Edith Jessie Archibald (7 April 1854 – 11 May 1936) was a Canadian

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

and writer who led the Maritime

Women's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international Temperance movement, temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social ref ...

(WCTU), National Council of Women of Canada and the

Local Council of Women of Halifax The Local Council of Women of Halifax (LCWH) is an organization in Halifax, Nova Scotia devoted to improving the lives of women and children. One of the most significant achievements of the LCWH was its 24-year struggle for women's right to vote ...

. For her many forms of social activism, she was referred to as the "Lady of Grace" by King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Q ...

,"Archibald, Edith Jessie"
Simon Fraser University Digitized Collections. and she was designated a

Person of National Historic Significance Persons of National Historic Significance (National Historic People) are people designated by the Canadian government as being nationally significant in the history of the country. Designations are made by the Minister of the Environment on the re ...

by the Government of Canada in 1997.

Early life

Born in St. John's, Newfoundland, to Catherine Elizabeth (Richardson) Archibald and Sir Edward Mortimer Archibald, Edith Jessie Archibald belonged to a prominent family with a history of public service.Willard, Frances E., and Mary A. Livermore, eds. ''A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-Seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks Of Life''. Moulton, 1893, pp. 31-32. She received some of her early education in

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and

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, where her father was British

Consul General A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

. At the age of twenty, she married her second cousin Charles A. Archibald, a mining engineer who owned the Gowrie

colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...

Cow Bay, Nova Scotia Cow Bay is an unincorporated rural community within Halifax Regional Municipality Nova Scotia on the Eastern Shore on Route 322 along the Marine Drive scenic route. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Cana ...

. In 1893 he sold the colliery and took up a position as president and director of the

Bank of Nova Scotia The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...

in Halifax. They had four children — Susan Georgina (known as Georgie), Thomas, Charles, and Edward — and lived in a mansion, "Seaview", in Port Morien before moving to Halifax.

Woman's Christian Temperance Union

Archibald became involved with the WCTU in the 1880s and from 1892 to 1896 was

Maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Pr ...

Superintendent of the Parlour Meetings Department, which encouraged social events in members' homes as a method of organizing temperance activities and educating women. Enthusiastic about the benefits of parlour meetings, she surveyed the 54 local unions to find their assessment of the meetings, published a circular letter in the official national paper of the WCTU, and also printed it as a leaflet. Archibald realized that local action was necessary to achieve the national goals of the organization. She even led members on raids of three illicit saloons in Cow Bay. During Archibald's involvement with the WCTU, she focused on campaigning against issues such as domestic violence, child neglect and poverty. After being elected President of the WCTU in 1892, Archibald worked alongside other women to campaign for community services to better the lives of women and children. This included creating libraries and orphanages. Archibald also pushed for women's suffrage during her time at the WCTU. A motto used was " Agitate, Educate, Legislate".

Other social activism

She was a leader in the National Council of Women of Canada and the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) and was the president of the Halifax VON from 1897 to 1901. She was active in getting a children's hospital built in Halifax and subsequently became a director of the hospital.Parker, C. W., ed. "Archibald, Edith Jessie". ''Who's Who and Why'', vol. 5, 1914, p. 29. In 1895, after Archibald's family move to Halifax, she became President of the Halifax Local Council of Women. Soon after becoming president, Archibald resigned due to religious conflicts. However, she returned and was president from 1899-1905. During her time as president of the Halifax Local Council of Women, Archibald led a campaign focused on gaining representation of women on the Halifax School Board. Archibald also continued to fight for women's right to vote. She served as vice-president of the Nova Scotia

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in 1914, tasked with running the department that oversaw Canadian prisoners of war overseas. She was recommended by the Order of Jerusalem in honor of her work during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Archibald battled for decades for women's right to vote and led a 1917

delegation Delegation is the assignment of authority to another person (normally from a manager to a subordinate) to carry out specific activities. It is the process of distributing and entrusting work to another person,Schermerhorn, J., Davidson, P., Poole ...

of women to convince the Nova Scotia Premier George Henry Murray not to block the suffrage bill; the legislature finally granted this right in 1918. Archibald was also a founder and the first president of the Ladies' Musical Club of Halifax and a director of the Victoria School of Art and Design. As a founding member of the Ladies' Musical Club of Halifax, Archibald pushed for opportunities for women as composers.

Writing

In later life, she wrote short stories, plays, and articles and was the author of several books. One of her books, ''Bed-Time Stories for My Grand-Children'' (1910), was a privately published memoir prompted by the death of her daughter Georgie in 1909. Archibald wrote the memoir so that Georgie's children would know what their mother's own childhood in Cow Bay had been like. In 1924 she published a biography of her father titled ''Life and Letters of Sir Edward Mortimer Archibald, K.C.M.G., C.B.''. She also wrote ''The Token: A Tale of Cape Breton Island'', which began life as a play in the mid 1920s and then became a novel published in 1930. The story takes place after the American Civil War and concerns the exploits of one Angus McRory. In a review of the book, the ''London Morning Post'' declared it to be a work of a promising young writer, unaware that the author was in her seventies at the time.Clara Thomas, ''Canadian Novelists 1920-1945'', Longmans, Green and Comoany, Toronto, 1946 p. 3. Other books include ''Stray Songs for Glad Days and Sad Days'' (1894), and ''Gufshathi and Herriaman: A Missionary Story'' (n.d.).

References

External links

Archibald
in SFU Digitized Collections,

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