Harriett Annie Wilkins

Harriett Annie Wilkins (1829 – 7 January 1888) was an English-born Canadian poet, writer, and educator, author of five books of poetry.

Early life

Harriett Annie Wilkins was born in Bath, Somerset, England, the daughter of John Wilkins, a clergyman, and Harriet Sockett Francis Wilkins.[1] When her father took a pastor job in Hamilton, Ontario, the family emigrated. Her father died soon after, her mother was ill, and Harriett was left to care for her younger siblings.[2]

Career

Harriett Annie Wilkins taught school and gave music lessons, and sold poetry to earn money for the family. Her poems appeared often in the Spectator and Journal of Commerce and the Canadian Illustrated News newspapers. In time, she had enough material for five published volumes of poetry:

  • The Holly Branch (1851)[3]
  • The Acacia (1860)[4]
  • Autumn Leaves (1869)[5]
  • Wayside Flowers (1876)[6]
  • Victor Roy: A Masonic Poem (1882)[7]

As the titles suggest, Wilkins' poetry was often about nature, especially plants, often with allegorical or Biblical associations. The Holly Branch was dedicated to "the fraternity of Freemasons", and Victor Roy is also Masonic in its themes. She was called the "Poet Laureate of our Order" by R. E. A. Land. "[When] Miss Wilkins became aware of the poetic needs of our Order," Land explained, "she cheerfully and wholeheartedly placed herself at our service."[8]

She also wrote a pamphlet about a local train disaster, published in 1857.[9] Four of her poems were included in the first published anthology of Canadian poetry, Selections from Canadian Poets (1864), with the editor Edward Hartley Dewart noting that "she is a spirited and vigorous writer, distinguished by strong patriotic and martial feeling; and by a deeply religious spirit, which constantly recognizes spiritual piety as the true source of strength and consolation."[10]

Wilkins died in 1888, aged 58 years, in Hamilton, Ontario.[2]

References
  1. Harriett Annie Wilkins, Simon Fraser University Digitized Collections.
  2. Katharine Greenfield, "Wilkins, Harriett Annie" in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 11 (University of Toronto/Université Laval 2003), accessed 31 August 2016.
  3. Harriett Annie Wilkins, The Holly Branch (1851).
  4. Harriett Annie Wilkins, The Acacia (1860).
  5. Harriett Annie Wilkins, Autumn Leaves (1869).
  6. Harriett Annie Wilkins, Wayside Flowers (Hunter, Rose & Company 1876).
  7. Harriett Annie Wilkins, Victor Roy: A Masonic Poem (Spectator Printing 1882).
  8. Robert Ernest Augustus Land, Fifty Years in the Malta Order (1928): 466-468.
  9. Harriett Annie Wilkins, The great railway catastrophe of the 12th March, 1857, on the Desjardin Canal Bridge, on the line of the Great Western Railway (1857?).
  10. Edward Hartley Dewart, ed., Selections from Canadian Poets (J. Lovell 1864): 63.
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