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Archives provinciales du Nouveau-Brunswick

Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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GILKS, JAMES A. (1871-1957)

GILKS, JAMES A., hotel and restaurant operator; b. Doaktown, 5 Mar 1871, s/o James Gilks and Maria Sutherland; m. Adelaide Attridge, d/o Richard D. Attridge and Jane Freeze; d. Doaktown, Sep 1957.

James A. Gilks's claim to fame is that, as proprietor of the Gilks House at Doaktown, he and his wife served lunch to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth during the 1939 Royal Tour of Canada. The Gilks House was a fifty-year-old former residence which they had fitted up as a hotel and eatery.

The Royal Train brought the King and Queen to Newcastle on the morning of 13 June 1939, and they made the 108-mile trip to Fredericton by road. It was hot in the open car in which they rode, and dusty, since much of the road was unpaved. R. A. Tweedie states in his book, On With the Dance, that "the King was furious by the time he reached Fredericton," but he looks serene in the photographs taken during the stop at the Gilks House, which was relatively informal and unpublicized in advance.

James A. Gilks lived until 1957 and his wife, Adelaide Attridge, until 1959. In 1973 the Gilks House was opened as a tourist attraction by private owners using project development funds, but when continuing financial support was not forthcoming from government it was closed and converted into apartments.

Sources

[b] census [d] Leader 20 Sep 1957 ] Bamford research; Martin; Tweedie


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