Victoria Hayward | |
---|---|
Born | 1876 |
Died | 1956 (aged 79–80) |
Other names | Queenie |
Occupation(s) | Journalist, travel writer |
Notable work | Romantic Canada |
Partner | Edith Watson |
Victoria Hayward (1876–1956) was a Bermudian-born journalist and travel writer. [1] Hayward is credited with coining the term "Canadian mosaic".
Hayward was born in 1876 in Bermuda. [2] At age 16, Hayward left Bermuda and moved to New York to teach math at a private boys' school. About ten years later, she returned to Bermuda and pursued journalism. [3]
Hayward's writings were widely published in Canadian magazines and often focussed on Canadian culture, though she was not Canadian. [2] Hayward and photographer Edith Watson spent three summers in the late 1910s and early 1920s living with the Doukhobors in Saskatchewan and British Columbia. [4] The two recorded Doukhobor life and presented it to the public first in their 1919 Fort Wayne Journal Gazette article "Doukhobor Farms Supply All Needs" and later in Romantic Canada. [5] [6]
In 1922, Hayward published the travel book Romantic Canada. The book was based on her recent travels across southern Canada, though it focuses largely on Canada's maritime provinces. [7] In Romantic Canada, described Canada's culture, both in terms of ethnicities and architecture, as a "mosaic". [8] Hayward is credited with coining the phrase "Canadian mosaic". [9] Romantic Canada was illustrated and contained photography by Watson.
Hayward met photographer Edith Watson in Bermuda in 1911. The two would later live in Connecticut when not travelling. [2] [4] Though both were officially closeted, their surviving letters indicate they were romantically involved. [3] [10] Hayward left Connecticut after Watson's death in 1943, relocating to a cottage in Cape Cod, where she died in 1956. [4]