This photo was given to me by my cousin’s Donna and Shauna Thompson, which was part of their parents’ collection.
One day last year, I met up with two of my cousins for lunch. After lunch, my cousin brought out a box of photos from their parents’ collection. They were giving me the pictures because they knew how much I loved old photos and that I’d preserve them.
The above photo was part of that collection, and we all looked at it and wondered what it was from. We were sure that it was in Edmonton, Alberta, but that was all we felt sure of.
I decided I’d need some help and turned to a Facebook page I thoroughly enjoy called Historic Edmonton. Every day, people post photos and stories about the city. So on October 27, 2024, I posted the picture and a note:
Looking for some help with this photo from my grandparents or great-grandparents’ collection. I believe it’s from Edmonton. I see it says welcome, but I can’t read the second line. Wondering if anybody knows what this photo might be about?
227 people liked the photo and 56 comments. Some comments were silly (as usually happens), but there were several that were quite helpful.
Peter P suggested: The last word is Byng,” honoring the visit of Field Marshal Viscount Byng of Vimy, who was Canada’s 12th Governor General. You can learn more about Lord Byng HERE.
Dawn V provided a link to a photo that might have been from the same event, just from a different angle. The image is on the Provincial Archives of Alberta site (PAA) under the Hermis portal, which is where you can access photos. If you’d like to see the different angle, you can see it HERE. On that website, the photo is called “Presenting of the Flags to Scholars”. The notes state: Held on the Flats in Edmonton, Alberta, which is interesting, as I remember my great-grandmother, Elizabeth Alice Oliver, saying the family lived on the Flats. The photo on the PAA shows a date of May 21st, 1915.
But as I was researching this blog, I realized that this photo was actually taken on September 13, 1922. I know this now because I searched Newspapers.com for “Welcome Byng” and found the same image.
Edmonton Journal, September 13, 1922
The accompanying article talked about thousands of schoolchildren making a human welcome sign for Baron Byng of Vimy, the Governor General of Canada, during his visit to Edmonton.
My only question is, why did my family have the photo? I’m thinking the children involved in the Welcome sign may have been given a photo to commemorate the event. I can only assume that my grandmother or grandfather was attending because they had the photo, and my uncle’s family got the copy.
So after some help with what the photo said and a bit of newspaper searching, I learned a little bit of history and how my family took part.
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