Queen’s University Archives

CA QUA05622
Person
1883-1922

Marjorie Lowry Christie Pickthall (18831922) was a librarian, a writer and a poet. She was born in Gunnersby, Middlesex, England, the daughter of Arthur C. Pickthall and Helen Mallard. She died in Vancouver, British Columbia, following an operation.
Pickthall moved with her family to Southwater, Sussex, then to Toronto, Ontario in 1889. She was educated at St. Mildreds College and Bishop Strachan School. She sold her first story, Two-ears to the Toronto Globe while still a student at Bishop Strachan School. She was employed as an assistant librarian at Victoria College Library, Toronto, from 1910 to 1912. She contributed to several periodicals.
Pickthall moved to England in 1912 and lived near Salisbury until 1919. She participated in World War I as an ambulance driver, a farm labourer and a library clerk. She wrote many short stories and poems during this period. After the war she returned to Toronto, then moved to Vancouver, where she continued to write.
Pickthall published over 200 short stories and approximately 100 poems along with numerous articles in journals such as Atlantic Monthly, Harpers, and Scribners. She also contributed to young peoples magazines. Her publications include: Poetry: The Drift of Pinions (1913), Lamp of Poor Souls and other Poems (1916), The Woodcarvers Wife and other Poems (1922), Little Songs (1925), and Complete Poems (1927); Short stories: Angels Shoes and other Stories (1923); Novels: Little Hearts (1916), and The Bridge (1922).

Pickersgill, John Whitney

CA QUA02884
Person
23 Jun. 1905-14 Nov. 1997

John Whitney "Jack" Pickersgill, PC CC (June 23, 1905 November 14, 1997) was a Canadian civil servant and politician. He was born in Ontario, but was raised in Manitoba. He was the Clerk for the Canadian Government's Privy Council in the early 1950s. He was first elected to federal parliament in 1953, representing a Newfoundland electoral district, and serving in prime minister Louis St. Laurent's cabinet. In the mid-1960s, he served again in cabinet, this time under prime minister Lester B. Pearson. He resigned from parliament in 1967 to become the president of the Canadian Transport Commission. He was awarded the highest level of the Order of Canada in 1970. In his later years he wrote books on Canadian history. He died in 1997 in Ottawa.

Pickard, M.K.