Aly Firth
Drag is a staple of the 2SLGBTQ+ neighborhood in the present day, nevertheless, many wouldn’t affiliate drag efficiency with the First World Struggle, a lot much less as a vital part for reinforcing morale. The wealthy historical past of drag has sturdy roots in Atlantic Canada; one notable instance being Ross Hamilton, the famed feminine impersonator from the live performance get together troupe the Dumbells. Throughout and following the First World Struggle, Hamilton not solely introduced satisfaction to Canada together with his capability to craft the proper phantasm of womanhood, but in addition to Nova Scotia, as a resident of the province. Though queer need was criminalized by the Canadian army, drag leisure was seen as a necessity to assist the flagging morale of troops.
Drag, often called feminine impersonation on the time, was a preferred type of wartime leisure. Regardless of drag’s lengthy affiliation with the 2SLGBTQ+ neighborhood, in the course of the First World Struggle, queerness was demonized beneath the heteronormative mindset attributable to fears that it will break unit cohesion and go in opposition to the ‘norm’ of reproductive sexuality. In very particular contexts, nevertheless, drag allowed queer males to discover their identification with out the specter of going through punishment for breaking with these norms. Earlier than the warfare, drag was a preferred type of theatrical leisure, together with the favored type of vaudeville beginning within the mid-nineteenth century, which closely featured feminine impersonation. Though cross-dressing was positively acquired on stage, it was perceived as a hazard off stage, because it created doubt surrounding the particular person’s start gender, which created fears about males wanting different males. Drag was additionally distinguished within the army, with feminine impersonation being a preferred type of leisure in the garrison neighborhood over 200 years earlier than Canadian Confederation. By the start of the First World Struggle, drag was a longtime type of wartime leisure. After the British Expeditionary Drive refused to pay for Canadian troops’ recreation, live performance events and drag grew to become a preferred type of inexpensive leisure.
Ross Hamilton grew up in Pugwash, Nova Scotia, a small village in Cumberland County on the north shore of Nova Scotia. He was born on Might 28, 1889, to James and Bertha Hamilton. Hamilton spent his childhood attending Pugwash College, expressing his patriotism for Nova Scotia with the beneficiant donation he made to the Canadian troops serving within the Second Boer Struggle in 1900, which was emphasised within the Halifax Night Mail. The language incorporates the narrative of kids as instruments of nation-building and patriotism in Canada, and in flip, Nova Scotia. Even earlier than changing into a drag star by means of his wartime service with the Dumbells, Hamilton was already famous as a patriot for Nova Scotia and Canada.
After ending college, Hamilton stayed in Nova Scotia to work however was unhappy together with his job. In 1912, he moved to Montreal to pursue theatre, which he had been concerned with since his youth. There he met Allan Murray and Leonard Younger, who would ultimately develop into a part of the Dumbells. The Dumbells had been shaped on Might 28, 1917, led by Captain Merton Plunkett, the Captain of the YMCA (44). Plunkett sought to kind a everlasting live performance get together troupe much like the British Expeditionary Drive (52). The Dumbells had been named the official live performance get together troupe of the third Division, gaining their identify from the divisional patch: the purple dumbbell (53).
Regardless of his pursuits within the theatre world, he had no intention of changing into a feminine impersonator, stating in a later interview that he would have “killed” anybody who advised him he would “come again to Canada as a lady” (123). As drag performances had been typically positioned in farce and vaudeville, it was not seen as a ‘severe’ type of appearing. Critical appearing was related to performing as one’s start gender, thus Hamilton’s response probably displays his personal fears of his appearing craft that he would develop into a logo of humour (slightly than revered for his coaching and skills) by performing as a lady.
Persevering with from his patriotic participation in class, Hamilton additional performed a nationalistic function with the outbreak of the First World Struggle. He participated in musicals in assist of the Purple Cross Society in November 1915. Though he had not enlisted on the time, Hamilton nonetheless utilized his skills within the theatre to indicate assist for Canada’s warfare, thus enjoying a patriotic function that was entangled with Canadian nationalism.
Enlisting in Montreal on January 22, 1916, Hamilton embarked for France in April of that 12 months with the No. 9 Subject Ambulance. Hamilton, together with Murray and Younger, had been liable for shifting with fight models to offer medical care and transport wounded troopers to casualty clearing stations.
By December Hamilton had his huge break as a drag performer. Pulling inspiration from the newest exhibits on the London stage, ten males from the unit had been relieved from responsibility every day to rehearse. Opening their present on the YMCA Hut in Bray on December 23, Hamilton made his drag debut as Girl Gwendelyn Vere de Vere within the present. Within the context of fabric shortage, Hamilton crafted his drag persona utilizing pillow feathers, rosary beads, and tent canvas. The present was a smash hit, launching the start of Hamilton’s lengthy drag profession.
