William Adolf Baillie Grohman
Encyclopedia
William Adolph Baillie Grohman, (1851–1921) was an Anglo-Austrian author of works on the Tyrol and the history of hunting, big game sportsman and Kootenay
pioneer.
, and could speak Tyrolese dialect like a native. As a boy he roamed out from the family castle at chloss Wolfgang to hunt chamois
and deer in the surrounding high alps, wandering for days through the still remote Tyrolese mountain villages. After his father's death his mother bought Schloss Matzen near the branch of the Zillertal
and the Inn Valley His two earliest books Tyrol & the Tyrolese (1876) and Gaddings with a Primitive People (1878) provide an insight into Tyrolese folk customs and the austere, isolated existence of pre-industrial Alpine village communities.
He was an expert mountaineer and made the first winter ascent of the Großglockner
, the highest mountain in Austria (3798m) on January 2, 1875 and was a member of the Alpine Club
.
A crack shot and a passionate big-game hunter, he travelled out to the American Midwest many times the 1870s and 1880s to shoot big game when the rockies and mountain states were opening up to sportsmen. His book Camps in the Rockies (1882) gives an account of his travels though Wyoming
and Idaho
, both as a "topshelfer" ( a rich comfort laden sportsman) and later on - more to his boyhood taste of stalking with Tyrolean mountain huntsmen - roughing it with trappers and native Americans. Although written in a style of detached amusement to titillate armchair Victorian readers, this work, like his earlier books about the Tyrolese, has careful and sympathetic passages on Indian and local customs, and gives a valuable firsthand account of the American and Canadian West just before and after the arrival of the railway. He ranged widely over the Pacific Slope
and the Central Rockies
, exploring new ranges in the Selkirks.
In 1885 Baillie Grohman married Florence Nickalls, sister of the rowers Guy Nickalls
and Vivian Nickalls
. They were children of Tom Nickalls
a London Stockbroker known as the "Erie King" from his many coups in American Railway shares. Baillie Grohman's eldest son Tom Baillie Grohman became an admiral in the Royal Navy
. His daughter Olga Watkins became a pioneer in Kenya
and the first women member of Kenya Legco.
He liked the new country he found so much that he returned to British Columbia
in the 1880s as a pioneer, investing through the Kootenay Company Ltd, a London registered company which obtained a concession of 78525 acres (317.8 km²) to develop the Upper and Lower Kootenay valleys. He wrote a number of articles for British Magazines promoting the possibilities of British Columbia. In his youth he had seen how the embankment of the Inn River
in the lower Inntal had turned unproductive flood land into profitable farmland and he envisaged that a similar control of the Kootenay River
and a lowering of the water levels of the Kootenay Lake
would create large areas of fertile farmland. This plan was thwarted by political pressure from the Canadian Pacific Railway
and others, who managed ultimately to get the concession revoked and awarded to rival interests. Probably his impatient and untactful temperament and privileged background was not well suited to the political manoeuvring needed to mollify the Provincial Colonial Administration and counter the machinations of the American Syndicates. Before the concession was revoked the Kootenay Company was held to one of the conditions of its grant - that they must build a canal to connect the Columbia River
and Kootenay. The canal took a massive investment and because of the Railway, was pointless (only two ships ever used it) and his investment failed. It is now a Historic site at Canal Flats, British Columbia
. he lived some time in Victoria, British Columbia
, negotiating the concession with the government of BC, and then in the Kootenay
, opening the first steam sawmill in the region. His account of his time in BC Fifteen Years' Sport and Life in the Hunting Grounds of Western America and British Columbia (1900) describes his time pioneering, and also has accounts of hunting Haplocerus Montanus the rare white mountain antelope goat and other game.
His later works include successful works on the history of the Tyrol (by then an increasingly popular destination for English tourists); Tyrol, The Land In The Mountains (1907) and Tyrol (1908) as well as a guidebook to his own castle Schloß Matzen im Unterinntal: Kurze geschichtlich (1908).
A passionate collector, he amassed a large collection of furniture and European sporting art (his collection of sporting prints was sold at a special sale at Sotheby's in 1923) and in his later years he developed an erudite interest in the history and art of sport, building up an extensive library on hunting and game animals, including early ecological studies along with early treatises on hunting in many different European languages. Assisted by his wife, Florence, he produced a lavishly illustrated and authoritative edition of the The Master of Game
(1904), the second oldest English book on hunting, a translation (from the French Livre de Chasse 1387 from Gaston Phébus) by Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York
. This has a forward by his friend and later US president Teddy Roosevelt, also an avid hunter. His book on early depictions of hunting Sport in art, An iconography of sport (1913) remains a definitive work on the subject, written with a unique combination of both field and historical learning. An edition of Maximillian I of Austria's
Das Jagdbuch Kaiser Maximillians I (1901) with Dr Mayr is also of interest for early game ecology.
