Binnie-Clark, Georgina (1871-1947)

Georgina Binnie-Clark was a farmer (associated with the Union Jack Farm Settlement), women's rights' supporter, and author. Born on April 25, 1871, in Dorset, England, she became a journalist. In 1905 she and her sister visited their brother, a remittance man and homesteader near Fort Qu'Appelle. Binnie-Clark decided to remain, and purchased land for Farming. Subsequently she wrote a travel book, A Summer on the Canadian Prairie (1910). In 1914 wheat and Woman appeared; in it she included a discussion of her experiences as a greenhorn single woman farmer on the Prairies, a critique of discriminatory homestead laws that worsened economic woes, and her conviction that farming was a suitable occupation for women. Binnie-Clark became a leading spokeswoman for the (unsuccessful) campaign to amend homestead legislation so that single women could secure homesteads. She had also established a training station for prospective women farmers from England in 1909; this program ended when World War I erupted and the British Minister of Labour asked her to return to England and organize Anglican women for farm work so that male labourers could enter the military. Binnie-Clark eventually came back to her farm, but frequently travelled to England, leaving her sister in charge. By World War II she was residing in England, where she died on April 22, 1947.

Lisa Dale-Burnett

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