Item 3 - Dolaura Guest Book

Open original digital objects

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Dolaura Guest Book

General material designation

Parallel title

Other title information

Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

Level of description

Item

Reference code

CA RRU 025-002-2-3

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

Statement of projection (cartographic)

Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1908-1965 (Creation)

Physical description area

Physical description

Publisher's series area

Title proper of publisher's series

Parallel titles of publisher's series

Other title information of publisher's series

Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series

Numbering within publisher's series

Note on publisher's series

Archival description area

Name of creator

Custodial history

Scope and content

James Dunsmuir’s yacht, Dolaura, was steam driven and about 218 feet from bow to stern and 32 feet across the beam. It was custom-built in Scotland in 1908. The yacht was named after Dola, James’s youngest daughter, and his wife, Laura. This vessel replaced the Thistle, which burned to the waterline in 1907. The Dolaura was magnificent, with lavishly decorated rooms and all the modern comforts. When the Dunsmuirs took possession in Europe, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany came on board for a tour and his is the first name in the visitors’ book. Dunsmuir family members and friends enjoyed many fishing trips and excursions on the ship while living at Hatley Park. In 1920, the yacht was sold to a lumber and shipping magnate in Midland, Ont., and was renamed Victoria. The yacht changed hands and names many more times and even served as an anti-submarine vessel in the waters off Scotland during the Second World War. It was finally dismantled in the 1950s.
Although the Hatley Park estate was sold in 1940 to the Government of Canada, 20 acres of waterfront property adjacent to the Belmont gateway had been gifted to the youngest Dunsmuir daughter, Dola, by her father before he died in 1920. She built a little house there in an English Arts and Crafts style, with hipped roofing, brick walls and tall chimneys. She named the house Dolaura, remembering the family yacht and the many family trips she had taken as a young girl. She had even kept the yacht’s guest book and used it to record visitors to her home.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Arrangement

Language of material

Script of material

Location of originals

Availability of other formats

Restrictions on access

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Images are provided for personal research only; other uses require permission. Contact the archivist for more information: rruarchives@royalroads.ca

Finding aids

Associated materials

Related materials

Accruals

Alternative identifier(s)

Standard number area

Standard number

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Control area

Description record identifier

Institution identifier

Rules or conventions

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation, revision and deletion

Language of description

Script of description

Sources

digital objects (Master) rights area

digital objects (Reference) rights area

digital objects (Thumbnail) rights area

Accession area

Related subjects

Related people and organizations

Related places

Related genres