By Kevin O’Reilly, Yellowknife NT

Postcards from the North: A special feature, learning about our history in the letters from missionary leaders of the past

Here is an envelope, or “cover” as collectors call them, sent by Reverend David North Kirkby while he was at Fort Norman.

It was sent courtesy of the Hudson’s Bay Company which ran a courier service from the Mackenzie Delta down to Prince Albert where items were place into the Canada Post Office Department mail system. This item was likely picked up at Fort Norman in November or December 1886 and carried by dog team all the way to Prince Albert which was then in the Northwest Territories. A five cent Queen Victoria stamp was added at Prince Albert to pay the rate for mail going overseas to England. It was received at Oxford on February 25, 1887.

The handwriting matches that shown on a register as provided in a scan by the Anglican Church Archives in Toronto (at right).

Rev. Kirkby was born at Fort Simpson, NWT in 1863. He was the son of an Anglican missionary with the Church Missionary Society, William West Kirkby. David appears to have been sent away to school in England and spent his holidays with a Mrs. Shirley to whom this cover was addressed.

In 1880 he too joined the Church Missionary Society. Kirkby received a BA from the University of Manitoba in 1884 and was ordained at Fort Simpson on August 29, 1886 by the Anglican Bishop of Mackenzie River, William Carpenter Bompas. Kirkby was immediately posted to Fort Norman for 1886-88 and was also at Fort Simpson 1888-89. He moved again between Fort Simpson and Fort Norman 1891-92. Kirkby moved to the US in 1892 where he served at various churches in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. He married in 1895 and had three children (Kent, Cyril and Norman). He passed away on April 8, 1952 at Glen Ridge, New Jersey and was buried two days later at Kings County, New York, where his grave marker still stands today.

If you would like help finding information about an Anglican missionary who served in the Canadian North or have any envelopes that may be of interest, feel free to contact me at:

Kevin O’Reilly, Box 444, Yellowknife NT X1A 2N3 kor@theedge.ca