Showing 856 results

Authority record

McDonald, Percy E.

  • RC0943
  • Person
  • 1887-1976

A native of Hamilton, Percy McDonald graduated from McGill in 1913 in Civil Engineering but never practiced this profession. He became a war photographer with W.J. Johnson during the First World War. In 1923, McDonald earned a degree in dentistry from the University of Toronto and practiced dentistry until the outbreak of World War II, when he again took up military photography.

Sources: https://archivalcollections.library.mcgill.ca/index.php/percy-ellicott-mcdonald-fonds

Cooper, Art

  • RC0942
  • Person
  • 1953-Present

Art Cooper is a comic artist who created original artwork for a variety of McMaster campus publications in the 1970s. He also contributed original artwork to Hamilton comic fandom publications in the 1960s and 1970s.

Cooper graduated from McMaster’s engineering undergraduate program in 1979. Subsequently, he completed an MBA at McMaster in 1980. As a student (1970s), Cooper produced artwork for the Silhouette and Plumbline (Engineering newspaper), posters for the McMaster Film Board, and artwork for special events on campus.

Cooper also participated in the Hamilton comic fandom scene, contributing artwork for Terry Edwards’ ComiCanada in 1967, one of the first Canadian comic-related publications since the demise of Canadian comic publisher Superior Publishers in 1956. Cooper also published his own magazine, Canada’s Best #1, in 1969, and was a founding partner (with Vince Marchesano) of Spectrum Publications, which published 17 mini-comic books in 1971-1973. Finally, Cooper penciled two stories for Orb Magazine (1976), a Canadian science fiction/comic publication.

Russell, Sarah Elizabeth

  • RC0941
  • Person
  • 1947-?

Sarah Elizabeth Russell was a granddaughter of Bertrand Russell, philosopher and peace activist. Her father, John Conrad Russell, was Bertrand Russell’s first son from his marriage to Dora Black. Her mother, Susan Lindsay, was the daughter of American poet Vachel Lindsay.

Sarah was the first daughter born to John and Susan (birthdate 16 January 1947), and the second child in their family (the first child, Anne Russell, was born to Susan Lindsay and adopted by John Russell prior to Sarah’s birth).

Sarah’s family initially lived in a small flat in Cambrian Road, Richmond, but by 1950, they had moved to the main floor of 41 Queen’s Road in Richmond with Bertrand Russell (Monk 316-317). In December 1952, Bertrand Russell married his fourth wife, Edith Finch, and soon after she moved into the Queen’s Road home, Sarah’s parents moved out of it (Monk 355). Sarah’s parents separated in 1954 and divorced by 1955 (Monk 359-360).

Thereafter, Sarah and her sisters became the subjects of a protracted family custody dispute, the result of which was that Bertrand and Edith Russell won full custody of the children in 1961, with their father, John Russell, retaining visitation rights (Monk 400).

Sarah attended Kingsmuir School, a boarding school in Sussex, while the family resided at 41 Queen’s Road (Griffin 503). In 1956, Bertrand and Edith Russell moved the family to Plas Penrhyn, their home in Wales. Following this move, Sarah and her sisters attended Moreton Hall, a private girls’ boarding school in Shropshire (Monk 370; Griffin 503). Near Russell’s home in Wales lived the Cooper-Willis family: mother Susan Williams-Ellis, a renowned potter; father Euan Cooper-Willis, and daughters Siân and Anwyl, who were close friends of Sarah and her sisters.

Sarah left Moreton Hall, possibly as early as 1961, to complete her studies at Dartington Hall, a progressive co-educational boarding school in Devon. In 1966, she commenced a program in English Language and Literature at the University of Reading. She appears to have taken a break in 1970, when she was diagnosed with schizophrenia (Monk 500). Sarah returned to her program in 1977, and in 1979, she was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in the second division of the second class.

In 1975, Sarah’s younger sister Lucy died by self-immolation (Monk 501-502). This event had a significant impact on Sarah and is addressed in her diaries (see Series 2).

Little is known of the later period of Sarah’s life, though Ray Monk, biographer of Bertrand Russell, writes that Sarah spent much of her life in psychiatric care (500).

