Fonds F1843 - Phipps-Walker family fonds

Margaret Elizabeth Elliot was believed to be born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. Throughout her residency in the Kingston area she was an active participant in the affairs of the Kingston community. She was particularly active in the Association of Women Electors. Her passion for municipal politics resulted in her campaigning for the position of alderwoman in the 1970 Sydenham Ward election. She was also an active member of the New Democratic party in Kingston.

In addition to her political activities, Margaret Phipps-Walker was involved in several other community organizations. She was president of the Victorian Order of Nurses, Eastern Lake Ontario branch, for three years during which time she helped initiate the home care plan. She was also involved with the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (I.O.D.E.). Margaret Phipps-Walker also served as regional coordinator for the "MEND" project, a committee that was set up to foster the needs and interests of emotionally and mentally disturbed children.

On November 30, 1991, Margaret Phipps-Walker died in Kingston.

Edward Phipps-Walker (1914-1985) was born in Hove, Sussex, England and was privately educated attending Winchester House and Highgate School. He apprenticed as a machinist between 1932 and 1935 with Holtzapffel Ltd. in England. Between 1937 and 1939 he was employed by Compagnie Miniere Africaine Milraco in Algeria. In 1939, Phipps-Walker went to the United States for a vacation. While there he married an American woman. At the outbreak of war, he moved to Canada where he joined the ranks of the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve. His American wife refused to come with him to Canada and a divorce followed. After the war, he was employed at the Royal Military College in Kingston and later as "Base and Staff Engineer at HMCS Cataraqui. A second marriage ended in a very acrimonious divorce that took up a great deal of his time and energy in the late 1940's and early 1950's. He worked for the Department of Transport (1952-1957) as a Pilotage Officer on the St Lawrence. Then in 1957 he was appointed Harbour Master for the Port of Kingston. Because this position was a "fee of office" appointment, meaning that he was paid only for services rendered he was also able to act as an agent for shipping lines using the port and for Lloyds of London. In this way he was able to enhance his income somewhat. Unfortunately, for Phipps-Walker, the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway all but destroyed Kingston as a commercial port and he was forced to spend the rest of his working life watching his income from this source gradually diminish.

Edward Phipps-Walker married a third time to Margaret Elizabeth Elliot and they had two daughters Wanina and Patricia. He died in 1985.