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are available for the thematic and newer
divisions. (Why was one used for Oneframe
exhibits but not for Thematic
entries?)
Only Youth Class exhibits are judged
using mandatory score sheets: one
for general exhibits and the other for
thematic exhibits.
In conclusion, allow me to end with
this advice from one juror to another:
• NEVER put down or degrade an
exhibitor’s efforts
• NEVER dwell exclusively on
negative observations
• NEVER sum up results in vague
generalizations
• IF you correct some actions, use
positive statements not negative ones
• IF you need to correct something,
also give credit where credit is due. To
do otherwise is a disservice to our great
hobby.
Frank Alusio, FRPSC
PS - In case Mr. McEntyre is not a
member of the American Association
of Philatelic Exhibitors here is what
John M. Hotchner, the editor, wrote in
the Philatelic Exhibitor Journal issue of
January 2006, page 3:
Editor’s AAPE of the Month
“Frank Alusio, whose thoughtful
article ‘Jury Panel Selection: A
Responsible Undertaking’, appears in
the November-December, 2005 issue of
The Canadian Philatelist”.
DEAR EDITOR:
Re: “Victoria Regina” (March/April
2006).
I’m not sure about Victoria’s ghost,
but there is good reason for ensuring
“that nothing flammable can ever come
near this portrait of Canada’s first
Queen.”
The painting has survived a total
of four fires: that of the Legislative
Assembly in Montreal in April, 1849,
and a subsequent fire in Donegana’s
Hotel in Montreal in August of 1849
(rioters upset about the arrest of those
accused of burning the Legislature).
After the latter event, the capital of
our country was shuffled between
Toronto and Quebec. It was in Quebec,
in February 1854, that another fire
erupted in the Legislative Council.
Safe but homeless, the painting was
eventually hung in the House of
Commons in 1866, Edward VII’s
portrait replaced hers in 1901, and the
Partridge painting was moved to the
Senate lobby, where it stayed until the
fire of 1916.
Interestingly, one of the men who
saved the portrait from being consumed
by the flames engulfing Parliament Hill,
a Walter Todd, was the son of an Alfred
Todd, who helped Sanford Fleming
remove the painting from the April 1849
fire in Montreal!
As to John Partridge, it is interesting
to note that he was appointed “Portraitpainter
Extraordinary” in 1842.
Evidently Victoria and Albert were
sufficiently pleased with his earlier
work to award him the warrant, only
to have grave misgivings about the
paintings of the Monarch and her
Consort. Does anyone know what
happened to the portrait of Prince
Albert?
Ian Byers
DEAR EDITOR,
I don’t know if it is simply a
phenomenon caused by reproduction
but in the article entitled
“Identification of Registered Letters”
on page 86 of the March/April 2006
issue, the ‘R’ in oval strike shown in
Figure 6 is quite perfect in comparison
with the other postmarks on the
cover; the oval seems thinner than
the normal hammer used in Ottawa,
and the ink appears to differ from
the others. For Fig 7, the ‘R’ hammer
looks as if it has been struck over the
London receiver and in view of the
other registered marks on the cover
one wonders if someone was simply
over-egging the pudding.
Of course, the covers ‘in the flesh’, as
it were, might reveal a different story.
Kind regards
John Hillson
TO THE EDITOR
Re: Victoria Regina: One Queen
- Two Portraits (Page 102-3 of The CP/le
PC MA06 Issue)
I read with great interest the above
article by Jim Measures.
I am well acquainted with the three
1837 paintings of Queen Victoria in
her Robes of State painted by Alfred
Edward Chalon – one for the Duchess
of Kent; one for the King of Prussia; and
one for the King of Portugal.
I am also very well acquainted with
the John Partridge painting that hangs
in the Senate Foyer – never called the
Hall of Royalty – having served three
Ushers of the Black Rod in the Senate of
Canada as Mace Bearer. It was painted
in 1838 and sold to the Province of
Canada – Upper and Lower Canada
were joined by the Act of Union, 1840
– who wanted a painting of the Queen.
It is, in fact, quite different from the
Chalon paintings.
The painting hung in the Library
of the Legislative Assembly in
Montreal until the evening of April
29, 1849, when Sanford Fleming
rushed into the building with a few
friends and rescued the painting, cut
it from its frame and took it away.
The following morning, Fleming left
for Toronto with the painting in tow.
It was assumed that the painting had
been destroyed. In 1851, Parliament
moved to Toronto and Fleming
returned the painting. That same year,
Parliament moved to Quebec City
and in 1852, the painting was hung
in the new House of Assembly in the
Wardrobe/Reading Room. In 1865,
the painting was transferred to the
Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. In
1916, flames swept through Canada’s
Parliament Buildings but the painting
was saved by Walter Todd of the
House of Commons staff and Ernest
Chambers, Gentleman Usher of the
Black Rod. On February 26, 1920,
the painting was hung in the present
Parliament Buildings in the Senate
Foyer.
Queen Victoria was not handicapped
with a withered left arm. There are,
204 • the CP / le PC • JA06