Newfoundland explorer James Patrick Howley commemorated by federal government
A new plaque is being installed in the garden at The Rooms in St. John’s for Newfoundland explorer James Patrick Howley who the Government of Canada has chosen to commemorate as a Person of National Historic Significance.
Howley’s designation as a Person of National Historic Significance came as a result of the effort made by Gerald Penney and Derek Wilton who nominated him to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board.
“He laid the ground work the geology of Newfoundland and Labrador… It’s giving him the recognition he deserves. I think everyone in the business already knows about Howley, but it’s the general public that really needs to know what a tremendous influence he had on the province at the time,” Wilton says.
James Patrick Howley (18471918) was a geologist, writer, and accomplished curator who contributed massively to the knowledge of culture and science in Newfoundland. Howley worked as a clerk in the office of the Colonial Secretary in the Newfoundland Government before going to assist Alexander Murray, the first Director of the Geological and Topographical Survey of Newfoundland.
Howley gained an intimate knowledge of the land and created first detailed maps of Newfoundland, going to on to take over from Murray in the role of Director. His work helped to diversify Newfoundland’s then fishery-dependent economy by identifying opportunities for agriculture, mining, and forestry.
Alongside his geological work, Howley published a definitive study of the Beothuk culture, an extinct indigenous group, in his 1915 book, “The Beothucks or Red Indians — The Aboriginal Inhabitants of Newfoundland,” and his considered the founder and curator of Newfoundland’s first public museum.
“Generations will better understand their history through this mosaic that is being created by the (Historic Sites and Monuments) Board and hopefully better understand themselves and their place in Canada and its values,” says St. John’s East MP Nick Whalen, representing the Catherine Mckenna, federal minister responsible for Parks Canada about how the plaque can help anyone living in or visiting Newfoundland connect to their history.
“One could argue Howley’s best known legacy is his fundamental study of the Beothuk which remains a cornerstone of all subsequent research on the topic.
He used every available opportunity to inspect, study and photograph identifiable Beothuk sights, eventually presenting his decades long research in a book,” says Mark Browne of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
“What Howley really did was captured the evidence of the genocide Newfoundland committed against the Beothuk,” says Whalen, “He inspires us to maintain these truths.”
Howley left his mark on Newfoundland in the naming of unidentifiable features of the island and enlisting traditional names he learned from his Mi’kmaq guides.
Howley’s work inspires not only academics, but artists as well.
“Sometimes, I would just get an adrenaline rush when I would start reading a passage,” says artists Joanne Cole Costello who has created nine large scale paintings from a Newfoundland Arts Council grant of places Howley described in his book.
The plaque was unveiled by Howley’s great-grandsons John Howley and William Howley Flethcher. Members of other generations of the Howley family were also in attendance for the unveiling ceremony.