Russell, John Conrad

  • RC0940
  • Person
  • 1921-1987

John Conrad Russell was the eldest son of Lord Bertrand Russell, philosopher and peace activist, and Dora Russell (neé Black), author and social campaigner.

Born in 1921, John was educated at Dartington Hall School, a progressive co-educational boarding school in Dartington, England. He went on to graduate cum laude from Harvard University, where he completed a B.A. thesis in 1943 entitled “An Analysis of the Principal Occasions and Causes of Failure of Democracy.”

In 1943, John returned to England and enlisted in the Royal Naval Reserve. He married Susan Doniphan Lindsay, daughter of the American poet Vachel Lindsay, in 1946. Soon after their marriage, he adopted her child from another relationship, Felicity Anne. In 1946 and 1948, the couple’s daughters Sarah Elizabeth and Lucy Catherine were born. By 1955, John and Susan had divorced, and in the same year, John experienced his first mental health crisis requiring hospitalization. He was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia. In 1961, he lost custody rights to his children, who remained in the care of Bertrand Russell and his wife, Edith.

When Bertrand Russell passed away in 1970, John inherited his father’s hereditary peerage, becoming the fourth Earl Russell and a member of the House of Lords.

John passed away in 1987, and his title passed to his half-brother, Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell, who became the fifth Earl Russell.

Russell, Felicity Anne

  • RC0939
  • Person
  • 1945-

Felicity Anne Russell (hereafter, Anne) was a granddaughter of Bertrand Russell, philosopher and peace activist, by adoption. Her adoptive father, John Conrad Russell, was Bertrand Russell’s first son from his marriage to Dora Black. Her mother, Susan Doniphan Lindsay, was the daughter of American poet Vachel Lindsay.

Anne was the child of Susan Lindsay and an unidentified father. She was born on September 2, 1945. Susan Lindsay met John Russell when Anne was an infant in 1945; in August 1946, John and Susan married, and by 1947, John had formally adopted Anne.

Anne’s family initially lived in several locations in England after her parents’ marriage, including Kilburn (with Dora Russell), St. John’s Wood in North London (with Griffin Barry, a former romantic partner of Dora Russell and the father of two of her children), a flat on Cambrian Road in Richmond, and, by 1950, the main floor of Bertrand Russell’s home in Richmond (Monk 315-317). After this last move, Anne Russell began attending Kingsmuir School, a boarding school in Sussex (Griffin 503).

In December 1952, Bertrand Russell married his fourth wife, Edith Finch, and soon after she moved into the Queen’s Road home, Anne’s parents moved out of it (Monk 355). Anne’s parents separated in 1954 and divorced by 1955 (Monk 359-360).

Thereafter, Anne and her sisters became the subjects of a protracted family custody dispute, the result of which was that Bertrand and Edith Russell won full custody of the children in 1961, with their father, John Russell, retaining visitation rights (Monk 400).

1956, Bertrand and Edith Russell moved the family to Plas Penrhyn, their home in Wales. Following this move, Anne and her sisters attended Moreton Hall, a private girls’ boarding school in Shropshire (Monk 370; Griffin 503). Near Russell’s home in Wales lived the Cooper-Willis family: mother Susan Williams-Ellis, a renowned potter; father Euan Cooper-Willis, and daughters Siân and Anwyl, who were close friends of Anne and her sisters.

Anne left Moreton Hall in 1962 (Monk 485). It is likely that she went on to complete her studies at Dartington Hall, a progressive co-educational boarding school in Devon, as her sisters Sarah and Lucy did this as well.

Little documentary evidence exists in the Russell archive about Anne’s adult life, though Ray Monk notes that she moved to New Mexico in 1975, where she has lived ever since (500).

Vellacott, Patience Josephine Ruth (Jo)

  • RC0935
  • Person
  • 1922-2019

Jo Vellacott was a British-Canadian historian, professor, feminist, Quaker, and peace activist. She was born in Plymouth, England on 20 April 1922 to Harold F. Vellacott, a surgeon, and Josephine Sempill. She attended the University of Oxford and, after pausing her studies to work as an aircraft mechanic during the Second World War, graduated with a Master of Arts in 1947. She would then move to South Africa, where she met and married Peter Newberry in 1950. In South Africa she had two children, Mary and Douglas, before returning to the United Kingdom, where they had their daughter Susan. The family emigrated to Canada in 1955, where Peter would join the Air Force and Jo worked as a schoolteacher. She then attended the University of Toronto, where she received a Master of Arts in History in 1965, and McMaster University, where she received her PhD in 1975.

