Mount A celebrates 150 years since N.B. woman first to graduate in Canada — and beyond

Mariam Mesbah · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 08, 2025 5:00 AM EST | Last Updated: March 8

Tucked distant successful the archives astatine Mount Allison University successful Sackville is a representation of Grace Annie Lockhart connected her graduation day.

It's dated May 1875, and she's surrounded by her antheral classmates. 

All of the men are proudly posing successful their convocation gowns, with their caps successful hand. Lockhart is successful a striped dress, her hands neatly folded connected her thigh and her hairsbreadth is pinned up in a humble bun. 

Despite being the archetypal pistillate successful Canada — and the British Commonwealth — to postgraduate from university, Lockhart was not permitted to deterioration the headdress and gown. She was inactive conscionable a woman, aft all. 

Now, 150 years later, that representation represents a important turning constituent for women's right to the benignant of acquisition traditionally reserved for men. 

"I deliberation she'd beryllium astounded by the beauteous diverseness of post-secondary acquisition and by however galore women are connected campus," said Krista Johnston, subordinate prof successful the feminist and gender studies programme astatine Mount A.

Lockhart is an important fig for students successful the program. Every twelvemonth at convocation, graduates airs for a representation with the field plaque that honours her. 

It's besides not mislaid connected Johnston conscionable however important her accomplishment was astatine a clip erstwhile women were not adjacent allowed to vote. After lone 4 years astatine Mount Allison, Lockhart graduated with not one, but 2 designations — a mistress successful English lit and a bachelor of science. 

"She's 1 of the women who broke done that barroom connected women entering acquisition successful the post-secondary sector." Johnston said.

This fall, Mount Allison's Owens Art Gallery volition person an grounds of women artists from the Ladies' College to observe Lockhart, arsenic good arsenic the gallery's 130th anniversary..

The Ladies' College 

In the mid to precocious 1800s, precocious middle-class women began attending university. They enrolled successful peculiar colleges that taught sewing, creation and music. The program was designed to complement their eventual roles arsenic wives and mothers. 

Mount A's Ladies' College was nary different, but that its archetypal instructor, known arsenic preceptress backmost then, was  Mary Electa Adams. She pushed for a much rigorous world programme for women.

Lockhart enrolled successful the Ladies' College successful 1871.

According to David Mawhinney, an archivist astatine Mount Allison, determination would not beryllium a Grace Lockhart without a Mary Electa Adams.

Adams had been denied a grade and made it her ngo to guarantee different women who followed were fixed the opportunity. 

"She felt she was being discriminated against," said Mawhinney. "And the fantastic happening is, she lived agelong capable to cognize she had established an instauration that led to that archetypal woman."

Sackville was besides a distant agrarian assemblage astatine that clip and Mawhinney believes its determination besides played a relation successful allowing the schoolhouse to experimentation with letting women enrol successful academic courses. 

"Sackville was this precise absorbing situation successful which to person that trial lawsuit hap due to the fact that it's not a food bowl, truthful determination wouldn't person been property unit and that benignant of thing," helium said. 

As a result, Mount A became the archetypal Canadian instauration of higher acquisition to judge pistillate students for existent world studies. 

Saint John roots 

Lockhart was calved into an precocious middle-class household successful Saint John. Although finances were not a concern, her puerility was not easy. Her mother died erstwhile she was 9 months old. The household housekeeper, Rosanna Wilson, became her surrogate mother, but she passed distant erstwhile Lockhart was conscionable eight. 

Lockhart was the youngest of 4 sisters who each attended Mount Allison, acknowledgment to an inheritance near by their maternal grandfather. Lockhart, however, was the lone 1 to implicit her studies.

After graduating astatine the property of 20, she spent six years teaching successful Saint John and besides astatine Mount A's Ladies College. During that time, she made speeches encouraging women's equality and the close to the aforesaid acquisition offered to men.

Carolle de St. Croix, manager of alumni engagement astatine Mount Allison, said while Lockhart went connected to unrecorded a accepted life, she remained precise progressive successful her ideas.

"She was good up of her time. Pay equity, voting rights, you sanction it," she said. "But she was besides a pistillate of her time. She joined a Methodist minister, had children and took attraction of the home."

A Wife and mother 

Lockhart joined John Laird Dawson erstwhile she was 26. They had 3 sons — each Mount A graduates. The household moved each 3 years and lived successful a fig of communities successful the Maritimes and Newfoundland.

After she married, determination are few humanities records of her life. Mawhinney believes that, contempt this, she wielded power astatine location and suspects she whitethorn person adjacent been a shade writer for her husband. 

"I truly deliberation she was the powerfulness down the throne," helium said, aft researching a book written by Lockhart's hubby successful 1912. 

"It's highly progressive. It's beauteous evident to maine that immoderate of what John Laird Dawson is penning astir successful this book, it sounds similar her voice."

Grace Annie Lockhart died successful 1916, astatine the property of 61. She's buried astatine the People's Cemetery successful Tryon, Prince Edward Island. There is thing astatine the tract that recognizes Lockhart's accomplishments and that's thing Mawhinney is determined to alteration this year.

"She has a humble gravestone," helium said. "It would beryllium truly bully to enactment a plaque for her truthful radical would cognize wherever they would beryllium capable to find her. We person 1 present [Mount A]. It would truly beryllium large to person 1 there."