Muddling Through: The Remarkable Story of the Barr Colonists

by Lynne Bowen

When two thousand British bank clerks, butchers, housewives, saleswomen, remittance men and ex-Boer War soldiers followed the charismatic but inept Anglican minister, Isaac Barr, to the Canadian prairies in 1903 their rallying cry was “Canada for the British.”

Despite the Canadian government’s expectations and Barr’s assurances, however, very few of the colonists knew anything about farming. As the granddaughter of Barr colonists, Lynne Bowen grew up on stories of what it was like to be young and green in the huge, raw Canadian west. These are those stories.

234 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Wilhelmina Hoftyzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fairly interesting read. It is the account in the early 1900's of several thousand very poorly prepared British colonists, lead by very poorly prepared leaders, first Isaac Barr, and later George Lloyd to immigrate to Canada. It was actually quite a disastrous journey, and a wonder that more people did not die, or return poste haste to the more comfortable life in England. The superior and snobbish attitude of the English toward "Canadians", and their refusal to follow the advice of such Canadians, caused a lot of unnecessary hardship. The book was a little light on details of more of the families that traveled through to the area which is now Lloydminister, Alberta.

[Bruce Butler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as I have a grandparent who, as a nine-year-old girl, came across from England on the Lake Megantic with her family as part of the Barr Colony advance party.

I found the book to be engaging, with the author making good use of her story-telling abilities - this makes the book much more interesting than a dry history book.

The hardships faced by these British colonists and their "stiff upper lip" attitude reminded me of similar stories I've read about the British Arctic and Antarctic explorers of the 1800s and early 1900s.

If there's someone in your family tree who's connected to the Barr Colony, you'll find this an interesting read.

[Robert Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muddling through is an apt title for this book. How so many British people wanting to homestead and doing so little research into what they were coming to is beyond interesting. Even today, looking after livestock in a cold Prairie winter is not easy never mind the early part of the last Century. However the Brits did not build an Empire being faint of heart so most of the Colonists carried on. The Dominion Government and the North West Mounted Police came to their rescue otherwise there would have been a lot more fatalities. Good read.