Beatrice Nasmyth

Beatrice Sifton Nasmyth (August 12, 1885 – October 23, 1977), later Beatrice Sifton Nasmyth Furniss was a Canadian suffragette and war correspondent during the First World War. She was a reporter for the Daily Province in Vancouver from 1910 to 1919, which took her to Europe to cover the war and the subsequent peace treaty.

Beatrice Sifton Nasmyth
Born
Beatrice Sifton Nasmyth

(1885-08-12)August 12, 1885
Stratford, Ontario, Canada
DiedOctober 23, 1977(1977-10-23) (aged 92)
Vancouver, British Columbia
NationalityCanadian
OccupationJournalist

Early life and family

Nasmyth was born to Deborah (nee Dignam) and James Nasmyth on August 12, 1885 in Stratford, Ontario. Her father was a pharmacist. She was the third child born out of five and the only daughter.[1]:25

Her aunt was Mary Dignam, a painter and the first president of Women's Art Association of Canada. Dignam influenced Nasmyth in her suffragette and feminist views.[1]:27–28

Nasmyth graduated from Woodstock Collegiate Institute and then attended finishing school at Alma College in St. Thomas, Ontario. After graduation, she studied at the University of Toronto before leaving in 1907. Her first journalist job was at the Woodstock Sentinel-Review.[1]:30–33 After a few years, she moved to Vancouver, British Columbia where one of her brothers was living. Nasmyth continued writing and had a reporting job at The Vancouver Daily World and was a book review editor for the weekly B.C. Saturday Sunset. She also joined the Vancouver Province also known as the Daily Province.[1]:33–34

Nasmyth was a charter member of the Vancouver branch of the Canadian Women's Press Club. Her activity with the club made her close friends with poet and writer Pauline Johnson.[1]:35 In 1914, Nasmyth took part in the Komagata Maru incident where she spent time watching the ship, preventing the Indian immigrants from coming ashore.[1]:37

First World War

The Province sent Nasmyth to London to cover the war in 1914, arriving before the end of 1914. She was known for trying to evade press censorship by smuggling her articles past the censors.[2][3] She would provide articles to her brother, a businessman who often traveled to England.[2][3] He would smuggle the reports back to Canada.[2][3]

Nasymth covered the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.[4] One of the Canadian delegates to the conference was Arthur Sifton, who was her second cousin.[5]:148

Political activism

In 1917, Nasmyth was the campaign manager for Roberta MacAdams, a military dietitian who ran for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, who became the second woman ever elected to the Assembly.[4]:105[6]:225

Later life

Nasmyth married Mackenzie Furniss in 1918. The couple arrived back in Canada in 1920, settling in Montreal. In 1921, they had a son named Henry, and then in 1924, they had a daughter named Monica. Nasmyth started writing fiction for the British magazine Modern Woman and the Canadian magazine Chatelaine.[1]:207–210

Nasmyth died in Vancouver, British Columbia, on October 23, 1977.[7]

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References
  1. Marshall, Debbie (2017-02-18). Firing Lines: Three Canadian Women Write the First World War. Dundurn. ISBN 9781459738393.
  2. "Firing Lines: How three Canadian women became war reporters in WWI". CBC. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
  3. "Firing Lines: How three Canadian women became war reporters in WWI CBC radio episode transcript". CBC. 2017-02-20. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
  4. Cheoreos, David; Simonson, Karen; Marshall, Debbie (2012-09-04). Her Voice, Her Century: Four Plays About Daring Women. Brindle and Glass. ISBN 9781927366004.
  5. Marshall, Debbie (2007). Give Your Other Vote to the Sister: A Woman's Journey Into the Great War. University of Calgary Press. ISBN 9781552382288.
  6. Lang, Marjory (1999-08-26). Women Who Made the News: Female Journalists in Canada, 1880-1945. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. ISBN 9780773518384.
  7. "Deaths". Ottawa Journal. 1977-10-27. p. 8. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
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