Born in the British Isles, Ena Constance Barrett came to Newfoundland after her marriage to a Newfoundlander and became well-known as a poet.
Special thanks to Helena M. MacLean and Arthur W. F. Barrett for contributing family information.
This author's life has been researched earlier for inclusion in the
Entry revised by Linnea McNally
As a young child, Ena Constance Culbard endured much tragedy and transition. Some records list her birthplace as England, and others as Scotland, an uncertainty due to the way that Ena came to live with the Culbard family.
After the untimely death of their young mother, Norah McQuie (1868-1893), Ena and her brother (who later became distinguished biochemist Sir Jack Drummond) lived with different relatives and friends. Ena lived briefly with Norah's sister and husband, Constance (McQuie) and Arthur Culbard until their deaths in 1902 and 1903 respectively. She then moved to Dunkeld, Scotland, under the care of Arthur's newly widowed mother, Mrs. Jessy Stewart Dingwall Fordyce (Mathews) Culbard. Ena remained with her adoptive grandmother until the latter died in 1919, just a year before Ena married John Archelaus Barrett (1872-1955), a soldier with the Newfoundland Forestry Unit who brought his wife to Newfoundland. The couple later lost their first son, John Hamilton Barrett, in the sinking of the "Caribou" during the Second World War. In 1952, Ena's only sibling, Jack, was murdered in France along with his wife and daughter, in an infamous case known as "l'affaire Dominici."
Despite these misfortunes, Ena received a good education and had a flourishing and vibrant writing career. During her time with the Culbards, Ena received private tutoring, and during summer vacations in the Lake District she mixed with prominent artistic and literary figures, including Beatrix Potter. Her first poem,
During her lifetime, Ena wrote over three hundred poems, many of which were collected in her three volumes of verse. Settled in Newfoundland with her husband and family, she expressed her enthusiasm for her new home in dozens of poems in newspapers and periodicals, earning the sobriquet, "Newfoundland's Poet Laureate." She fulfilled this role by writing poems to mark official events such as Confederation and the Newfoundland tours of Queen Elizabeth.
Widowed in 1955, Ena spent her final years in the land that had become her home, living with her daughter at Gull Bridge Mines, NL. She became ill and died at hospital in Grand Falls, NL, in 1967.
Arthur Dingwall Fordyce Culbard was born in Turiff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, to Dr. John Chisholm Culbard (1831-1901) and Jessy Stewart Dingwall Fordyce Matthews (1834-1919). Arthur was an East India Merchant who operated a spice and seed merchant business, Culbard and Johnson. The firm dissolved in 1882, with Arthur assuming the debts.
In 1893, Arthur became adoptive father to Ena, the niece of his wife, Constance Gertrude McQuie (c1858-1902). Arthur died in Toxteth Park, Lancashire in April 1903.
Constance Gertrude McQuie was born in Liverpool, England, to public accountant Peter Brookshaw McQuie (1820-1899) and his wife, Mona Mary Edlman (b. c1830). She married Arthur Dingwall Fordyce Culbard (1855-1903) in 1881. The couple adopted Constance's niece, Ena, after the death of the child's mother, Norah (McQuie), in 1893. Constance died in Ormskirk, England, in 1902.
A distinguished biochemist, Jack contributed to research on nutrition in Britain during Second World War. Jack, Anne, and their daughter Elizabeth were murdered in France in 1952, in a case referred to as "l'affaire Dominici."
John Archelaus Barrett was born on 10 February 1871 in Freshwater, NL, to privateer William Horatio Barrett (1837-1920), aka "Captain Billy Barrett", and Elizabeth Loveridge (1848-1923).
John was a soldier stationed in England with the Newfoundland Forestry Unit when he met and married Ena Constance Culbard (1893-1967) in 1920. After returning with her to Newfoundland, he worked as a journalist and publisher of
A pilot officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force, John died in the Second World War.
Arthur was a light lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. His wife Barbara wrote columns for
The Dingwall-Fordyces were a legendary family in Aberdeenshire, and lived in Brucklay Castle for some time; Ena's adoptive father was a descendant of the family through his mother. Having inherited a great deal of money from the Culbards, Ena was able to import all her fine furnishings and library to Newfoundland, including books from Brucklay.
There is some confusion regarding Ena's and Jack's early years. Jack is registered with his birth parents John and (Norah) Gertrude Drummond in Leicester in 1891. John Drummond died in 1891 and Norah in 1893; John could not therefore have been Ena's father, but no other information has come to light. Jack, however, was not adopted by their aunt Constance Culbard. In 1901, Jack is registered as living with "retired Captain Q-master" George Spinks and his wife Maria in London, and his name is recorded as "Drummond (previously Spinks)" in his 1908 school records, which also list "Mrs. Spinks" as his guardian.
Lines from Ena's verse are inscribed upon the base of The Newfoundland Airmen's Memorial in Gander, NL.