Isabel Ecclestone Mackay

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Isabel Ecclestone Mackay
BornIsabel Ecclestone MacPherson
(1875-11-25)November 25, 1875
Woodstock, Ontario
DiedAugust 15, 1928(1928-08-15) (aged 52)
LanguageEnglish
NationalityCanadian
SpousePeter John Mackay

Isabel Ecclestone Mackay (née MacPherson) (November 25, 1875 – August 15, 1928) was a Canadian novelist and poet.

Biography

Born in Woodstock, Ontario, she was the daughter of Donald McLeod MacPherson, an early Scottish settler of Oxford County, and Priscilla Ecclestone of England. She was educated at the Woodstock Collegiate Institute.[1][2] At the age of 15 she started writing for Canadian newspapers and magazines.[3] From 1890 to 1909 she contributed to the Woodstock Daily Express using the pseudonym "Heather".[4]

In 1895, she married Peter John Mackay, a court stenographer. Together they had three daughters: Phyllis, Margaret, and Janet Priscilla.

British Columbia Supreme Court.[4] The couple would remain in Vancouver until their deaths, with Mackay making her mark as a prominent member of the literary community.[1] Among her close friends were E. Pauline Johnson and Marjorie Pickthall, both of whom Mackay cared for at the end of their lives. She also played an integral role in the release of their final books, as a member of the trust that oversaw the release of Johnson's Legends of Vancouver (1911) and as a hostess to Pickthall who wrote The Wood Carver's Wife (1922) at the Mackay summer home in Boundary Bay.[4]

Over the last 34 years of her life, she published six novels, four collections of poems and five plays, in addition to contributing over three hundred poems and short stories to various publications. Mackay was the founder of the British Columbia chapter of the

Mackay died of cancer on August 15, 1928.[5][4] She had been sick for a year prior to her death.[6]


Bibliography

Children's books

  • The Shining Ship, and Other Verse for Children. Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild & Stewart. 1918.

Novels

  • The House of Windows. London: Cassell. 1912.
  • Up the Hill and Over. Toronto McClelland, Goodchild & Stewart. 1917.
  • Mist of Morning. New York: George H. Doran. 1919.
  • The Window-Gazer. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart (1921)
  • Fires of Driftwood. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, (1922)
  • Blencarrow. Toronto: Thomas Allen, (1926)
  • Indian Nights. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, (1930)

Poetry

  • Between the Lights. Toronto: W. Briggs. 1904.
  • The Complete Poems of Isabel Ecclestone Mackay. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, (1930)

References

  1. ^ .
  2. ^ a b Garvin, John William, ed. (1916). "Isabel Eccleston Mackay". Canadian Poets. Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild & Stewart. pp. 237–246.
  3. ^ .
  4. ^ a b c d Godard, Barbara (2005). "Macpherson, Isabel Ecclestone (Mackay)". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. 15. University of Toronto/Université Laval. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Mackay, Isabel Ecclestone fonds". University of Waterloo Library. Special Collections & Archives. 22 July 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  6. ^ "Mrs. Isabel E. Mackay: Canadian Novelist and Poet Dies After a Long Illness" (Paywall subscription). New York Times. 16 August 1928. p. 15.

External links