Vellacott and Peter would separate in 1976, and divorce in 1979. She took Fellowships in the United Kingdom for several years, before becoming the Scholar-in-Residence at Queen’s University in Kingston, where she then became Assistant to the Dean of Women. Following her departure from Queen’s, she worked for several years at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia University in Montreal, retiring in 1987, and becoming an independent scholar.

Vellacott focused much of her career on women’s history, feminism, pacifism, and Quakerism. A Quaker since her 40s, she was active in the Thousand Islands Monthly Meeting near Kingston, and was a longtime peace activist. She wrote several books and dozens of articles on topics including pacifism, Bertrand Russell, women and politics, and more. She moved to Toronto, where she died in 2019.

Armstrong, Neil

  • RC0934
  • Person

Neil Armstrong is a journalist who has worked in radio, newspaper and television. He was the news director, program director, and host of the literary show, Covered and Bound, at CHRY Radio (105.5 FM) at York University in Toronto from 1995 to 2004. In his capacity as host and a bibliophile, he met and interviewed hundreds of Canadian and international authors — many from the Black, Caribbean and African communities — on the radio show or at events he covered. Neil was also the editor at the Jamaican Weekly Gleaner (North American edition) and the annual Black Pages directory. He was a member of the editorial team of the book, Jamaicans in Canada: When Ackee Meets Codfish, published in 2012.

A strong supporter of initiatives that celebrate Black communities in Canada, Neil is the literary coordinator of the annual Black and Caribbean Book Affair and the monthly Literary Salons organized by Blackhurst Cultural Centre in Toronto, formerly A Different Booklist Cultural Centre.

Russell, Lucy Catherine

  • RC0933
  • Person
  • 1948-1975

Lucy Catherine Russell was a granddaughter of Bertrand Russell, philosopher and peace activist. Her father, John Conrad Russell, was Bertrand Russell’s first son from his marriage to Dora Black. Her mother, Susan Lindsay, was the daughter of American poet Vachel Lindsay.

Lucy was the third daughter of John and Susan. By the time of Lucy’s birth on July 21, 1948, her parents’ relationship had already begun to deteriorate. Lucy’s family initially lived in a small flat in Cambrian Road, Richmond, but by 1950, they had moved to the main floor of 41 Queen’s Road in Richmond with Bertrand Russell (Monk 316-317). In December 1952, Bertrand Russell married his fourth wife, Edith Finch, and soon after she moved into the Queen’s Road home, Lucy’s parents moved out of it (Monk 355).

By the time she was five years old, Lucy and her sisters had become the subjects of a bitter family custody dispute. Bertrand and Edith Russell, with whom the children still lived, initially desired to have the girls made wards of the court on the basis of parental neglect, an initiative which was strongly opposed by Dora Russell (née Black), their grandmother (Monk 356). By 1954, Lucy’s parents had separated, and John, her father, had been hospitalized following a schizophrenic breakdown (Monk 359-360). Subsequently, John Russell moved into his mother Dora’s home, Carn Voel in Cornwall, where he would remain for much of his life.

John and Susan formally divorced in 1955, and John Russell retained custody of the children. However, the children remained in the care of Bertrand and Edith Russell (Monk 361), with much tension ensuing in subsequent years over parental visitation rights.

Lucy attended Kingsmuir School, a boarding school in Sussex, while the family resided at 41 Queen’s Road (Griffin 503). In 1956, when Lucy was eight years old, Bertrand and Edith Russell moved the family to Plas Penrhyn, their home in Wales. Following this move, Lucy and her sisters were sent to Moreton Hall, a private girls’ boarding school in Shropshire (Monk 370; Griffin 503). Near Russell’s home in Wales lived the Cooper-Willis family: mother Susan Williams-Ellis, a renowned potter; father Euan Cooper-Willis, and daughters Sian and Anwyl, who were close friends of Lucy and her sisters. Sian Cooper-Willis would later become a custodian of Lucy Russell’s papers.

