paul's Anglican Church Choir
St. Paul's Anglican Church on Bloor Street East in Toronto, and it was
there that they first met. They were married on January 9, 1905 with
the full choir in attendance. They lived in Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa
while Parliament was in session, and then returned to live for two
years with his mother at 52 St. Alban Street, Toronto. Two days before
their marriage, Horace and Nan signed a marriage settlement stating that
he would set up a trust account for her of some money he would receive
upon the demise of his mother, Marian Boultbee. Horace and Nan had
four children, Richard, Boultbee:Marian Greer Marian, Boultbee:Patrick
Horace Patrick, and Boultbee:James Greer James.
While in Ottawa, he performed as a soloist with St. George's
Church Choir, Ottawa St. George's Church Choir when they sang Stainer's
Crucifixion at Eastertime in 1905. A review appeared in the Ottawa
Citizen Ottawa Citizen for April 21, 1905, and it read in part:
The solo work was well worthy of favorable note particularly
that of Mr. Horace Boultbee, who has a powerful, well controlled bass
voice. Throughout the piece in the long and trying work placed upon
the bass soloist, he took up the themes with force and clearness and
a thorough mastery of every phrase.
He was a member of the Press Gallery of Parliament, Ottawa Press
Gallery of Parliament, while working in Ottawa.
HORACE BOULTBEE at age 31
Photo by M. O. Hammond, M.O. Hammond, Fall 1906
Photo courtesy of the Archives of Ontario
Collection No. ACC 6355 S9163 AO 1814
He was an amateur photographer, and a Life Member of Toronto Camera
Club Toronto Camera Club. He won a bronze medal from the Club, about
1906. He took scenic photographs, mainly in southern Ontario, and
a selection of 50 of his early photos are on file at the National Archives
of Canada National Archives of Canada, under Accession No. 1980-240.
Five of his prints are reproduced in a book prepared by members of
the National Archives. The title is Private Realms of Light - Amateur
photography in Canada Private Realms of Light - Amateur photography
in Canada/1839-1940 and it is published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside of Markham,
Ontario.
Horace took ill with typhoid fever in 1907, and had to resign
from The Mail and Empire. He related to his son Patrick that one
day while convalescing by walking downtown in Toronto, he met his
brother Boultbee:Will Mulock (Thumby) Thumby who enquired after his health.
Thumby made him an offer to prospect for minerals in the Muskoka area of
Ontario Muskoka area of Ontario along with a friend, and perhaps that way regain
his health. Thumby paid all bills while the two prospectors travelled
down the Moon River from Bala to Georgian Bay. No precious metal
was found, but his health did improve. Horace was grateful for this
act of brotherly love.
During this period of low income, he, Greer:Mary Anne (Nan) Nan
and their young son Boultbee:Richard (b1906) Richard took rooms at 142 Mutual
Street, and Richard remembers just barely that there was a sandbox in the
small yard for him to play in. Horace managed to sell some free-lance
articles which appeared in the Toronto Globe Toronto Globe in its Saturday
Magazine section. A scrapbook of clippings of some of his reportings
from before and after the ill-health period has survived, mainly from the
period 1904 to 1913. About 1909, Boultbee:Horace Horace, Nan
and Richard moved into his mother's home at 73 Walmer Road, Toronto,
and it was there that his daughter Boultbee:Marian Greer Marian was born.
A few years later, probably just after his brother Thumby's death, the
family of four moved into Thumby's cottage by the Don River Thumby's cottage
by the Don River. They searched for a permanent home, and Richard
tells an amusing story of finding it at 115 Melrose Avenue, Toronto:-
Mother went for a walk one day and told him she had seen a new
three storey house for sale at a reduced price of $600. Three storey
brick houses with a basement sold for around five thousand in those
days. Dad told her she must be mistaken, but she said $600 was
right. He inquired, found out she was right, and bought the house.
I think the house is still standing (it is).
In 1908, he obtained work as editor of Canada Lumberman Canada
Lumberman, a trade magazine published by Hugh C. MacLean Publications Limited
of Toronto. He was editor of Canada Lumberman for ten years, and
during this period attended occasional luncheons organized by owners of wholesale
and retail lumber dealers. In May 1915, the retailers formed a credit
bureau in the Toronto area. During the winter of 1917/18, two other
organizations were formed, The Ontario Retail Lumber Dealers Association
Ontario Retail Lumber Dealers Association and The Wholesale Lumber Dealers
Association. The three organizations held a joint meeting and decided
to open an office under the management of Horace Boultbee. Early
in 1918, he resigned his position as editor of Canada Lumberman, and commenced
his new duties at the good salary for those days of $4,000 per year.
In 1927, the retail group felt that they wanted a full-time secretary,
and hired Horace to be their Secretary-Manager. These events are
described in more detail in the August l, 1940 issue of Canada Lumberman.
He remained with the Retail Lumber Dealers Association for 39
years, concluding his work as a Consultant to the Board of Directors.
In December 1957, the Board tendered him an Appreciation Dinner.
In his later years, Horace prepared a family tree of the descendants
of Boultbee:Felix Felix and Boultbee:Washington Washington, the two
brothers who moved from England to Ancaster, Canada. He named the
descendants of Felix the Ontario Line, and the descendants of Washington
the British Columbia Line. Horace visited the B.C. relatives during
these years, and kept up a correspondence for a few years. He also
corresponded with his sister Boultbee:Rosamond Rosamond in Eastbourne,
England Eastbourne, England telling her of the Canadian family tree.
In June 1955, Rosamond received a visit from Walter R. P. Boultbee:Walter
Richard Pownall Boultbee of Rochester, England, the family historian of
that period, and eventually Walter and Horace passed family histories back
and forth. Their children, Boultbee:Daisy Elizabeth Elizabeth and
Boultbee:Patrick Horace Patrick, are still performing that function in
the 1990s.
Horace died August 23, 1965, and is buried in St. James' Cemetery, Toronto St. James' Cemetery, Toronto.