Susan Agnes Macdonald

Agnes Macdonald, 1st Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe

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Agnes MacdonaldSusan Agnes Macdonald née Bernard (August 24, 1836 – September 5, 1920) was the second wife of Sir John A. Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada. She was granted the title Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe following her husband's death in 1891.[1]

She was born near Spanish Town, Jamaica to The Honourable T.J. Bernard and his wife, Theodora Foulks. She was raised there and in England before she came to Canada with her mother to live with her brother, Hewitt, a lawyer. It was through him that she met Sir John A. Macdonald for the first time in 1856. It was in 1866, in London, England, where Miss Bernard had been with her mother that she saw her husband to be who was there to prepare the British North America Act. They married on February 16, 1867 and had one daughter, Margaret Mary Theodora Macdonald, who was severely handicapped both mentally and physically (1869–1933).

On the first voyage of the transcontinental voyage of the Canadian railroad, Sir John built Susan a platform on the cowcatcher of the train and had a chair nailed to it so she could see the land united by the train.

By 1896 she left her home at Earnscliffe to go back to England. She died in England and was buried in the Ocklynge Cemetery in Eastbourne, a town just south of London. Throughout her life she was known as Agnes.

Personality

She was known as a lady of charming personality, with a courageous and happy disposition. She had the faculty of making and holding friendships, and was a true help mate to her husband.

During her stay in Canada with her husband, she became intimately acquainted with many of the intricacies of the political and historical events of the country and displayed her love of it in the sentiments expressed in many magazine and Press articles.

In England, despite the weight of years, her participation in social and philanthropic work was active.[1]

References

^ a b Baroness Macdonald's Death, The Globe. A1. September 8, 1920.

External links

Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online