In 1960, Bertrand and Edith Russell sought to further secure the girls’ situation by seeking legal custody of them (Monk 394). A protracted custody battle ensued, and in the end, Bertrand and Edith won full custody (1961), with John Russell retaining visitation rights (Monk 400).

Lucy excelled in her studies at Moreton Hall, demonstrating interest in mathematics (Monk 493). In the summer of 1962, at the age of fourteen, she left Moreton Hall to continue her studies at Dartington Hall, a progressive co-educational boarding school in Dartington, Devon. Lucy began to experience academic difficulties at this point, though her instructors noted her aptitude for languages (Monk 493). Lucy’s papers reveal her nascent interest in poetry, literature, and art as well.

In the summer of 1965, Lucy had withdrawn from Dartington Hall, focusing her efforts instead on private mathematics coaching and passing her A-level exams (Monk 493). In subsequent years, Lucy made several failed attempts to pass her A-level examinations and her entrance examinations to Oxford and Cambridge. It was not until 1970 that she was accepted on a course in anthropology and politics at the University of Kent (Monk 501).

Bertrand Russell passed away in February 1970, when Lucy was twenty years old. By 1972, Lucy had abandoned her latest round of university studies, and after a peripatetic period, she was hospitalized and diagnosed with schizophrenia (Monk 501; Moorehead 551). Following her release from hospital, she returned briefly to stay with Dora Russell and her father in Cornwall. On 11 April 1975, Lucy travelled by bus to a graveyard in the village of St. Buryan (Cornwall), where she died by self-immolation. She was, at the time of her death, twenty-six years old (Monk 501-502).

Weaver, John

  • RC0932
  • Person
  • ca. 1948-

John Charles Weaver received his B.A. from Queen’s University in 1969. He studied at Duke University as a James B. Duke Commonwealth Scholar and completed his Ph.D. in 1973. A member of the Department of History since 1974, he was made an Associate Member of the Geography Department in 1988. In 1991 and 1993, he was a Visiting Research Fellow in the Research School of Social Sciences at Australian National University. He served as chair of the McMaster History Department from 1988 to 1993, and Dean of Graduate Studies from 1994 to 1999. Weaver’s research interests have included urban government, housing and suburbanization, criminal justice and, most recently, land policy on nineteenth-century settlement frontiers. He is the author of The Great Land Rush and the Making of the Modern World, 1650-1900 (Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press, 2003) and Sorrows of the Century: Interpreting Suicide in New Zealand, 1900-2000 (Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press, 2013). The Great Land Rush received the Albion Award of the North American Conference on British Studies and the Ferguson Prize from the Canadian Historical Association. A prior book, Crimes, Constables and Courts, deals with the Ontario criminal justice system from the early 1800s to the 1970s. With Michael Doucet, he wrote Housing the North American City (1991). From 1987 to 1993, he edited the Urban History Review.

Anderson, Ho Che

  • RC0931
  • Person
  • 1969-

Ho Che Anderson is a Toronto-based cartoonist who has created numerous graphic novels, including King: A Comics Biography of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.; Godhead, a science fiction action-adventure; and Sand & Fury, a horror thriller. Active since the 1990s, Anderson has published with Fantagraphics, DC, Dark Horse, and Marvel, among others.

Anderson was born in London, England and was named after the Vietnamese and Cuban revolutionaries Ho Chi Minh and Che Guevara. Anderson began producing comics in the mid-1980s, training with Vortex Comics (Toronto, ON) and then moving on to publication with Fantagraphics (Seattle, WA). Anderson has also worked as a reporter for The Toronto Star, commercial/editorial artist, and filmmaker. Anderson studied film production at the Toronto Film School and Sheridan College. He has directed an animated short, “Governance,” for the National Film Board of Canada.

Mutart, Reginald Francis

  • RC0930
  • Person
  • 1897-1929

Reginald Francis Mutart was born on 7 June 1897 in Mimico, Ontario to Charles and Augusta Mutart, and worked as a clerk prior to the First World War. On 22 May 1916 he enlisted in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force, and was assigned to the 64th Battery Canadian Field Artillery, 2nd Division French Mortars. During his service in the war, he saw action in France, including at the Battle of Vimy Ridge. He was honourably discharged on 19 August 1919, having attained the rank of Gunner. Following the war he would work for the Canadian National Railways as a clerk. He would marry a woman named Carrie, with whom he had at least one child, a son named Robert Jack Mutart. Reginald died on 2 August 1929 in Niagara Falls, Ontario following injures sustained in a gas explosion in the cellar of his home.

