Garland, Charles

• Main Author: Riggs, Bertram G., 1954-
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1994
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/ead/id/107

This fonds consists of a photograph of a silhouette of a Charles Garland. On the back of the image is - written Surrogate Charles D. Garland / died at Harbour Grace 1810 / 80 years of age. There is an - anomaly here in that Charles D. Garland was not the Charles Garland who was surrogate or who died in - 1810 at age 80. There were three Charles Garlands in Harbour Grace between 1776 and 1810: Charles Garland the - surrogate (1730-1810); his son, Charles Garland (1776-1815); and Charles Davis Garland (1777-?). It would appear that some time after 1895 (D. W. Prowse in A History of Newfoundland (1895) never uses - Davis when referring to Charles Garland the surrogate), Charles Garland the surrogate and Charles Davis - Garland became confused or fused into one person. It is very possible that the fusion has been caused by William A. Munn, who is the author of a series of articles on Harbour Grace, which appeared in The - Newfoundland Quarterly in the 1930s. In one of these articles (NQ, Vol. 35(2), p. 11) he refers to "Charles Davis Garland" who succeeded his father, George Garland, as "Magistrate in Conception Bay about - 1750". This silhouette is reproduced on that page bearing the caption "Surrogate Charles Davis Garland - / Harbour Grace". Written on the back of this picture, in pencil, is the name "Mr. W. A. Munn", leading to - the supposition that this image once belonged to him, and as the handwriting is similar, if Munn wrote his - name on the back to denote ownership, he may also have written the information concerning Garland. - Indeed, this may be the image that was used as the illustration in the The Newfoundland Quarterly article - referred to above. It is most probable that the person referred to in this article and the person pictured in the silhouette is - Charles Garland, the Surrogate Magistrate, who died in 1810 at age 80 and not his contemporary, Charles - Davis Garland, who is not known to have served Newfoundland in any judicial capacity. - The silhouette was a very common form of portraiture ...