Adventures in Travel: Osprey Museum and The Great War Exhibit

Locals fishing

Located approx. 30 minutes south of Collingwood, just off of County Road 2, is the tiny hamlet of Feversham. On weekends you will find locals fishing off the bridge in the center of town, or hiking on the trails in the nearby conservation area. First of all you may be asking yourselves "What has brought me to this small town?"

Osprey Museum

Feversham has a temporary museum, that is dedicated to the the history of Osprey township, though special exhibits. This past week, the museum is holding its first exhibit of the year, commemorating the 100 anniversary of the Great War - known as World War I. The Great War started on July 28, 1914 and ended on November 11, 1918 and was fought mainly in Europe. The underlying reason for the Great War, was the resurgence of imperialism, but the main trigger for the war was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austin-Hungary and his wife HRH Sophie Duchess of Hohenberg.

Click here for more information about WW I
Click here for more information about Archduke Ferdinand

Interior of the Museum

When I walked in the side door of the church, I was greet by 3 volunteers, Denise, Jill and Ruth, who run the part time museum. The women are also responsible for putting together the special exhibit. I came to the museum with the intent on writing about the displays. That soon changed after learning about 2 very special exhibits.

Denise, who is the shorter of the women, greeted me with a warm smile and a welcome to the museum. Giving a brief history about the museum, and a quick tour showing some of the more interesting exhibits that I might have otherwise missed (articles that were too heavy to have on a table were propped up against a wall or a table).

Rob "Brownie" Brown

Jill welcomed me and made me feel at ease allowed to take all the pictures I wanted, and offered to answer any questions I had about the museum, its history and the exhibit.

Ruth, seemed to be the quieter of the 3 ladies, she was quite content to stay in the background - that is, until I came to two different displays. The exhibits about Rob Brown and the Parliament brothers. The first exhibit was that of Feversham's own hero Rob Brown, also known as "Brownie" to his friends. Rob Brown was credited with shooting down the Red Baron (Manfred von Richthofen), on April 21, 1918. What is an even more interesting fact about Captain Brown, is that he never lost a pilot in flight while in combat. Click here for more information about Rob Brown.

Stanley Parliament

Ruth was then very keen on showing me the exhibit about the Parliament brothers, Stanley and Earl. Although I was unable to find any information about them on line in Wikipedia - the following is the information I was able to gather about the brothers, from the museum and the descendants of Parliament family. Stanley and Earl were born into a large family in the 1800's.The family moved to the Osprey area shortly after Earl was born. When war was officially declared in 1914, the Parliament brothers signed up. By the summer of 1917 Stanley went missing in action and was officially declared dead on November 6, 1917. Being officially declared dead, the Canadian Government sent the Parliament family a Memorial Penny, thanking Stanley for his sacrifice.The body of Stanley Parliament was never been found. Earl was shot and killed in action on Sept. 15, 1917 and is buried in the Vimy Memorial cemetery in Pas De Calais, France.

Earl Parliament

The great great nephew of Earl and Stanley was building a family tree and contacted the Canadian military requesting Stanley's service documents. When the documents arrived, he was surprised to learn that Stanley had been awarded 4 medals. Stanley was awarded the GRV Memorial Cross, 1914-1915 star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal

Click here for more information about WW1 medals

Click here for more information about the GVR Memorial Cross

The 5X's great niece of Earl and Stanley Parliament had the opportunity to visit the Vimy Ridge Memoral with her grade 12 class, a few years ago. The grade 12 class made and took with them a memorial quilt to the Vimy Memorial, honoring those that gave their lives in service, at the battle of Vimy Ridge. In the top left hand corner of the quilt there is a patch, with her name and her family's name where it remains at the memorial.

Click here for more information about the Vimy Memorial.

While I was at the museum, people came and went, caught up with old friends, made new friends while sharing stories from the past. When I was about to leave a father came in with is son and daughter, and I was surprised at how eager the children were to learn about the history of the soldiers, their families and about the Great War - a war that was meant to end all wars, affected not only the men on the battlefield, but those here at home.

The museum is small and the exhibit is only temporary, but if you have a chance I recommend you come to Feversham and see it. After the exhibit is finished, the museum will only be opening for small special exhibits. If you would like to learn more about the Feversham area, its residence and history, there is a permanent museum that is opened seasonally in the hamlet of Rob Roy.

Click here for Rob Roy location

Click here for more information about the permanent Osprey Museum in Rob Roy.