Allisonian Firsts: Grace Annie Lockhart

Grace Annie Lockhart was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, on 22 February 1855. She was the youngest of four daughters of Edward Elias Lockhart (1819-1897) and Susan (Whittekir or Whittaker) ([ca. 1824]-1855). Her early life was challenging. Her mother died nine months after she was born, and she was raised by her older sisters and by the housekeeper, Rosanna Wilson. When Grace Annie was four her maternal grandfather also died and left a will that caused further complications.

George Whittekir had not modified his will after his daughter’s death. The property that he left to her required Edward Lockhart to apply for guardianship of his daughters in order for their legacies to legally be made available to them. On 20 November 1860, the court was satisfied that “the said Edward E. Lockhart is a fit and proper person to be guardian of the said infants and their respective estates (the value of each which does not exceed the sum of £200) and having from him a bond, faithfully to perform the duties of the said office.“ Grace Annie’s sisters signed the petition and her father signed on her behalf. When Grace Annie was eight years old, her surrogate mother, Rosanna Wilson, died. Three years later, her eldest sister went to the Mount Allison Ladies’ College with her two other sisters following in 1868. None of them stayed more than a year despite having enough money from their grandfather’s estate. 

Grace Annie was studious and entered the Mount Allison Ladies’ College in 1871. She became interested in science and added a number of courses to her studies. In 1874, she completed her Mistress of Liberal Arts degree. The following year, she completed her Bachelor of Science, becoming the first woman in the British Empire to obtain such a degree.

Her final picture from her time at Mount Allison was taken on the occasion of her graduation. Notably, she is the only one in the group not wearing a gown or holding a mortarboard because it was not permitted. The man seated to her right would ultimately become her husband (see photograph in gallery below).

She married John Leard Dawson (1851-1918) in Saint John, New Brunswick, in 1881. Thereafter, the couple moved regularly in keeping with the circuit system of the Methodist denomination and ultimately lived in all of the Atlantic Provinces. They had three children: Kenneth Lockhart (1893-1954), Wilfred Thomas (1895-1939), and John Chesley (1898-1980), all of whom attended Mount Allison.

Grace Annie Lockhart’s life was likely conventional in many ways, but despite the confines of her role as a minister’s wife we know that she was an activist. She was a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union which formed in Canada in 1874, and some of her thoughts on social reform were published in a 1896 article which appeared three days after Wilfred Laurier became the first French-Canadian Prime Minister of Canada. On women's right to vote, Grace Annie Lockhart said the following:

"Perhaps the Reform bill, which will allow women equal suffrage with men, will be as much a leap in the dark as that of '67 [referring to Canadian Confederation], but if it brings us as much nearer to the clear daylight, will it not also be as beneficial?"

Lockhart naturally also saw the value of education as much for women as for men. On the subject, she said:

"Higher education of women. What is it? It is the higher education of women to for them for the higher sphere of action, whether they be political, professional, or social--the same education that men need under the same circumstances."

Grace Annie Lockhart was a woman who knew her own mind and was not afraid to push for change. These rare fragments give us precious clues to understand that the mind she had cultivated at Mount Allison had served her well throughout her life.

She died on 18 May 1916 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. She is buried in the Tryon People’s Cemetery in Tryon, Prince Edward Island.

Related materials

You can find more information about the Lockhart-Dawson family and peruse the contents of their fonds (accession no. 2016.05) on our Descriptions Database. You can access these records by planning a visit to the archives.