Nellie mcclung brief biography of harper

MCCLUNG, NELLIE (1873-1951)

Nellie Letitia McClung was an internationally known writer, platform speaker, feminist, and social activist whose passion for social transformation in the service of justice was equaled only by the witty, engaging manner in which she delivered her message.

A woman of humble beginnings, she went on to achieve tremendous social and political notoriety, and by the end of her life was one of Canada's bestknown personages, lovingly known as "Our Nell."

McClung was born Nellie Mooney to a poor farming family in Grey County, Ontario, on October 20, 1873.

Lured by the promise of homesteading, her family relocated to Millford, a small settlement in southwestern Manitoba, when Nellie was seven. She became a country schoolteacher by sixteen and was dreaming of "telling the stories of the common people" as a writer when she met Annie McClung, the wife of the new Methodist minister.

Annie combined religious conviction with a passion for women's suffrage and temperan