Remembering the “Choir Mother,” a “gracious pioneer lady of great heart”
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Attached to the wall just south of the cathedral’s East Transept is a plaque dedicated to the memory of Mrs. E. Machin, “A member of the choir for twenty-seven years.” Yet there was much more to Eliza Machin than just her choral longevity. Born in the English spa town of Leamington, she married widower James Edwin Machin and in 1889 with their only child Elsie they immigrated to Vancouver. Upon arrival Edwin took over as librarian of the Free Library and Reading Room, a post he held until 1910. “Too much credit cannot be given to Mr. and Mrs. Machin for their work in the early and struggling days of the library [which] was kept open morning, noon and night, Mr. Machin being relieved by his wife and daughter.” But more important than being a source of books, the library became a social gathering place where the homeless and those down on their luck could receive help, advice, and comfort. For over twenty years Eliza Machin provided an annual Christmas dinner and entertainment at the library, one year serving over eight hundred. Many a letter was received from grateful mothers in the Old Country, thanking her for support extended to potentially wayward sons.
The Machins were involved with Christ Church almost from the very beginning. Eliza later recalled: “The foundation stone … was laid by the Freemasons on a pouring wet day…. but the Masons said it would not be right to have the dedication service under a roof, so the American organ was placed upon the roof of the basement and we had the service in the rain. I remember that the lady organist, Miss Edwards, was wearing artificial red roses in her hat. The rain soaked these and the colour trickled down her face and dropped on the keys, and I spent my time mopping the colour off the keys with my handkerchief.” Apart from her role in the choir (Elsie was also a member), Eliza was Vice-President of the Young People’s Society of Christ Church for which Elsie was sometime organist. The whole family performed in amateur musical entertainments which were frequently fundraisers: “Often when we had an entertainment there, eight to ten Christ Church men used to wheel my piano from Melville Street … along the pavements to the church for the entertainment, and this used to be a standing joke.”
Photo sources:
[1] https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/mrs-james-edward-machin
[2] https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/james-edwin-machin
[3] https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/picnic-at-raineys-ranch-2
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