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Ethel Rogers Mulvany was a Canadian social worker and teacher. While confined to Changi Prison from 1942–1945 as a prisoner of war during the Second World War, Mulvany organized imaginary "feasts" with her fellow prisoners to stave off hunger and collected hundreds of recipes, which she later compiled into a recipe book and sold to raise funds for former prisoners of war.
Early life and education[edit]
Ethel Rogers was born on December 22, 1904[1] on Manitoulin Island, Ontario.[2] After her birth mother died, she was adopted by Henry and Isabella Rogers.[1] She had a brother named Harvey.[3] As a teenager, she began working as a teacher, and moved to Toronto and Montreal for additional education.[1] Rogers attended the University of Toronto, McGill University, and the London School of Economics.[4]
Travels, work and marriage[edit]
In Toronto, Rogers became the director of a society for arts and literature,[5] and in 1933 she set off on a tour of Asia in order to complete an educational survey for her society,[5] sponsored by the Toronto Daily Star, the Geographical Magazine, and the Canadian government.[6] She met a British army doctor named Denis Mulvany during her travels, and the couple were married in Lucknow, India,[5] before settling in Cawnpore.[4] While living there, Ethel Rogers Mulvany was bitten by a cobra, but survived with the help of a servant who provided first aid and brought her to a hospital by bicycle.[3]
Mulvany returned to Canada for the 1935 Canadian National Exhibition, directing an arts and culture exhibit on behalf of the government of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh.[4][7] The exhibit included pieces made of ivory and alabaster, plates inlaid with semi-precious stones, sandalwood boxes and Indian rugs, and visitors spent thousands of dollars on purchases.[8] As a gift from the administration of Agra and Oudh, Mulvany presented a tiger skin to Prime Minister R. B. Bennett.[6] She organized a Jungle Club for children in Toronto that year, with membership fees going to support Indian women and children in need,[9] and also arranged to ship several Indian animals—such as tiger cubs—to Canada for public viewing, although within three months most of the animals had died due to illness, heat or other causes.[8] Mulvany received a King's silver jubilee medal for her work at the Exhibition.[7]
Mulvany moved to Singapore with Denis in 1940, and she began volunteering with the Australian Red Cross.
Imprisonment at Changchi[edit]
In late 1941 the Japanese invaded Singapore, and more than 2000 civilians—including Mulvany and her husband—were subsequently imprisoned in Changi Prison.[5]
Return to Canada[edit]
After her liberation from the prison, Mulvany went to England with her husband. She received treatment at the Bethlem Royal Hospital. Her marriage with Denis broke down after their wartime ordeal, and she returned to Canada alone, eventually going to live with her aunt's family in Toronto.[10] She persuaded a publisher to print a compilation of the women's recipes she had kept from Changi—almost 800 in total—and eventually raised $18,000 from sales of the resulting cookbook.[5] Mulvany used the money to buy and ship food to other former prisoners of war, sending oranges and other goods to hospitals in England.[2] In 1961, a Maclean's interview about Mulvany's survival in Changi Prison brought her cookbook to national attention.[1]
Impacted by memories of prison conditions and poverty after her return to Canada, Mulvany soon decided she wanted a new way to support craftworkers and families in India and elsewhere. She developed the Treasure Van project in 1952 in partnership with McGill University students and the World University Service of Canada (WUSC), arranging for a van full of handicrafts to visit university campuses across the country. She served as manager for the project for seven years, before handing over responsibility to the WUSC and shifting to a role on the Van's committee. The WUSC continued its affiliation with the project until 1969.[11]
In her sixties, Mulvany returned to school and completed a bachelor of arts degree at Laurentian University.[1]
Death and legacy[edit]
Mulvany died in 1992, after retiring to Manitoulin Island.[1]
In 2013, the Manitoulin Historical Society republished her cookbook.[5] Historian Suzanne Evans detailed Mulvany's story in The Taste of Longing: Ethel Mulvany and her Starving Prisoners of War Cookbook, which received an Ottawa Book Award for non-fiction in 2021.[10]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f Evans, Suzanne (2013). "Culinary Imagination as a Survival Tool: Ethel Mulvany and the Changi Jail Prisoners of War Cookbook, Singapore, 1942-1945". Canadian Military History. 22 (1). Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada.
- ^ a b Holdsworth, Pauline; Siegel, Alisa (October 11, 2019). "How a Canadian woman's imaginary feasts helped starving WW II prisoners". CBC News.
- ^ a b "Fear Former Toronto Girl May Be Prisoner of Japs". The Toronto Star. April 20, 1942. p. 17 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c "Trying to Assist Purdah Women". The Ottawa Journal. 1935-08-15. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-01-13.
- ^ a b c d e f Mallinder, Lorainne (July 10, 2016). "Women in WW2 Prison: How a Canadian woman raised the morale of fellow civilian inmates in a Second World War Japanese prison camp". Canada's History. Retrieved 2024-01-12.
- ^ a b "Premier Bennett Receives Tiger Skin". Red Deer Advocate. 1935-06-26. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-01-13.
- ^ a b "Mrs. Ethel Mulvany Gets Jubilee Medal". The Toronto Star. June 17, 1935. p. 15.
- ^ a b "Jungle Woman Leaving for India's Climes Again". Star Weekly. 1935-09-14. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-01-13.
- ^ "Better Hurry Up - Join Jungle Club". The Toronto Star. 1935-08-19. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-01-13.
- ^ a b Laucius, Joanne (November 11, 2021). "Ethel Mulvany: From prisoner of war to cookbook author—and an Ottawa author's search for the complicated truth". Ottawa Citizen.
- ^ Redekopp, Lynn (1969-10-21). "Family Fare Column: Treasure Van". The Leader-Post. p. 13. Retrieved 2024-01-15.