As well as writing authoring 11 books, he published numerous articles in contemporary magazines on both historical and travel subjects.
He died in 1921.
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is named after him as are the Grohman Narrows of Grohman Narrows Provincial Park
.
Kootenays
The Kootenay Region comprises the southeastern portion of British Columbia. It takes its name from the Kootenay River, which in turn was named for the Ktunaxa First Nation first encountered by explorer David Thompson.-Boundaries:The Kootenays are more or less defined by the Kootenay Land...
pioneer.
Biography
He was born in 1851. He spent much of his youth in TyrolTyrol (state)
Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...
, and could speak Tyrolese dialect like a native. As a boy he roamed out from the family castle at chloss Wolfgang to hunt chamois
Chamois
The chamois, Rupicapra rupicapra, is a goat-antelope species native to mountains in Europe, including the Carpathian Mountains of Romania, the European Alps, the Tatra Mountains, the Balkans, parts of Turkey, and the Caucasus. The chamois has also been introduced to the South Island of New Zealand...
and deer in the surrounding high alps, wandering for days through the still remote Tyrolese mountain villages. After his father's death his mother bought Schloss Matzen near the branch of the Zillertal
Zillertal
The Zillertal is the biggest valley branching off the Inn valley in Tyrol, Austria drained by the river Ziller. It is surrounded by the strongly glaciated Zillertal Alps to the south and east, the lower grass peaks of the Kitzbühel Alps to the east and Tux Alps to the west...
and the Inn Valley His two earliest books Tyrol & the Tyrolese (1876) and Gaddings with a Primitive People (1878) provide an insight into Tyrolese folk customs and the austere, isolated existence of pre-industrial Alpine village communities.
He was an expert mountaineer and made the first winter ascent of the Großglockner
Großglockner
The Grossglockner is, at 3,798 m above sea level, Austria's highest mountain and the highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass...
, the highest mountain in Austria (3798m) on January 2, 1875 and was a member of the Alpine Club
Alpine Club
The first Alpine Club, founded in London in 1857, was once described as:Today, Alpine clubs stage climbing competitions, operate alpine huts and paths, and are active in protecting the Alpine environment...
.
A crack shot and a passionate big-game hunter, he travelled out to the American Midwest many times the 1870s and 1880s to shoot big game when the rockies and mountain states were opening up to sportsmen. His book Camps in the Rockies (1882) gives an account of his travels though Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
and Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, both as a "topshelfer" ( a rich comfort laden sportsman) and later on - more to his boyhood taste of stalking with Tyrolean mountain huntsmen - roughing it with trappers and native Americans. Although written in a style of detached amusement to titillate armchair Victorian readers, this work, like his earlier books about the Tyrolese, has careful and sympathetic passages on Indian and local customs, and gives a valuable firsthand account of the American and Canadian West just before and after the arrival of the railway. He ranged widely over the Pacific Slope
Pacific Slope
The Pacific Slope describes geographic regions in North American, Central American, and South American countries that are west of the continental divide and slope down to the Pacific Ocean. In North America, the Rocky Mountains mark the eastern border of the Pacific Slope...
and the Central Rockies
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
, exploring new ranges in the Selkirks.
In 1885 Baillie Grohman married Florence Nickalls, sister of the rowers Guy Nickalls
Guy Nickalls
Guy Nickalls was a British rower who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics as a member of the British eight that won gold, won 22 events at Henley Royal Regatta and won the Wingfield Sculls three times....
and Vivian Nickalls
Vivian Nickalls
Vivian Nickalls was a British rower who won the Wingfield Sculls three times and the Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley Royal Regatta in 1891.-Biography:...
. They were children of Tom Nickalls
Tom Nickalls
Tom Nickalls who was a stockjobber on the stock exchange and one of the founding members of London Rowing Club. He was known as the "king of the American railroad market".-References:...
a London Stockbroker known as the "Erie King" from his many coups in American Railway shares. Baillie Grohman's eldest son Tom Baillie Grohman became an admiral in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. His daughter Olga Watkins became a pioneer in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and the first women member of Kenya Legco.
