Jessie Georgina Sime
Jessie Georgina Sime was a Scottish-born writer and translator who spent much of her life in Canada after immigrating from England. Born to a literary family, she was educated at home and briefly attended Queen's College in London. Sime studied singing in Berlin at seventeen before working as a public singer and later as a reader for notable publishing houses like Macmillan and Nelson and Company. She was also a prolific translator, focusing on French and German literature, and contributed stories and reviews to various publications, including a weekly column for the Pall Mall Gazette.
In 1907, Sime moved to Canada, where she became deeply engaged with her new home, writing about it in works such as *Canada Chaps* and *In a Canadian Shack*. Her literary contributions included a notable collection of essays, *Brave Spirits*, published in 1952, which provides insights into her early life. Active in the literary community, she held leadership roles in several organizations, including the Canadian Women's Press Club and the Canadian Authors' Association, and received the PEN Award for her essay collection *Orpheus in Quebec*. Sime's legacy reflects her rich engagement with both Canadian culture and the literary world.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Jessie Georgina Sime
- Born: February 12, 1868
- Died: September 13, 1958
Biography
Jessie Georgina Sime was the daughter of Scottish couple James Sime and Jessie Aitken (Wilson) Sime, both of whom were writers; James Sime was also a reader for Macmillan. The year after Jessie’s birth, the family immigrated to England, and the young girl spent her first eleven years in London. The family then moved to the suburb of Chiswick. Sime received most of her education at home but also attended Queen’s College School in London for a time before attending Queen’s College itself for four years. Around the age of seventeen, she studied singing in Berlin, after which she briefly worked as a public singer.
Sime traveled through France and Italy and once served as American philosopher William James’s secretary in Edinburgh. Sime also followed in her father’s footsteps as a reader for Macmillan as well as the publisher Nelson and Company. She translated French- and German-language works into English, and she was particularly interested in fiction and travel books. In the meantime, she was penning works of her own. She published several stories and reviews, and for a time she wrote a weekly column for the Pall Mall Gazette.
In 1907, at age thirty-nine, Sime traveled to Canada for what may have been a routine trip in the beginning, but which became a permanent move. She did return to England in 1933 for an eye surgery, but this trip seemed simply one of her frequent trips abroad while Canada remained her home. She lived in Montreal for half her life, and when she died in England at age ninety, her death certificate noted her permanent address as the Mount Royal Hotel in Montreal. Once in Canada, Sime continued writing, featuring the country in many of her books, including Canada Chaps (1917) and In a Canadian Shack (1937). Her pieces were also published in various Canadian periodicals and anthologies. Perhaps one of her best-known works is her collection of literary and personal essays, Brave Spirits, published in 1952; the work is at least the best source of information on Sime’s early life.
Sime was a member of the Canadian Women’s Press Club, serving as the Quebec group’s vice president; the Canadian Authors’ Association, serving as the Montreal branch’s president; and the PEN Club, whose Montreal branch she served as secretary. Around 1942, Sime won the PEN Award for her essay collection Orpheus in Quebec (1942).