As morale plummeted in the course of the Vimy offensive, there was an increase within the recognition of live performance troupe leisure. The Dumbells performed their first present in Gouy-Servins at Main Beecher Gale’s Theatre in June 1917. The primary present was met with immediate hostility, with audiences eager to take a shower slightly than watch one more selection present. Nonetheless, as Dumbells member Jack McLaren acknowledged, “Their anger subsided […] when the languorous and wonderful Marjorie (Ross Hamilton) appeared. […] These preventing males, most of whose wives and sweethearts had been an ocean away, merely accepted the phantasm of six-foot Hamilton[.]”
Hamilton was described by the troopers he carried out for as “a showering swimsuit magnificence” and “thought to be a surprising brunette knockout by the women-hungry troopers.” Hamilton represents a type of ‘patriotic drag,’ as his femininity could possibly be taken on and off to swimsuit what was wanted for the warfare effort. Marjorie grew to become a determine of male affection in a time the place feminine presence was missing; thus demonstrating how gender was fluid when justified beneath the realm of 1’s patriotic responsibility.??With the need of wartime leisure, the Dumbells gained appreciable fame on the entrance, performing for allied troops all through Belgium, France, and England, changing into a logo of Canadian patriotism as nicely. Hamilton grew to become a logo of satisfaction for Nova Scotia, by means of his capability to uplift morale for the warfare to proceed. Furthermore, these drag performances led to Hamilton’s fame in the course of the warfare and solidified him as a historic Canadian 2SLGBTQ+ icon.
After the warfare, Hamilton was demobilized on March 31, 1919 and returned to Colchester, Nova Scotia, the place he lived together with his mom. At the moment he continued his profession as a feminine impersonator, touring with the Dumbells till the troupe fell aside as a result of chapter of their director Merton Plunkett. Hamilton himself started to doubt his area within the Dumbells with the introduction of girls within the 1928 revue Why Fear. He vowed to by no means carry out in a present with girls, as he believed he couldn’t compete with their magnificence (141).
After the top of the Dumbells, Hamilton spent the Nineteen Thirties dwelling in Nova Scotia, till he enlisted within the Second World Struggle. Hamilton additionally continued his drag act into the Second World Struggle, as a volunteer with the Royal Canadian Military Medical Corps. His drag character grew to become a middle-aged opera singer in-line together with his age. Throughout this era, Hamilton’s sexuality was uncovered. Whereas performing as a feminine impersonator at Camp Borden, Hamilton was caught having sexual relations with recruits within the showers. He was discharged by the medical board in August 1941 for “causes aside from medical” (71). Hamilton was capable of play his function of femininity and queer masculinity when he was beneath the guise of morale boosting and supporting the troops, however as soon as his sexuality got here to mild, he grew to become labelled as a hazard to unit cohesion and thus was now not capable of defy these roles of masculinity in an appropriate context.
Hamilton retired to Halifax and spent the remainder of his life there. He handed away on September 29, 1965 on the age of 76 from coronary heart illness. He was buried in New Annan Bell Cemetery in Colchester County.
Regardless of the Dumbells fading from standard Canadian reminiscence, Hamilton’s legacy nonetheless endures as a legacy of Atlantic queer historical past. In 2023, Veterans’ Affairs Canada featured Hamilton of their Veterans’ Week Particular Version of Canada Remembers Instances, increasing their schooling to incorporate “Serving with Satisfaction.” The article highlights Hamilton’s service in the course of the warfare and his wrongful discharge attributable to his sexual identification. On this article, Hamilton is not only remembered for his abilities as a performer and his capability to change his gender on the stage, however he’s additionally remembered as a queer man. Though no apology has been made for the character of his dismissal, Hamilton grew to become a logo for the wealthy queer historical past of Nova Scotia, connecting the historical past of drag on to the province by means of his nationwide and worldwide significance.
Additional Assets
LGBT Purge Fund, 2sLGBTQ+ Persecution within the First World Struggle
Wilson, Jason, Troopers of Music: The Dumbells and different Canada live performance events of the First World Struggle. Additionally out there on the Toronto Public Library and Halifax Public Library.
Halifax Rainbow Encyclopedia, Ross Hamilton
Arquives, Struggle is a Drag
CBC, “WW1 entertainers bear in mind “younger woman” Ross Hamilton in 1965,” Video
Aly Firth is a historian of Canadian gender and sexuality who has just lately accomplished their Grasp of Arts at Wilfrid Laurier College the place they studied feminine impersonation and queer identities within the Canadian Expeditionary Drive in the course of the First World Struggle. Additionally they work within the discipline of incapacity and queer identities, specializing in the affect of the AIDS epidemic in Canada.
Associated