He liked the new country he found so much that he returned to British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
in the 1880s as a pioneer, investing through the Kootenay Company Ltd, a London registered company which obtained a concession of 78525 acres (317.8 km²) to develop the Upper and Lower Kootenay valleys. He wrote a number of articles for British Magazines promoting the possibilities of British Columbia. In his youth he had seen how the embankment of the Inn River
Inn River
The Inn is a river in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. It is a right tributary of the Danube and is approximately 500km long. The highest point of its drainage basin is the summit of Piz Bernina, at 4,049 metres.- Geography :...
in the lower Inntal had turned unproductive flood land into profitable farmland and he envisaged that a similar control of the Kootenay River
Kootenay River
The Kootenay is a major river in southeastern British Columbia, Canada and the northern part of the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho. It is one of the uppermost major tributaries of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...
and a lowering of the water levels of the Kootenay Lake
Kootenay Lake
Kootenay Lake is a lake located in British Columbia, Canada and is part of theKootenay River. The lake has been raised by the Corra Linn Dam and has a dike system at the southern end, which, along with industry in the 1950s-70s, has changed the ecosystem in and around the water...
would create large areas of fertile farmland. This plan was thwarted by political pressure from the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
and others, who managed ultimately to get the concession revoked and awarded to rival interests. Probably his impatient and untactful temperament and privileged background was not well suited to the political manoeuvring needed to mollify the Provincial Colonial Administration and counter the machinations of the American Syndicates. Before the concession was revoked the Kootenay Company was held to one of the conditions of its grant - that they must build a canal to connect the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
and Kootenay. The canal took a massive investment and because of the Railway, was pointless (only two ships ever used it) and his investment failed. It is now a Historic site at Canal Flats, British Columbia
Canal Flats, British Columbia
Canal Flats is a village located at the southern end of Columbia Lake, the source of the Columbia River in British Columbia, Canada. In 2006, it had a population of 700.-Location:...
. he lived some time in Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
, negotiating the concession with the government of BC, and then in the Kootenay
Kootenays
The Kootenay Region comprises the southeastern portion of British Columbia. It takes its name from the Kootenay River, which in turn was named for the Ktunaxa First Nation first encountered by explorer David Thompson.-Boundaries:The Kootenays are more or less defined by the Kootenay Land...
, opening the first steam sawmill in the region. His account of his time in BC Fifteen Years' Sport and Life in the Hunting Grounds of Western America and British Columbia (1900) describes his time pioneering, and also has accounts of hunting Haplocerus Montanus the rare white mountain antelope goat and other game.
His later works include successful works on the history of the Tyrol (by then an increasingly popular destination for English tourists); Tyrol, The Land In The Mountains (1907) and Tyrol (1908) as well as a guidebook to his own castle Schloß Matzen im Unterinntal: Kurze geschichtlich (1908).
A passionate collector, he amassed a large collection of furniture and European sporting art (his collection of sporting prints was sold at a special sale at Sotheby's in 1923) and in his later years he developed an erudite interest in the history and art of sport, building up an extensive library on hunting and game animals, including early ecological studies along with early treatises on hunting in many different European languages. Assisted by his wife, Florence, he produced a lavishly illustrated and authoritative edition of the The Master of Game
The Master of Game
The Master of Game is a medieval book on hunting written by Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, between 1406 and 1413, of which 27 manuscripts survive. It is considered to be the oldest English-language book on hunting...
(1904), the second oldest English book on hunting, a translation (from the French Livre de Chasse 1387 from Gaston Phébus) by Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York
Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York
Sir Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, 2nd Earl of Cambridge, Earl of Rutland, Earl of Cork, Duke of Aumale KG was a member of the English royal family who died at the Battle of Agincourt....
. This has a forward by his friend and later US president Teddy Roosevelt, also an avid hunter. His book on early depictions of hunting Sport in art, An iconography of sport (1913) remains a definitive work on the subject, written with a unique combination of both field and historical learning. An edition of Maximillian I of Austria's
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...
Das Jagdbuch Kaiser Maximillians I (1901) with Dr Mayr is also of interest for early game ecology.
As well as writing authoring 11 books, he published numerous articles in contemporary magazines on both historical and travel subjects.
He died in 1921.
