Last updated May Best Sexton, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Edna May Williston Best (Sexton) (June 25, 1880 – December 14, 1923) was a social activist and war worker born in Shediac, New Brunswick and died in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Shediac is a Canadian town in Westmorland County, New Brunswick. The town is known as the "Lobster Capital of the World" and hosts an annual festival every July which promotes its ties to lobster fishing. At the western entrance to the town is a 90-tonne sculpture called The World's Largest Lobster.
May Best was orphaned at an early age and raised by family in Boston. She obtained an honours science degree from MIT and married another graduate, Frederick Henry Sexton who became a professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax. As a faculty wife she became fully involved in many organizations they supported, one of the most important being the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire. She served a term as the first municipal regent. She was aggressively involved in women's issues revolving around education and the roles of women.
Frederick Henry Sexton OBE was a Canadian engineer and higher education administrator.
Dalhousie University is a public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, and medical teaching facilities in Saint John, New Brunswick. Dalhousie offers more than 4,000 courses, and 180 degree programs in twelve undergraduate, graduate, and professional faculties. The university is a member of the U15, a group of research-intensive universities in Canada.
May Sexton is mainly remembered in Canadian history through her involvement in the war effort. The Local Council of Women of Halifax spearheaded an intense war effort from that city and the whole province and Sexton was a leading force.
The Local Council of Women of Halifax (LCWH) is an organization in Halifax, Nova Scotia devoted to improving the lives of women and children. One of the most significant achievements of the LCWH was its 24-year struggle for women's right to vote (1894-1918). The core of the well trained and progressive leadership was five women: Anna Leonowens, Edith Archibald, Eliza Ritchie, Agnes Dennis and May Sexton. Halifax business man George Henry Wright left his home in his will to the LCWH, which the organization received after he died in the Titanic (1912). Educator Alexander McKay also was a significant supporter of the Council.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Related Research Articles
The Technical University of Nova Scotia (TUNS) is a former Canadian university that was located in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Daurene Elaine Lewis, CM, was a Canadian politician and educator. She was the first black female mayor in Canada.
James Lorimer Ilsley, was a Canadian politician and jurist.
Finlay MacDonald, was a Canadian Senator.
Blanche Margaret Meagher, was a Canadian diplomat who became the nation's first-ever appointed female ambassador. She served as Canadian Ambassador to Israel from 1958 to 1961, Austria from 1962 to 1966, and Sweden from 1969 to 1973. She was also High Commissioner to Cyprus, Uganda and Kenya, and chaired the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors from 1964 to 1965.
Edith Jessie Archibald was a Canadian suffragist and writer who led the Maritime Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and the National Council of Women of Canada and the Local Council of Women of Halifax. For her many forms of social activism, she was referred to as the "Lady of Grace" by King George V, and she was designated a Person of National Historic Significance by the Government of Canada in 1997.
James Gordon Fogo, was a Canadian lawyer and senator.
Phyllis Ruth Blakeley, was a Canadian historian, biographer and archivist.
Agnes Sime Baxter (Hill) was a Canadian-born mathematician. She studied at Dalhousie University, receiving her BA in 1891, and her MA in 1892. She received her Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1895; her dissertation was "On Abelian integrals", a resume of Neumann's Abelian integral with comments and applications."
Megan Anissa Leslie is a Canadian politician and environmental advocate. She is the president and CEO of World Wildlife Fund Canada.
This timeline of the History of the Halifax Regional Municipality documents all events that had happened in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, including historical events in the former city of Dartmouth, the Town of Bedford and Halifax County. Events date back to the early-18th century and continue until the present in chronological order.
The T-Room is a campus bar located in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia on Barrington Street between Spring Garden Road and Morris Street. It was opened in 1937 by Fredrick H. Sexton on the campus of the Nova Scotia Technical College, which is today the Sexton Campus of Dalhousie University. Dr. Sexton served as the first principal, and later president, of NSTC from 1907 to 1947.
Burnley Allan "Rocky" Jones was an African-Nova Scotian and an internationally known political activist in the areas of human rights, race and poverty. He rose to prominence first as a member of the Students Union for Peace Action (SUPA) during the 1960s and later as a successful lawyer.
Ruth Miriam Goldbloom,, , DLit was a Canadian philanthropist who co-founded the Pier 21 museum in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was born and raised in New Waterford, Nova Scotia, to immigrant parents. Their immigrant experience influenced her throughout her life and was a major factor in her helping to found Pier 21. She became the first Jew to Chair Mount Saint Vincent University's board, which was a Catholic women's university at the time. She was the chancellor of the Technical University of Nova Scotia in the 1990s and fundraising chair for the Halifax area United Way. She was inducted into the Order of Canada for her work with charities in the 1980s and 1990s.
Eliza Ritchie was a prominent suffragist in Nova Scotia, Canada. She taught at Dalhousie University. She was on the executive of the Local Council of Women of Halifax. Her sister was Mary Walcott Ritchie who also founded the Local Council and Girl Guiding in Nova Scotia. Ritchie was the namesake of Dalhousie University residence Eliza Ritchie Hall. She also has a stained glass window in St. Paul's Church (Halifax) dedicated to her and her sisters. She was the daughter of John William Ritchie and Amelia Almon.
Cambridge Military Library is a public library building in Royal Artillery Park (Halifax) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada which was created in 1886. The building was created to house the garrison library collection, which had been moved from various locations in the city since its creation in 1817. It is the oldest library collection in Atlantic Canada. This building was the social and literary centre of military Halifax. In 1902, the officers of the garrison requested the library be named after the Prince George, Duke of Cambridge.
Charles Macdonald was a Scottish-Canadian mathematician and educator. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Macdonald studied at King's College, Aberdeen, earning degrees in the arts and divinity. The Church of Scotland named Macdonald the chair in mathematics at Dalhousie College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which he held until his death in 1901. He was an advocate for education reform in Nova Scotia, and was a significant presence for Dalhousie in Halifax. Dalhousie's first library, Macdonald Memorial Library, was named in his honour by former students who raised money to build it.
