Open Collections

[Bookplate for James Bryce Allan]

In black ink. Escutcheon parted per bend, dancetty. Bordure, azure [blue]. Above field, argent [white] and ermine, a stag, gules [red], erased, antlers, or [gold], and an annulet, or. Below field, gules, a crescent. Helm has mantling around a tilting helmet on top of which is a curved crest wreath with a dog, erased. Below the escutcheon is a banner containing the Latin motto.

Heraldry

Prints

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Possibly the James Bryce-Allan who was married to Marguerite Lucile Jolivet, also known as actress Rita Jolivet, a survivor of the Lusitania sinking in 1915. This James Bryce-Allan was the cousin of Sir Montagu Allan, donator of the Allan Cup, the trophy awarded amateur ice hockey champions in Canada and president of the Allan Steamship Line based in Montreal. Their steamship was the first to receive a distress call from the Titanic in 1912. There was another James Bryce Allan who lived in Montreal around the turn of the century. He was a lawyer and senior partner in Campbell, Meredith & Allan, Montreal's most prestigious law firm at the time. His apprentice, Jocelyn Clifford Redpath, was a member of one of the richest families in Canada and is also at the centre of one of Canada's biggest unsolved murders. In 1901, Jocelyn and his mother were shot in their home and the case was closed within 48 hours with no suspects. McGill University has a matching bookplate of James Bryce Allan's in their Phillipe Masson Ex Libris collection.
References:
1) Encyclopedia. "Frederick Edmund Meredith." Nationmaster.com. http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Frederick-Edmund-Meredith (accessed 6 February 2009).
2) "H. Montagu Allan." Wikipedia.org. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Montagu_Allan (accessed 6 February 2009).
3) Montreal Walking Tours. "Titanic Walking Tour." Vehiculepress.com. http://www.vehiculepress.com/montreal/titanic.html (accessed 6 February 2009).
4) Phillipe Masson Ex Libris Collection. "James Bryce Allan." McGill University. http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/bookplates/ (accessed 6 February 2009).
5) The Redpath Mansion Mystery Archives. "Indenture of Jocelyn Clifford Redpath to James Bryce Allan." Canadianmysteries.ca. http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/redpath/archives/miscellaneous/5320en.html (accessed 6 February 2009).
6) "Rita Jolivet." Journeys in Time. http://www.revdma2.com/Rita.html (accessed 6 February 2009).

RBSC Bookplates

2009

Images provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy, or otherwise use these images must be obtained from Rare Books and Special Collections: http://rbsc.library.ubc.ca

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