Mutart, Robert Jack

  • RC0930
  • Person
  • 1923-1962

Robert Jack Mutart was born on 7 May 1923 to Reginald and Carrie Mutart. Following the death of his father in 1929, his mother remarried a man named A. Lebert. Robert enlisted for service in the Second World War on 25 March 1942, and served in the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve. Attaining the rank of Leading Signalman, Robert would serve in the Atlantic Theatre on minesweeping and convoy missions. He was honourably discharged on 25 October 1945, but continued to serve as a reservist until 1957. On 12 May 1945 he married Anne Mattiuz, with whom he had three children: Donna, Bobby, and Jimmy. After the war, Robert would become a dentist in Hamilton. Robert died on 3 February 1962 in Detroit, Michigan, at the age of 38.

McNairn, Ruthven

  • RC0929
  • Person
  • 1914-1946

Ruthven Colquhoun McNairn served in the Second World War with the Algonquin Regiment. Born in Toronto on 24 August 1914, to William Harvey McNairn, a professor at McMaster University and Hester (Wilson) McNairn. He was the third of four brothers, with Robert and Norman proceeding him, and Ian following. The family relocated to Hamilton in 1930 when the University did.

In February 1933, after finishing high school, McNairn hitchhiked to travel to California and travelling around before being jailed on a charge of vagrancy. His father bailed him out and McNairn made his way home by June.

He began his studies at McMaster University, beginning in Mathematics and Physics, and then transferring to General Arts. He enjoyed being part of the Dramatic Society and appeared in a number of plays. He also was part of the literary society. He graduated in 1938, and did some more travelling before returning to Hamilton.

On 1 November 1940, he began military training with McMaster’s COTC and part time militia with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He completed his training in 1941 and hoped to join the Navy, which his younger brother also hoped to join. With no offers forthcoming, he formally enlisted 11 May 1942, and was sent for training at Gordon Head, BC. He would join the Algonquin Regiment in 1943 and shipped to Europe in early summer.

He was part of the operation to attempt to closed the ‘Falaise Gap’ and would then carry on towards Belgium, the Netherlands, and finally into Germany. Throughout this time he kept his own diary, as well as helping to write the regiment’s war diary when the official diarists were busy. He would carry on this work and though he died before the official history was published, he is credited with doing much of the work on Warpath.

Returning home, McNairn had aspirations of writing, either as a journalist or in longer form. Unfortunately, in June 1946, he was diagnosed with an especially virulent form of TB, tuberculous empyema. Likely contracted while still in Europe, he was transferred to Hamilton’s Mountain Sanatorium for care, but would never recover. McNairn died 5 September 1946 and was buried in Grove Cemetery, in Dundas.

Gerstenzang, Rachel Lili

  • RC0929
  • Person
  • 1918-2019

Rachel Lili Gerstenzang, known as Lili, was born on July 25, 1918 in Harbin, China. Her father, Aaron Tunik was a businessman in the Export Import business. Her mother was Raisa Tunik, née Levin.

Lili Gerstenzang moved to Tientsin in 1921, where she was educated at the British Tienstin Grammar School until 1933. The family moved to Shanghai, where she attended the Shanghai Public School for Girls. She was active in entering art contests and won notable mention in local newspapers.

She married Leon Gerstenzang in 1938. With her husband, Leon Gerstenzang, she left northern China upon the Chinese Communist occupation. They moved to Hong Kong in July 1949.

They moved to Sydney, Australia and lived there from Nov 1950 to Feb 1953. Lili Gerstenzang attended the East Sydney Technical College, studying Art from 1950 to 1952 and moved to Toronto, Canada in late 1952, becoming and immigrant in 1953. Lili Gerstenzang attended the Ontario College of Art from 1955 to 1956 and 1963-1964.

She died 9 February 2019.

