| Main entry | MacKinnon, Lilian Vaux |
|---|
| Birth place | Brockville, Ontario |
|---|
| Birth date | 22 April 1879 |
|---|
| Death place | Ottawa, Ontario |
|---|
| Death date | 11 March 1975 |
|---|
| Identifier | 0229 |
|---|
| Birth name | Mary Lilian Vaux |
|---|
| Married name | MacKinnon |
|---|
| Marital status | married |
|---|
| Religious affiliation | Presbyterian; United Church of Canada |
|---|
| Degree and date | BA (Honours English), Queen's University (1902); MA (Economics), Queen's University (1903) |
|---|
| Other work | clergyman's wife, mother of five |
|---|
| Biography | Mary Lilian Vaux (1879-1975) has the distinction of being one of the first woman graduates of Queen's University, where she received a BA (Honours) in English in 1902 and an MA in Economics the following year. Excelling in her studies, she graduated with the University's gold medal in English. She also acted as editor of the "Ladies' Department" of the QUEEN'S JOURNAL and helped to establish the Queen's Dramatic Club. In 1904 Lilian married fellow graduate, Reverend Murdoch Archibald MacKinnon (1871-1954), with whom she raised five children. Her only published novel, MIRIAM OF QUEEN'S (1921), demonstrates her personal knowledge of life at her alma mater. A friend of B.K. Sandwell of SATURDAY NIGHT, she published short stories, sketches and verse in several periodicals. A second novel, "Hard by St. Lawrence," was never published. Lilian died in 1975, more than twenty years after her husband. |
|---|
| Other notes | While the spelling of Lilian's surname varies across various records and documents, the proper spelling is "MacKinnon." All four of Lilian's surviving children were university graduates. Daughter Catherine de Vaux MacKinnon Greenwood* received degrees both fromthe University of Toronto and La Sorbonne in France; following in her mother's footsteps, she published poetry and other works in Canada and in the U.K., occasionally under the pseudonym "Trinette." Daughter Ainslie graduated in Modern Languages from University of Toronto in 1933 and was an inveterate traveller and adventurer in young adulthood. Son Gillean graduated as a Doctor of Medicine; during World War II he served with the British Royal Navy as Commander, where he was in the Battle of the Atlantic and on convoy duty in the Mediterranean and off North Africa. Son Murdo graduated with a PhD in English, was an English professor, as well as founding Dean of Wellington College of Arts and Science at the University of Guelph; he was also co-founder of the Guelph International Music Festival. Lilian's account of her family's survival of the Regina Cyclone 1912 was recently published in Bingaman, STORM OF THE CENTURY: THE REGINA TORNADO OF 1912 (2011). |
|---|
| Residences | Halifax, Nova Scotia (1904-1912); Regina, Saskatchewan (1912-1925); Toronto, Ontario (1925-1942); Edmonton, Alberta (1942-1969) |
|---|
| Geographic regions | Alberta; Ontario |
|---|
| Primary genres | fiction |
|---|
| Books | MIRIAM OF QUEEN'S (1921) |
|---|
| Periodicals | BROCKVILLE RECORDER AND TIMES; QUEEN'S JOURNAL, QUEEN'S QUARTERLY; QUEEN'S REVIEW; UNITED CHURCH OBSERVER |
|---|
| Organizations | Canadian Authors Association |
|---|
| Father's name | Dr. Harry Edward Vaux |
|---|
| Life dates of father | 1843, Kingston, Ontario - 1925, Derbyshire, England; m. 1871 |
|---|
| Father's note | medical doctor and surgeon in 42nd Battalion (1870-1886); first wife Mary Elizabeth Doane; moved to Brockville after Doane's death; retired in 1900 in Toronto |
|---|
| Mother's name | Lydia Georgina Cowan |
|---|
| Life dates of mother | 7 October 1849, Montreal, Quebec - 1934, Sussex, England; m. 1871 |
|---|
| Mother's note | Travelled frequently between Canada and UK |
|---|
| Spouse 1 | Murdoch Archibald Mackinnon |
|---|
| Life dates of spouse 1 | 22 September 1871, Lake Ainslie, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia - 1954, Edmonton, Alberta |
|---|
| Spouse 1 note | minister: Presbyterian until 1925, then United Church; published two books of sermons and other works; occasionally preached in first language, Gaelic; one of seven brothers to graduate from Queen's |
|---|
| Marriage 1 date | 31 May 1904 |
|---|
| Marriage 1 place | Toronto, Ontario |
|---|
| Children number | 5 |
|---|
| Children's names and dates | Harry Vaux (c1905 - c1911);
Catherine de Vaux (5 June 1909 - 25 July 1994), m. to Erik Spencer Greenwood;
Ainslie (1912 - ), m. to John Gnaedinger;
Dr. Alpin Gillean (1914 - ), m. to Eleanor (“Judy”) Malcolm;
Dr. Malcolm Hugh Murdoch (“Murdo”) (1917-2012), m. to Elizabeth Young |
|---|
| Biographical references | QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY ALUMNI REVIEW 51.3 (May-June 1977): 7; QUEEN'S ENCYCLOPEDIA, Queen's University (Web, n.d.); Todd, ARMOURY AND LINEAGES OF CANADA (1915), pp. 51-52; Anniversary Announcement, MONTREAL GAZETTE (31 May 1954); special thanks to Christine Gnaedinger Kilpatrick (daughter of Ainslie MacKinnon) for family contributions |
|---|
| Bibliographic references | Watters, CHECKLIST OF CANADIAN LITERATURE...1620-1960 (1970), p. 339 |
|---|
| Research references | complete |
|---|
| Archival references | Lilian Vaux Mackinnon papers, Queen's University Archives; letter to Archibald MacMechan, MacMechan papers, Dalhousie |
|---|
| Image credits | Lillian Vaux MacKinnon, age 17, just prior to enroling at Queen's University. Image courtesy of Christine Gnaedinger Kilpatrick, granddaughter of Lillian Vaux MacKinnon. |
|---|
| Copyright | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. Please cite Canada's Early Women Writers. SFU Library Digital Collections. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada. 1980-2014. |
|---|