Marion Isabel Hand AngusLinnea McNallyCanada's Early Women WritersCanadian Writing Research CollaboratoryBorn digital object, initially housed by the Simon Fraser University libraryEnglishBorn digitalLife writingBiographyBibliographyMarion Isabel Angus (1901-1951)Image is in the public domain; courtesy of the City of Vancouver Archives (CVA 1184-828).
Marion Isabel Angus worked in advertising and journalism in Vancouver and Victoria. Her poetry and prose appeared in three books and in numerous periodicals in Canada and abroad.
14 January 1901, Ottawa, ON4 March 1951, Vancouver, BCName at birth: Marian IsabelHandAlternate names: Marion AngusMarion I. AngusMrs. John AngusNote
This author's life has been researched earlier for inclusion in the
Canada's Early Women Writers project at Simon Fraser University. Information in this entry therefore may not be comprehensive, but has been verified.
Entry revised by Linnea McNally
Marion Isabel Angus (1901-1951)
Born in Ottawa, ON, Marion Isabel Hand came as a child to Vancouver, BC. Here, she attended Fairview Public School, Britannia High School, and the Provincial Normal School, where she qualified to teach. Her main career, however, was in advertising and journalism, working as a freelance writer. When she married businessman John Rettie Angus in 1922, she moved to Victoria, BC, where she composed most of the poems that appeared in her two published volumes. By 1933, she had left Victoria, (and possibly also her husband), and was soon back in Vancouver, taking an active part in the Vancouver Poetry Society and the local branch of the Canadian Authors Association. In 1947, and likely the surrounding years, she was publicity director of the Federated Women's Institutes of Canada, and acted as the editor of its journal,
Federated News.
Marion was a versatile writer, contributing poetry, articles, book reviews, and juvenile stories to periodicals in Canada, England, Ireland, and the United States. She also published a volume of non-fiction,
Woman Unveiled (1932), which argues against advances being made by women. Marion died in Vancouver in 1951.
Published TextsNon-fictionWoman Unveiled (Vancouver, BC: Vancouver Bindery, 1932)PoetrySea Mist and Other Poems (s.l.: s.n., 1926)Fragrant Wisdom (Vancouver, BC: s.n., 1931)Periodical ContributionsAll-Story (New York)Argosy (London)American Hebrew (New York)Crucible (Toronto)Family Herald (Montreal)Federated News (Vancouver, BC)Irish Monthly (Dublin)Mail and Empire (Toronto)Montreal Poetry Year Book (1938)Sunday Sun (Toronto)Vancouver Daily ProvinceVancouver SunWhite Star MagazineWillison's Monthly (Toronto)Other PublicationsAnthologized in:Crawley, Alan, ed. Victoria Poetry Chapbook: A Year Book of the Poetry Group of the Canadian Authors' Association (Victoria, BC: Canadian Authors Association, 1936).Family and RelationshipsFather: Joseph Wesley Hand(22 June 1877 – 26 June 1909)
Joseph "John" Wesley Hand, who appears to have changed his given name to "John" by his early twenties, was born on 22 June 1877 in Shelburne, ON, to farmer (and later, Nepean-based hotel-keeper) Joseph Hand (1849-1884) and Catherine Bradley (1854-1890). A merchant by trade, John married Annie Scott Campbell (b. 1879) in Carleton County, ON, in 1899. Within a couple of years, he had become a grocer. John and his family moved to Vancouver, BC, in about 1904. He died prematurely at thirty-one, on 26 June 1909, and was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver.
Mother: Annie Scott Campbell(8 May 1879 – after 1911)
Annie Scott Campbell was born in Ireland, to James Campbell and Mary Scott. She married Joseph "John" Wesley Hand (1877-1909) in Carleton County, ON, in 1899, and moved with him in about 1904 to Vancouver, BC, where she lived until at least 1911.
SiblingsDouglas Bradley Hand(2 May 1903 – 20 July 1983): m. Catherine Elizabeth Findlay: m. Mabel Georgina LeeHelen Hand(April 1905 – after 1911)Gordon Hand July 1907 – after 1911)Spouse: John Rettie Angus(29 October 1895 – 11 December 1967)Marriage:7 June 1922, Vancouver, BC
John Rettie Angus was born on 29 October 1895 in Aberdeen, Scotland, to John Angus; no record of his mother can be found. He was a bookkeeper turned businessman who served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force overseas in the First World War. He married Marion Isabel Hand in Vancouver, on 7 June 1922, and died in Victoria, BC, on 11 December 1967.
ReligionResidences
Ottawa, ON(1901)
Vancouver, BC(1911, 1951)
Victoria, BC(1932)
Education
Fairview Public School, Vancouver, BC
Britannia High School, Vancouver, BC
Teacher's Certificate, Provincial Normal School, Vancouver, BC
Awards
Honourable mention, Best Bird Poem Competition, Montreal Poetry Yearbook Contest (Canadian Authors Association,1938)
Second honourable mention for Dollars for Daggers, Canadian Women's Press Club Memorial Award, (Canadian Women's Press Club, 1943)
Employment and Volunteer ActivitiesEmployment
Journalist
Free-lance advertising writer
Schoolteacher
Memberships
Canadian Authors Association
Federated Women's Institutes of Canada
Vancouver Poetry Society
Tangential Information
Marion Emily Angus (1865-1946), who published
The Lilt and Other Verses (1922) among other texts, was a Scottish poet and should not be confused with Marion Isabel Angus.
Archival HoldingsW.A. Deacon papers, Fisher Library, University of Toronto, ON (several letters)Published Resources1901 Census of Canada.1911 Census of Canada.British Columbia Death Index: 1872 to 1979.British Columbia, Canada, Death Index, 1872-1990.British Columbia Marriage Index: 1872 to 1924.British Columbia, Canada, Marriage Index, 1872-1935.Canada, Soldiers of the First World War, 1914-1918.Dagg, Anne Innis. The Feminine Gaze: A Canadian Compendium of Non-Fiction Women Authors and Their Books, 1836-1945 (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2001): 27.Ontario, Canada, Births, 1869-1911.Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1801-1928Watters, R.E. A Checklist of Canadian Literature and Background Materials (Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1972): 8, 601.Who Was Who Among North American Authors, 1921-1939.Wins Press Award.Montreal Gazette (15 May 1943): 4.