Wawanesa: A Prairie Heritage - Percy Criddle and the Old World

Before coming to Canada, Percy lived in Addlestone, Surrey, England. Percy went to various universities and studied a variety of fields including law, medicine, and the arts and languages. His wife Alice was also highly educated. She attended Cambridge University during a time when very few women attained any sort of higher education. Her specialty was Sanskrit and it is quite likely that she was the only person in the area that knew Sanskrit.

During the later years of his education Percy travelled to Germany to study at Heidelberg. It was here that he met Elise Vane and began the love affair that would last into the New World. Elise was several years his senior and was also very well educated. When Percy left Germany he brought Elise back with him and set up a house for her and their children in England.

The Criddle cottage in Addlestone, Surrey, England

Some time after completing his education, Percy married Alice and became a wine merchant. This occupation included all sorts of trade in a number of different commodities from the middle east, and the orient as well as around Europe. After many years of equivocal success, Percy abandoned this venture gathered both of his families, and moved to Canada.

The trip to Canada was an unfortunate one. Percy could afford only intermediate class rooms on the ship for his family, a situation that irritated him to no end. Percy and his family existed in relative comfort, though his diary complains about the quality of the food and the size of the rooms. The Vanes, however, were confined to lower class accommodations. Percy’s diary briefly describes the sordid conditions that the lower class passengers were subjected to. He said of the passengers: “. . .helpless sheep in an uncommonly small and dirty fold would certainly look happier and be better treated.”

The Criddles and Vanes arrived in New York and began an arduous journey across America, north to Winnipeg and out to south-western Manitoba. By the time the Criddles arrived, Percy had little money remaining and there was much work to be done. The house needed to be constructed and farming had to be started.

Elise Vane

Percy did not possess the building skills that many of the other pioneers had
and therefore he had to pay his neighbours to construct his house for him and his family. The log house that they erected was a serviceable prairie home that they called St. Albans. Although they were not working on the house, the Criddles had all the usual tasks of the pioneer farmer and so their hands were full. In 1886, Elise Vane established a homestead apart from the Criddles on the edge of the Criddle homestead.

The log house erected when the family arrived in Aweme

Percy was an English gentleman and had not been exposed to a tremendous amount of manual labour during his life. He made many mistakes during the first years. Perhaps his incredible stubbornness and desire to live the best life possible in his new setting was what drove him past his failure and on to competence as a pioneer farmer.

In 1905, a new house was constructed at Aweme. The new house was called St. Albans just as the old one was; however, it was much larger and more comfortable. The new mansion would provide Percy with room for his large family and all the conveniences and entertainments that he missed from his days in England.

The new St. Albans, built in 1905

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