Virna Sheard
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Virginia Sheard (April 24, 1862 – February 22, 1943) was a Canadian poet and novelist. She also wrote under the name Stanton Sheard.


Early life

Sheard was born in
Cobourg Cobourg ( ) is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Southern Ontario east of Toronto and east of Oshawa. It is the largest town in and seat of Northumberland County. Its nearest neighbour is Port Hope, to the west. It is ...
, Canada West, the daughter of Elizabeth Butler and Eldridge Stanton, a photographer. Eldridge was a descendant of
United Empire Loyalists United Empire Loyalist (UEL; or simply Loyalist) is an honorific title which was first given by Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, the 1st Lord Dorchester, the governor of Province of Quebec (1763–1791), Quebec and Governor General, governor ...
. The family moved soon after to Toronto where she was raised. Her brother Eldridge Stanton Jr. and his wife both died at
Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...
, in the Ice Bridge Disaster of 1912.


Career

Sheard began publishing her poems and stories in magazines around 1898. She wrote her first books, ''Trevelyan's Little Daughters'' (1898) and ''A Maid of Many Moods'' (1902) to entertain her sons. Her adult fiction was written mainly in the romance genre and included, ''By the Queen's Grace'' (1904; a romance set in Elizabethan London), ''The Man at Lone Lake'' (1912), ''The Golden Apple Tree'' (1920), ''Below the Salt'' (1936), and ''Leaves in the Wind'' (1938). ''Below the Salt'' is a melodramatic story of Marcus O'Sullivan, a wealthy Ontario farmer. She wrote five volumes of poetry, mainly with religious themes. Some of these included ''The Miracle and Other Poems'' (1913), ''Carry On!'' (1917), ''The Ballad of the Quest'' (1922), ''Candle Flame'' (1926), and ''Fairy Doors'' (1932). She collected what she thought were her best in ''Leaves in the Wind'', (1938). Her poem "The Young Knights", which opens with the lines "Now they remain to us forever young / Who with such splendour gave their youth away", is often cited among Canadian women's literary responses to
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Of her novel ''By the Queen's Grace'', one reviewer wrote: "It is highly romantic (which is important) and highly improbable (which is of no consequence), and readers of 17 or 70 will find it equally to their taste."


Works

* ''Trevelyan's Little Daughters'', (1898) * ''A Maid Of Many Moods'', (1902) * ''By The Queen's Grace'', (1904) * ''The Man At Lone Lake'', (1912) * ''The Miracle And Other Poems'', (1913) * ''Carry On!'', (1917) * ''The Golden Apple Tree'', (1920) * ''The Ballad Of The Quest'', (1922) * ''Candle Flame'', (1926) * ''Fortune Turns Her Wheel'', (1929) (The book is a reissue of ''By The Queen's Grace'') * ''Fairy Doors'', (1932) * ''Below The Salt'', (1936) * ''Leaves In The Wind'', (1938) Source:


Personal life

She married Dr.
Charles Sheard Charles Sheard, M.D. (February 15, 1857 – February 7, 1929) was a medical doctor, public health official and politician.Charles Sheard, former city M.O.H., dies in 73rd year, ''Toronto Globe'', February 8, 1929 Sheard was born in Toronto and ...
in 1884. Her husband's father had been mayor of Toronto, and her husband was Toronto's first Chief Medical Officer; he also served in the Canadian Parliament from 1917 to 1925. Virna and Charles Sheard had four sons, Charles (1886-1947), Paul (1888-1942), Joseph (1891-1954), and Terence (1898-1985). Sheard was widowed in 1929, and died in 1943, aged 81 years. Her papers were destroyed by her family after her death, apparently because they disapproved of her literary work. The Sheard family's Toronto house, where Virna Sheard lived for much of her adulthood, was destroyed in a fire in 2016.


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheard, Virna 1862 births 1943 deaths 19th-century Canadian novelists 19th-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian women novelists Canadian women poets Canadian women in World War I People from Cobourg Poets from Ontario Novelists from Ontario