Books
| Book | Published | pp |
|---|---|---|
| Tyrol & the Tyrolese. The people & the Land in their social, sporting and mountaineering aspects. |
1st Ed London, 1876. Longmans, Green & Co. | 8vo 278p |
| 2nd Ed London, 1877. Longmans, Green & Co. | 8vo 278pp | |
| Tauchnitz, Leipzig 1877 | 278p. 16 cm | |
| Elibron Classics reprint | Paperback | |
| Gaddings with a Primitive People. Being a series of Sketches of Alpine Life and Customs |
1st Ed, London, 1878 Remington & Co. | 8vo 2 vols pp279 |
| 2nd Ed, London, 1879 Remington & Co | ||
| Camps in the Rockies. Being a Narrative of Life on the Frontier, and Sport in the Rocky Mountains, with an Account of the Cattle Ranches of the West |
1st Ed London, 1882. Samson, Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington | 8vo, 438pp., 4 illus (2 in color) |
| 1st US New York 1882. Charles Scribner & Sons | 8vo, 438pp. | |
| 2nd Ed New York 1884. Charles Scribner & Sons | 8vo, 438pp | |
| 3rd ed London Sampson Low, Marston | 8vo 438 pp. | |
| 3rd Ed NY 1910. Charles Scribner & Sons | 8vo, 438pp | |
| Sport in the Alps in the past and present. An account of the chase of the chamois, red-deer, bouquetin, roe-deer, capercaillie, and black-cock, with personal adventures and historical notes |
1st Ed, London 1896 Adam & Charles Black | xv, 356p http://www.archive.org/details/sportinalpsinpas00bailiala |
| 1st US New York 1896. Charles Scribner & Sons, | 356,2pp. | |
| Fifteen Years' Sport and Life in the Hunting Grounds of Western America and British Columbia |
1st UK London 1900 Horace Cox | Quarto |
| 1st US 1900 | Quarto Green cloth, lettered in gilt, top edge gilt | |
| 2nd ed. London 1907 Horace Cox. | Quarto p. xii, 403, with 3 maps in e/p pocket and 77 illus. | |
| Schloß Matzen im Unterinntal: Kurze geschichtlich |
1st Auflage Innsbruck 1907 Wagner’sche Universitäts Buchhandlung | 60pp, mit 34 Abbildungen |
| 2 Auflage. Innsbruck 1907 Wagner’sche Universitäts Buchhandlung | 60pp, mit 34 Abbildungen | |
| Tyrol, The Land In The Mountains | 1st Ed Philadelphia 1907 J.B. Lippincott & Co | 288pp. |
| 1st UK London 1907 Simpkin, Marshal, Hamliton Kent & Co. | 288pp 82 plates | |
| Tyrol: Painted by E. Harrison Compton | 1st ed. London 1908 Adam and Charles Black | 8vo. 208pp. 25 pl |
| The Master of Game, by Edward, second Duke of York: the oldest English book on hunting. With a foreword by Teddy Roosevelt |
1st Ed. London: 1904 Ballantine, Hanson & Co | Folio, 302pp. 52 pl |
| 2nd Prtg. London, 1909. Chatto & Windus | 8vo | |
| Sport in Art. An iconography of sport. Illustrating the field sports of Europe and America from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century |
1st Ed London 1913 Ballantyne | 4to 422pp., 8pl |
| 2nd ed Ed London, 1919. Simkin, Marshal | Quarto 422 pp | |
| Reprint NY & London: 1969. Benjamin Blom, | Quarto | |
| Das Jagdbuch Kaiser Maximillians I with Dr Michael Mayr |
1st Auflage Innsbruck 1901 Wagner’sche Universitäts Buchhandlung | Folio |
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Articles
| Article | Published | |
|---|---|---|
| Capercaillie-Shooting in the Alps The Secrets of a Fascinating Sport. | Pall Mall Magazine London 1901 7p | |
| Hunting The Rocky Mountain Goat | The Century, vol. 29, issue 2 (Dec 1884) 11pp | |
| The Kootenay valleys in Kootenay district, British Columbia | London 1886 Witherby | |
| Stalking the haplocerus in the Selkirks | 1895 | |
| Sports in the Seventeenth Century | The Century, vol. 54, issue 3 (July 1897) | |
| The New South Africa | 1900 | |
| A famous mediaeval hunting-book | Monthly review January, 1902 | |
| The Finest hunting-manuscript extant [i.e. the Gaston Phoebus MS.] | Burlington Magazine, vol. 2 London, 1903 pp. 8–21. | |
| Some historical portraits of the Biedermaier Period of German Art | Burlington Magazine 15 (1909), 114-119 | |
| How to reach Klondike. by one who has been fifteen times to the Pacific slope | The New Illlustrated Magazine | |
| In ‘Big Game Shooting’, Vol 2 a)The Chamois b) The Stag of the Alpshttp://www.archive.org/stream/biggameshooting02philiala | Badminton Library London 1894 Longmans Green and Co | Vol 2 p85-122 & p123-134 |
| Life And Labour In The Far, Far West: Being Notes of a Tour In The Western States, British Columbia, Manitoba, And The North-West Territory | Second Edition. London, Paris & New York: 1884. Cassell & Company 32 | |
| A paradise for Canadian & American Soldiers | Unknown Publication Vol 83 April 1918 762-778 | |
| Elk Hunting Tales An Anthology of Historic Outdoor Adventures from the Pages of BUGLE Magazine | 1990 Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation ISBN 978-0-9627248-2-4 |
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Legacy
Mount Grohman (2299 m) near Nelson, British ColumbiaNelson, British Columbia
Nelson is a city located in the Selkirk Mountains on the extreme West Arm of Kootenay Lake in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Known as "The Queen City", and acknowledged for its impressive collection of restored heritage buildings from its glory days in a regional silver rush,...
is named after him as are the Grohman Narrows of Grohman Narrows Provincial Park
Grohman Narrows Provincial Park
Grohman Narrows Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada.It is named after William Adolf Baillie Grohman....
.