Suggested edit: McWilliams was born in Toronto in 1875 where in 1898 she attended the University of Toronto. Later on she became a journalist in Detroit and emigrated to Winnipeg by 1910 where she joined the women's movement. During her life she was representing Canada during the foreign affairs. In 1913 she was elected at the University Women's Club and by 1922 became the first President of the Canadian Federation of University Women. In 1928 she wrote a book called Manitoba Milestones and three years later wrote another one called If I Were King of Canada. From 1933 to 1940 she served as the Winnipeg's second female Alderman and four years later served as a President of the Manitoba Historical Society for four years. In 1948 she wrote her third and last book called This New Canada after which she married to Roland F. McWilliams. She died on April 12, 1952 at the Government House.
Contributor: Ralph the Cemetery Guy (47298096) • [email protected]

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Recognized by the Manitoba Historical Society as a Memorable Manitoban

Feminist, historian, author.

Born at Toronto, Ontario in 1875, she graduated from the University of Toronto in 1898 and began her journalism career in Detroit. She came to Winnipeg in 1910 and was active in the women's movement for years.

She served as President of the University Women's Club (1913-1915), President of the Canadian Federation of University Women (1919), President of the Women's Canadian Club (1922), and Winnipeg's second female Alderman (1933-1940). She was the author of Manitoba Milestones (1928), If I Were King of Canada (1931), and This New Canada (1948).

She was frequently a Canadian representative at international conferences. McWilliams was instrumental in the resurrection of the Manitoba Historical Society in 1944, serving as its President (1944-1948). The University of Manitoba awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1946.

She was married to Roland Fairbairn McWilliams. They had no children.

She died at Government House on 12 April 1952 and was buried in Kildonan Presbyterian Cemetery. The Margaret McWilliams Awards, commemorating her contributions to Manitoba history, was inaugurated by the Manitoba Historical Society in 1955 as one of Canada's first literary prizes. She was selected posthumously as a Manitoba Woman Trailblazer.

See also:

Margaret McWilliams and Her Social Gospel: The Formation of an Interwar Feminist by Mary Kinnear

"An Aboriginal Past and a Multicultural Future": Margaret McWilliams and Manitoba History by Mary Kinnear

Margaret McWilliams: An Interwar Feminist by Mary Kinnear
McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal & Kingston, 1991.

54 West Gate: Stories of Ralph Connor House by the Heritage House Committee-Book Project Team. Winnipeg, Friends of Ralph Connor House Inc., 2005.

(Source: Manitoba Historical Society [Adapted])

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Further:

MB Death Registration #1952,003012 as "Margaret McWilliamsMargaret" (sic!); estimated age at death: 77 years (Winnipeg)l Date of Birth: 1875/01/27