[ Harvey / Newfoundland at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century ]
This book's first and only edition was in 1902 (New York: South Publishing).
Moses Harvey (1820 - 1901) was an Irish-born clergyman, essayist, and naturalist as well as a long-time Newfoundland resident. He was also the first man to verify the existence of the giant squid.
Harvey's overview of Newfoundland — Britain's oldest colony — at the turn of the 20th Century includes a report on the future King George V receiving a Newfoundland dog from the people of Newfoundland during his 1901 visit to the province, which was his last stop on a globe-spanning tour of British colonies and territories.
I need say nothing here concerning the ceremonies connected with the reception, the pretty singing of the six thousand school children in the large rink, the presentation of gifts to their Royal Highnesses and to their children, including a cart with a silver-harnessed Newfoundland dog for Prince Edward, as these things have been so recently described by telegram. Suffice it is to say that all was excellently done by these warm hearted people. (45)
This incident is also treated in Donald MacKenzie Wallace's The Web of Empire here at The Cultured Newf. Wallace does not touch on whether the Newfoundland was a gift for Prince Edward (who became King Edward VIII in 1936 but abdicated the throne within a year so he could marry an American divorcée.) Prince Edward would have been seven years old at the time of this incident, so how much the Newfoundland would have, for all practical considerations, been truly "his" is — as many parents who buy a dog for their young children know — an uncertain proposition.
For The Cultured Newf's annotated list of other famous individuals who owned Newfoundlands at some point during their lives, click here.