Nellie Letitia McClung
Nellie Letitia McClung was a prominent Canadian author, feminist, and politician born in 1873 in Chatsworth, Ontario. Growing up in a devoutly religious family of Irish immigrants, she moved to Manitoba at the age of seven, where she later excelled in her studies and became a teacher by sixteen. McClung's activism began through her involvement with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, which focused on women's rights and alcohol prohibition. Her literary career took off with the publication of her novel "Sowing Seeds in Danny," which sold over 100,000 copies and provided her financial independence.
Relocating to Winnipeg, she founded the Political Equality League and actively campaigned for women's suffrage. McClung's advocacy bore fruit in 1916 when women in Alberta and other provinces won the right to vote. She served in the Alberta legislature, championing women's equality and various social causes, including public health and child labor laws. In her later years, she became the only female delegate to the League of Nations and was the first woman appointed to the board of governors of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. McClung's lifelong dedication to social justice and equality culminated in her passing in 1951, leaving a significant legacy in Canadian history.
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Subject Terms
Nellie Letitia McClung
Social and Political Activist
- Born: October 20, 1873
- Birthplace: Chatsworth, Ontario, Canada
- Died: September 1, 1951
- Place of death: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Biography
Nellie Letitia McClung, an author, feminist, and politician, was born in Chatsworth, Ontario, Canada, in 1873. She was the youngest of six children in a devoutly religious family of Irish immigrants. When McClung was seven years old, her family moved to the province of Manitoba on the Canadian western frontier in search of better farmland. McClung was expected to help set up the new homestead and she did not enter primary school until several years later, when she was ten years old. She excelled quickly in her studies and at the age of sixteen received a teaching certificate. McClung taught school for the next several years until she married Robert Wesley McClung, a pharmacist.
McClung’s mother-in-law introduced her to the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). This organization was known for its work in the community on behalf of alcohol prohibition and women’s rights. McClung worked with the WCTU to attain equality for women, and she received the self- confidence to begin writing. In 1902, she entered and won a short story competition sponsored by American Publishing. The publisher encouraged McClung to expand the short story into a novel, which she titled Sowing Seeds in Danny. This work, published in 1908, sold more than 100,000 copies. The abundant sales of her work earned McClung substantial financial reward and established her literary career.
With newfound success, McClung, her husband, and their four children moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where she organized the Political Equality League. Through this organization, McClung and others worked tirelessly for women’s suffrage. In addition, while in Winnipeg, McClung entered the realm of politics as a platform speaker.
Four years later, the McClungs, who by then had five children, moved to Edmonton, Alberta. Here McClung continued her political career and led the fight for women’s suffrage. In 1916, McClung’s efforts proved successful when women in Alberta and in several other Canadian provinces were granted the right to vote. In 1912, McClung was elected to the Alberta legislature, where she served her term as a champion of woman’s equality.
In her later years, McClung resided in Victoria, British Columbia. While there, she fought for many causes including improved public health benefits, factory safety, prohibition of child labor, and equal property rights for women. She continued to write about the causes in which she believed and published several well-received novels and her memoirs, In Times Like These. At the age of sixty-five, McClung became the only female delegate to the League of Nations. McClung was also the first woman appointed to the board of governors of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. After a lifetime of working to better the existence of others, McClung died in 1951 at the age of seventy-seven.