Lily Laverock
Lily Laverock | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 June 1880 Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Died | 1969 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Education | Victoria High School (British Columbia) |
| Alma mater | McGill University |
| Occupation(s) | journalist, impresario and suffragist |
| Employer(s) | The World, Vancouver Daily News Advertiser, The Chronicle |
| Organization(s) | Canadian Women’s Press Club, Pioneer Political Equality League |
Lily Laverock (14 June 1880 – 1969) was a Scottish journalist, impresario and suffragist. She emigrated to Canada when she was ten years old.
Biography
[edit]Laverock was born in 1880 in Edinburgh, Scotland.[1] She emigrated to Canada in the 1890s.[1]
Laverock was educated at Victoria High School in British Columbia[2] then studied moral philosophy[3] at McGill University in Vancouver,[2] where she became a founding member of the University Women's Club.
In 1908, Laverock became the first woman employed as a reporter by a Vancouver newspaper, working at The World.[2] The following year, she moved to work at the Vancouver Daily News Advertiser,[3] and also became the first secretary and treasurer of the first Vancouver branch of the Canadian Women’s Press Club. In 1910, Laverock left the News Advertiser[4] then in 1911 she launched the first women's newspaper in British Columbia, The Chronicle.[5] In 1918, Laverock was elected to the Vancouver’s Carnegie Library management board.[2]
Lavercock was also involved in activism as a member of the Pioneer Political Equality League[5] and was among suffragist journalists who covered women's organisations and issues.[6] She was part of a large deputation to the Attorney General who campaigned for better property laws for women and equal guardianship of children for mothers.[7]
Lavercock was also an avid arts supporter.[8] By 1921, she worked as an impresario and organised International Celebrity Concerts featuring international stars such as Geraldine Farrar, Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Kreisler, Nellie Melba, John McCormack, Benno Moiseivitsch, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Maurice Ravel, Rosa Ponselle, the Belgian Royal Symphonic Band and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.[1][8]
Lavercock retired in the 1950s,[2] but continued attending concerts with her friend Helena Gutteridge.[5] She died in 1969 in Duncan, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Gooch, Bryan (15 December 2013). "Lily Laverock". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
- ^ a b c d e Edwards, Helen (1 February 2021). "Lily Laverock, reporter, suffragette, influencer". Victoria High School Alumni Association. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
- ^ a b Lang, Marjory (26 August 1999). Women Who Made the News: Female Journalists in Canada, 1880-1945. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. pp. 220–221. ISBN 978-0-7735-6774-0.
- ^ B C Studies. Vol. 84–87. University of British Columbia Press. 1989. p. 16.
- ^ a b c Howard, Irene (1 November 2011). The Struggle for Social Justice in British Columbia: Helena Gutteridge, the Unknown Reformer. UBC Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-7748-4287-7.
- ^ Campbell, Lara (15 June 2020). A Great Revolutionary Wave: Women and the Vote in British Columbia. UBC Press. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-7748-6325-4.
- ^ Harper, Ida Husted (1920). The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume VI. National American Woman Suffrage Association. p. 756.
- ^ a b Davis, Chuck (18 May 2010). "A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1969". Spacing Vancouver. Retrieved 9 March 2025.