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“The real amusement of the young people is furnished by the skating rinks,” wrote Mrs. Robinson to her granddaughter in England. “It seems a most popular exercise basically bringing all ages together. They are lighted by gas at night, and a Band is often in attendance to render them more attractive.” Seen above, the Victoria Skating Rink was on the south-west corner of Sherbourne and Gerrard streets in Toronto, across the street from the brand-new Allen Gardens. We’re looking north up Sherbourne, four years before Confederation. The picture was made for the Canadian Illustrated News on March 7, 1863, and the occasion was a “grand prize skating match.” This moment is the presentation of prizes to the winners: Miss Alice Worts, of the distillery family, won the biggest ribbon. But clearly, not everybody was paying attention! Emma Robinson’s letter to 17-year-old Emmie was written on January 7, 1865. The wife of the Chief Justice had an enduring interest in the daughter of the soldier-scientist Captain John
Henry Lefroy, who had married her own daughter Emily while in charge of the Magnetic & Meteorological Observatory at the nascent University of Toronto. Captain Lefroy was recalled to England in 1853; the girl’s mother died there a few years later, at only 37 years of age. The influence and friendship of a grandmother reached across the ocean. Another letter written just before Christmas in 1861 reported on the prospects for skating. “I cannot tell you that we have winter weather. It is far more like the autumn,” she told Emmie, then 13. “No snow, no ice, the sun shining warmly every day. The boys are longing to have their skates on, and I may say the girls too,” she continued, “for it is an equally favourite amusement with both.”
Skating always so fashionable
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