Hatleys around the world / 2

By Ishbel Beatty

North Hatley, Quebec – Pier. [Photo - Jean-Philippe Boulet].

North Hatley, Quebec – the pier. [Photo – Jean-Philippe Boulet].

You may be surprised to learn that there are other Hatleys than those in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire.  In the Province of Quebec, Canada, there are villages called East Hatley and North Hatley.  Together with a rural area alongside Lake Massawippi, they make up the Township of Hatley, named in the 19th century by a Government surveyor called Rankin.

Our Canadian cousins will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of the settlement of their East Hatley this summer [1999], and the Parish Council of the Cambridgeshire Hatleys will be sending their greetings and congratulations to the inhabitants of those parts.

Map of Canada showing the location and area of North Hatley, Quebec.

Canada: location and area of North Hatley, Quebec.

We hope to learn more about the area and its origins: it is possible that an emigrant from our East Hatley called Abbott had some influence on the naming. Has anyone any knowledge which could help us confirm this?

We have also learned of Hatleys in Wisconsin and Georgia in the United States, and again research is needed to discover any connections between these places and Cambridgeshire.

Perhaps the operation of the internet will bring us all closer together in 1999 and the 21st century.

Gamlingay Gazette, June 1999


A little while later…

North Hatley, Quebec – fishing on the lake opposite the municipal dock. Photo: Guy Veillettet.

North Hatley, Quebec – fishing on the lake opposite the municipal dock. Photo: Guy Veillettet.

Exchanges had been going on between the Cambridgeshire Hatleys and the Quebec Hatleys, writes Ishbel Beatty, and a Canadian local historian got in touch with each other.

This contact was made just in time to learn that the Township of Hatley was celebrating its 200th anniversary of settlement this summer of 1999. What could we do about it?  Our Parish Clerk at the time, Sebastian Kindersley, drew up a colourful computer printed letter of greetings, which was signed by the then Chairman Mrs Joyce Dixon and this was read by the Mayor of Hatley at a reception on August 6th.  It was translated into French for the benefit of the French speaking inhabitants.

We have been sent a copy of the letter of invitation circulated in the Province giving the programme of summer events at which the anniversary was celebrated.  As well as the Mayoral reception in August, there was a display ‘Memories of Hatley Village’, combined with the issuing of a booklet with which to tour the historic houses of the village.  There was also a hymn-singing occasion followed by a Potluck Supper another day and on yet another Women’s Institute Tea.

Some of these terms are familiar to us, but others, like the word Vernissage, remind us of the French part of the Canadian heritage.  This word is used like our term ‘varnishing-day’, the day before the opening of an exhibition of paintings, but in a more general sense.  There is to be a Musical Day on October 2nd, which ends the season of events.

Further exchanges will be taking place between people of all the Hatleys, and anyone in our villages with a particular interest in the Canadian area is invited to get in touch and add their contribution.

Gamlingay Gazette, October 1999

First published in the Gamlingay Gazette and then on the original Hatley website, 2006; with minor changes for this website plus graphics 11 March 2019.