Gerstenzang, Leon

  • RC0929
  • Person
  • 1913-2005

Leon Gerstenzang was a journalist and manufacturer. He was born in 1913 in Warsaw, Poland to Anczel (Edward) Gerstenzang, a dental surgeon, and Sara née Krinkevich. As an infant he was evacuated to Irkuta, Siberia, by his mother upon the outbreak of the First World War. Upon the outbreak of the Russian Revolution, he was taken by his mother to Harbin, China. His father had been imprisoned in Warsaw, and joined the family in Tientsin (now Tianjin), China in 1920.

Gerstenzang entered British Tientsin Grammar School in 1921 and graduated in 1929 with a Cambridge School Certificate. In 1930, he joined the British daily newspaper, Peking & Tientsin Times as proof-reader and cub reporter. In 1932 he left the for the United States. as a student and entered Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School in New York city. He was accepted by New York University’s School of Journalism. Owing to the Depression of 1932 he could not maintain student status and finish college. He returned to Tientsin in late 1932 and rejoined the editorial staff of the newspaper, where he established a Sunday edition of the Peking & Tientsin Times. He married Rachel Lili Tunik in 1938. In 1939 he joined Reuters Ltd. in Tientsin as News Editor and Correspondent.

From the end of 1935 to the end of 1941, Gerstenzang served as a senior Lance Corporal in the British Municipal Emergency Corps during the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War. Together with other Reuters staff, he was imprisoned by the Japanese during the occupation of Tientsin, for 100 days. At the close of the war, he resumed work as Manager for Reuters in 1945 until the Chinese Communists entered the city in January 1949 and banned foreign correspondents’ operation of news agencies which resulted in the Reuters office being closed. In mid-1949, Gerstenzang moved to Hong Kong and resided at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club. He left Hong Kong in late 1950 for Sydney, N.S.W., upon receiving Australian immigration, where he covered under his own name for Reuters and Australian Associated Press.

In 1952, Leon and Lili Gerstenzang travelled to Toronto, Canada, and received their Landed Immigration status in 1953. They continued to live in Toronto until their deaths.

Gerstenzang worked in various manufacturing businesses and Real Estate in Canada after 1953. He joined the Ripley Manufacturing Co., Toronto, and subsequently became the President of the Canadian branch of the Q-Tip Corporation.

He died in Toronto in 2005.

Barwin, Gary

  • RC0927
  • Person
  • 1964-

Gary Barwin is the author of twenty-six books of poetry and fiction, as well as works for children and teens. He is also a composer, multidisciplinary artist, and owner and operator of Serif of Nottingham Editions, a Hamilton-based small press. Through Serif of Nottingham and other small presses, Barwin has also published numerous chapbooks, broadsides, and pamphlets.

Barwin was born in 1964 in Northern Ireland. His family immigrated to Canada in the 1970s. In 1985, Barwin graduated from York University with a BFA in music and a BA in creative writing. He went on to complete a PhD in music composition at SUNY Buffalo.

Barwin has taught creative writing at several colleges and universities, including King’s University College (Western University), McMaster University, and Mohawk College. He has also participated in writer in residence programs at Toronto Public Library, Western University, London Public Library, McMaster University, Hamilton Public Library, Wilfrid Laurier University, and others. In addition, Barwin has taught creative writing to at-risk youth through Hamilton’s ArtForms program.

Barwin’s novel Yiddish for Pirates was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Scotiabank Giller Prize. The novel also won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, the Canadian Jewish Literary Award, and the Hamilton Literary Award. Barwin is also a four-time recipient of the Hamilton Book of the Year award and a co-winner of the bpNichol Chapbook Award.

Barwin lives in Hamilton, Ontario.

Nickle, Samuel C.

  • RC0926
  • Person
  • 1913/14-1994

Samuel Nickle was born in Winnipeg in 1913/14 to Olga and Sam Nickle. The family moved to Calgary in 1917. In 1935 he started the Nickle Map Service Ltd. In 1935 in response to the Turner Valley oil boom. During the Second World War he served in the Calgary Highlanders and was commissioned in the Intelligence Corps in 1943.

Following the war he resumed his mapping business working in the oil and gas industry. He continued to support the Calgary Highlanders and was appointed to Honorary Colonel. He passed away on 26 January 1994.

