Cobourg celebrates Cockburn
News
Posted By CECILIA NASMITH Northumberland Today.com
Updated 1 month ago
COBOURG - History buffs of the national and local variety -- not to mention theatre buffs -- are in for a good time on James Cockburn Day, Cobourg municipal clerk Lorraine Brace promises.
The three key players are Mayor Peter Delanty, Northumberland Today columnist Robert Washburn and the town's senior planner, Rob Franklin. The trio are cooking up plans for a celebration that will get people talking: two performances of a special historical monologue Franklin will perform as James Cockburn in front of Victoria Hall, with chairs set up and a small stage brought in for him.
The play was authored by Washburn and Franklin, who won praise from Brace for his keen interest in local history. Franklin even hosted some of the town's summer ghost tours.
"Some people just shine, and he's a real historian. He reads all he can about Cobourg, and he's one of those guys who jumps up to the plate if you need him," she said.
"It's very amateur acting and I'm a very amateur historian, but I enjoy it -- I think there's important stories to tell about Cobourg," Franklin commented.
Originally from Peterborough, Franklin has been in the area for about 15 years. Prior to his six years on staff at the Town of Cobourg, he got to know the area through work at the Port Hope office of the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority. With the birth of a new baby boy last spring, he's delighted to be raising a family in Cobourg.
In addition to outdoors shows Saturday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., there will be tours offered at Victoria Hall and historical displays in the foyer. Town crier Tom MacMillan and Cobourg's poet laureate, Jill Battson, will be in attendance to announce the opening of the event. Heritage displays will be set up in the foyer.
July 31 is an ideal date for two reasons, Franklin said: it's a Saturday, which more people have off over the holiday weekend, and it coincides with the annual downtown Sidewalk Sale.
Franklin will stroll the streets in his Cockburn costume, along with Victoria Hall Volunteers past president Madeleine Thibault-Smith in a lovely Victorian gown, circulating among the sidewalk shoppers to drum up interest. Between that and the chairs set up outside Victoria Hall, Franklin said, there should be enough curiosity to ensure a good turnout.
Washburn was a key player in the group that successfully campaigned for the town to declare the Aug. 1 holiday James Cockburn Day (much in the way Toronto has declared it Lord Graves Simcoe Day, Franklin noted). He has been an excellent partner to collaborate with Franklin on the short play about Cobourg's own Father of Confederation.
"There are some great stories about our history here; national-level characters, with James Cockburn being the first Speaker of the House of Commons and one of 33 Fathers of Confederation. He was one of the men who helped design the country," Franklin said.
The two men researched everything from the Percy Climo articles and James Cockburn book from the 1960s, to the contemporary newspapers of the 1860s through 1880s that detailed Cockburn's life first-hand (and which are available on microfiche in the Cobourg and District Historical Society Archives), with research at the National Archives also thrown in.
The language of the day impressed Franklin, with eloquence instead of the slang and short forms so many people use today.
"To be a lawyer or politician was a serious business in those days. You had to have command of the language," he said.
Over the past couple of years, Franklin, Washburn and Delanty have tried to promote the day a little more. A costume has been purchased to allow Franklin to assume the Cockburn persona at public functions like the May 29 celebration of Victoria Hall's 150th anniversary, and more ceremony has taken place at Victoria Hall on the August holiday.
In 2008, Brace said, they set up an historical display in the foyer. In 2009, Franklin was costumed and stationed in the James Cockburn Room, with tours offered by himself and a costumed Thibault- Smith.
That was the year Franklin first performed the Cockburn monologue, with two performances in the Old Bailey Courtroom.
This year's outdoor performances will be more of an event, Franklin said -- appropriately, at a time when more tourists are in town.
"Those are the kinds of folks we want to tell the story to. They will be out there shopping, sitting on the cafes and patios, and they'll see the chairs in front of Victoria Hall.
" Even if they can only stay for part of the play, that's great.
"When you go places, it's the kind of thing you do as a tourist. Why not do it in your own town?"
cnasmith@northumberlandtoday.com
Topic guidelines: We welcome your thoughts, stories and information related to this article.
Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers.
