Edith Archibald

Edith Jessie Archibald (1854-1936) was a Canadian suffragist who led a group of Women's Christian Temperance Union (WTCU) members on raids of three illicit saloons in Cow Bay, Nova Scotia.

Early life

Born in St. John's, Newfoundland in 1854, Edith Archibald belonged to a very prominent family with a history of public service. She received some of her early education in London and New York, where her father was British Consul General. At the age of twenty Edith married her second cousin Charles Archibald, a mining engineer posted to Cow Bay and then Halifax -- where he became vice-president of the Bank of Nova Scotia. Living in Cow Bay with the help of servants and boarding school, Edith raised four children. As a woman of means with relatively few housekeeping and childcare duties she had ample free time -- and used it proactively as a social activist.

WCTU

Edith Archibald became involved with the WCTU in the 1880s and served as Marritime Superintendent of the Parlour Meetings Department, which encouraged social events in members' homes as a method of organizing temperance activities and educating women. Enthusiastic about the benefits of Parlour Meetings, Edith surveyed the fifty-four local unions to find their assessment of the meetings, published a circular letter in the official national paper of the WCTU, and also printed it as a leaflet. Edith Archibald realized that local action was necessary to achieve the national goals of the organization. What better way than a tea party to plan a revolt!

Accomplishments

Edith served as a leader in the National Council of Women of Canada and the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON). She was president of the Halifax Local Council of Women from 1896-1906 and president of the Halifax VON from 1897-1901. Edith battled for decades for women's right to vote and led a 1917 delegation of women to convince Nova Scotia Premier Murray not to block the suffrage bill; the legislature finally granted this right in 1918.