Patrick, Keith

  • RC0925
  • Person
  • 1918-2021

Keith Patrick was born on Sept 22, 1918, in Saint John New Brunswick. He was the son of Hugh and Lily Patrick, and had six brothers: W.E. Robinson, Ronald, Edmond, Raymond, Kenneth Roland, and Murray. He received an elementary and high school education in Saint John, West Haven, Connecticut, and Lynn, Massachusetts. He was employed by American News Co. in Lynn at the outbreak of war, prompting him to return to New Brunswick to enlist. Keith served in the R.C.A.F. from 1940 to 1945 as a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner. He received training at Wireless School in Calgary and Bombing and Gunnery School in Macdonald, Manitoba. His overseas postings included Operational Training Units and Ferry Command in England; in Egypt with the RAF 108 Squadron; and in France with the 427 Lion Squadron.

He was on his second tour with the RCAF 427 Squadron when his Halifax bomber was shot down in Pas-de-Calais, France, on the night of June 12, 1944. Seriously injured, he and his pilot, Don Fulton, were sheltered by members of the French Resistance. They were liberated in September 1944. Keith retired from the RCAF in February 1945 at the rank of Flight Lieutenant.

After the war, he had a successful career as a Purchasing Manager with Ford Motor Co. in Saint John, Canadair in Montreal and Fleet Manufacturing and Horton-CBI in Fort Erie.

Keith married Phyllis Taylor on June 29, 1946. They had three children, Charmian, Janet, and Philip. Keith self-published his memoirs, To the Stars, with his daughter Janet Lee MacNeil in 2014. Keith passed away in 2021, in Kitchener, Ontario.

Manley, Rachel

  • RC0924
  • Person
  • 1947-

Rachel Manley is an author of poetry, non-fiction, and fiction, and member of a prominent Jamaican political family about whom she has written several lauded memoirs. She is the daughter of Michael Manley, a Jamaican politician who served three terms as prime minister (1972-80, 1989-92). Her paternal grandparents are Edna Manley, a sculptor and arts educator, and Norman Manley, co-founder of the Jamaican People’s National Party and the first Premier of Jamaica.
Rachel Manley was born in Cornwall, England in 1947 to Michael Manley and his second wife, Jacqueline Kammelard. At the age of two, she was sent to Jamaica, where she was raised by her paternal grandparents in their home, Drumblair. In 1969, Manley receive a Bachelor of Arts degree in English (Special Honours) from the University of the West Indies.
Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Manley published three volumes of poetry and contributed to several magazines and literary journals, including The Jamaica Journal, Caribbean Quarterly, and Focus. She also worked in a variety of roles, including as a high school teacher and member of the radio advertising department of the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation in Barbados (1980-1986). In 1979, she received the Jamaica Centennial Medal for poetry.
In 1986, Manley immigrated to Canada, where she would eventually settle in Toronto. In 1989, Manley edited a version of her grandmother’s diaries, published by Andre Deutsch under the title Edna Manley: The Diaries.
Manley began writing family memoirs in the 1990s, publishing Drumblair, a book about her childhood with her grandparents, in 1996. The book was critically acclaimed, winning the 1997 Governor General’s Award for English language non-fiction. This volume was the first in a memoir trilogy; it was followed by Slipstream, about Michael Manley (2000), and Horses in Her Hair, about Edna Manley (2008).
These works were followed by two additional novels, The Black Peacock (2017) and The Fellowship (2019). The Black Peacock was shortlisted for the 2018 Amazon First Novel award.
Manley has received many writing fellowships over the years, including the Mary Ingraham Bunting Fellow (Literature) from Radcliffe College, the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center Fellowship; and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship.
Poetry: Prisms (1972) Poems 2 (Coles Printery, 1978) A Light Left On (Peepal Tree, 1992)
Non-fiction: Drumblair: Memories of a Jamaican Childhood (Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 1996) Slipstream: A Daughter Remembers (Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2000) In My Father’s Shade (UK version of Slipstream) (BlackAmber Books, 2004) Horses in Her Hair: A Granddaughter’s Story (Key Porter Books, 2008)
Fiction: The Black Peacock (Cormorant Books, 2017) The Fellowship (Cormorant Books, 2019)

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