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Earnscliffe

140 Sussex Drive

Written by Bytown Museum on 03/Dec/2009

A photograph of Earnscliffe in New Edinburgh

Earnscliffe was built between 1855 and 1857 by John MacKinnon, Thomas MacKay's son-in-law. Subsequent owners included Thomas Keefer, another son-in-law of MacKay and Thomas Reynolds, a railway man from England.

It was during Reynolds tenure that Earnscliffe got its name. Reynolds was considering naming the home Eaglecliffe when his friend Sir John A. Macdonald suggested the Old English word for eagle – earn. It seems appropriate that Macdonald named Earnscliffe, as he is certainly its most famous resident to date.
Sir John A. Macdonald and his wife Agnes lived at Earnscliffe from 1883 to 1891, when Macdonald passed away in his study. During their time there, several renovations were undertaken to enlarge the home to accommodate the growing numbers of parties and houseguests. The renovations cost the Macdonald's $7,000 – a tidy sum, considering they paid just over $10,000 for the house.

In 1930, the British High Commission took over Earnscliffe, and it is still used as the Commissioner's official residence today.

Did you know that Queen Victoria conferred the title of Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe upon Lady Macdonald following her husband's death?


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I am seeking information regarding details of domestic staff who worked at Earnscliffe between the years 1890 and 1911. I realise it's probable that such information was not saved, but I am hoping someone might be able to point me to an Earnscliffe historical group/committee which might be of help.

My questions relate to researching my family history.

My great-grandfather (Matthew Sherlock) died at Warrenpoint, Ireland in 1887, leaving a wife and three children and another in the womb. I am trying to track down what happened to the family in the decade after 1888.

I know my grandmother (Emily Sherlock) and her three siblings all worked at Earnscliffe for the Harriss family until about 1911. Emily Sherlock was the lady's maid, Matthew Sherlock the chauffeur, Hamilton Sherlock the gardener, and Mary Sherlock the cook.

I am trying to find when they commenced working there and whether their mother

Alan Leary, Thursday, January 03, 2013

Nice to see the old place. Biblitz was something like the equivalent of the errant boot boy in a P.G. Wodehouse novel many years ago at Earnscliffe, where I shared pretty swish digs in the carriage house reserved for staff of the High Commission while I toiled on the main floor of the great house, fetching coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon, cocktails and wine of an evening. These were pretty sought-after digs so there was some curiosity as to how the hell a young villain like Biblitz could have secured such a tidy nest. This was all the work of a very British red-haired butler named George Fraser, who was in charge of the dining room, the wine cellar, the vault containing the best silver and the monthly duty-free gin to which we were somehow entitled for about $1.50. Biblitz and George also lifted weights in the dining room twice a day in form of great silver platters of lunch and supper prepared by a Cordon Bleu chef from Herefordshire who had declined a suite in the carr

Leo Biblitz, Monday, April 16, 2012

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New Edinburgh was founded by Scotsman and stonemason Thomas MacKay, who arrived in Canada in 1817 and helped build the Lachine Canal in Montreal. In 1826, he became one of the ... read more