Marjorie (Culbert) Royal: Rolling Down to Rio

When I first laid eyes on Marjorie Culbert’s immigration card, I wanted to know more.
 

Why was the Canadian granddaughter of Thomas Culbert moving to Brazil? And why was Calcutta, India listed on her card?

 

And so began my search to see what I could find.

Marjorie Isabelle Culbert was born 7 July 1908 in London, Ontario, Canada to parents, Ernest Adolphus Culbert and Mary Rose Wilson.

Marjorie and her younger sister, Barbara Olive Culbert grew up in this house at 180 Bruce Street in London...

 

180 Bruce Street as it looks today

After graduating from high school at London South Collegiate Institute, Marjorie attended Westervelt Business College in London.  

In Toronto, Marjorie enrolled at the Margaret Eaton School of Literature and Expression where she majored in Physical Education.

The Margaret Eaton School was an architectural landmark, located on the west side of North Street (now Bay Street) south of Bloor Street West. One notable alumnae (and instructor) was Dora Mavor Moore, a pioneer of Canadian theatre. 

The school’s founder, Emma Scott Raff wanted to educate a student "not so much ... who can stand on her head and perform with her feet, but the student who can stand on her feet and perform with her head."

Marjorie Culbert graduated in 1929 at age 21, and with those feet she became a globetrotter.

Her first few jobs were on Canadian soil. She was employed with the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) in London, Ontario; Quebec City and Montreal. In Winnipeg, she was the YWCA's Director of Health Education.

 

Marjorie Culbert, 1934

In 1936, Marjorie was working in Toronto as a swimming instructor at Eaton's. She lived at 10 Isabella Street, near the corner of Yonge Street, south of Bloor. Today, that building is the Artful Dodger pub. 

Today, it's the Artful Dodger pub at 10 Isabella Street but Marjorie Culbert lived here in 1936. I enjoyed many a pint at this pub without realizing a relative once lived here.

While living in Toronto, I wonder if Marjorie saw much of her first cousin, Milton Richard Culbert, an orthodontist who was born just a month before her. Milton lived at 31 Glenholme Avenue and his office was on Bloor Street. 

On 16 Feb 1936, Marjorie’s mother, Mary Rose (Wilson) Culbert underwent an operation at Toronto Western Hospital, where an intestinal obstruction was found.  Mary suffered a brain embolism and died on February 20^th, four days after the operation.

Some time after her mother's death, Marjorie sailed to India where she was hired as Physical Director of the YWCA in Calcutta.

Marjorie’s first impressions of India are as follows:

"Bombay looked at first like any other large city with busses, trams (street cars to you), horses, carts, bicycles and crowds of people. Then I began to notice the peculiarities of the east — beggars lying or sitting, sleeping on the street - just anywhere — coolies pulling their little two-wheeled carts at Q jog-trot and keeping time with a little bell in one hand, numerous dome-shaped roofs on the buildings and the sameness of material of which the buildings them-selves are built".[1]

An alumni newsletter from the Margaret Eaton School reported the following news in June, 1940:

Marjorie Culbert (class of 1929) has given up her work in India to be married to Mr. Andrew Royal, a Scot who lives in Rio de Janeiro. Since leaving the "Y", Marjorie has been visiting her fiance’s sister in Madras but at present is probably ’’rolling

down to Rio” and expects to be married there the latter part of June.[2]

Andrew Jeffrey Royal was born 1903 in England but also lived in Scotland. He took a job as a chartered accountant in Brazil. We don’t know how he met up with Marjorie but they married on 26 June 1940 in Rio de Janeiro. As was the norm for women in that day and age, Marjorie was forced to give up her career. In general, women were not allowed to work after they married. 

Marjorie wrote to the Margaret Eaton School in 1944, saying that they were living right on the beach in Rio. 

Passenger lists show that Marjorie and Andrew did quite a bit of international travel throughout their lifetime.

By the time they were in their 60s, Marjorie and Andrew were living on Vancouver Island in Canada. Andrew died in 1974 in Victoria, British Columbia. I don’t know when Marjorie died but she was still alive in 1991.
At that time, she gave a written interview to the Margaret Eaton School. Records show she was living at Beckley Manor at 548 Dallas Road, Victoria.

UPDATE: Since publishing this post, I've found out that Marjorie died 10 April 1996 in Victoria, British Columbia, age 87.

I haven’t found any record of children for Marjorie and Andrew.

If anyone knows anything more about Marjorie and Andrew, please contact me at this email address:

 

  

Marjorie Culbert's Family Tree:

Ancestors:

John Culbert & Mary Ward (great-grandparents)

Thomas Culbert & Letitia Dempster (grandparents)

Ernest Adolphus Culbert & Mary Rose Wilson (parents)

Footnotes:

[1] News of the School, September, 1939; a newsletter of the Margaret Eaton School.

[2] News of the School, June, 1940.