Hilda Marion Ada Neatby (February 19, 1904May 14, 1975) was a Canadian historian and educator.
Early life and education
Hilda Marion Ada Neatby was born on February 19, 1904, in
Sutton
Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to:
Places
United Kingdom
England
In alphabetical order by county:
* Sutton, Bedfordshire
* Sutton, Berkshire, a location
* Sutton-in-the-Isle, Ely, Cambridgeshire
* ...
(then in
Surrey),
to Andrew Neatby and Ada Fisher. The family moved to Saskatchewan when Hilda was 2.
She received a BA and MA from the
University of Saskatchewan
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...
and a PhD from the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...
. She taught history at the University of Saskatchewan and was head of the history department from 1958 to 1969. Fluent in French, she studied at the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
.
Career
In 1966, she published ''
Quebec, The Revolutionary Age 1760–1791'', part of
The Canadian Centenary Series. The book examined the transitional events between 1760 and 1791 in the
province of Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...
following victory by
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
forces over the
French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...
and the decision made by
Louis XV of France
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...
to hand over Quebec to the British in the 1763
Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France:
Treaties
1200s and 1300s
* Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade
* Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France
* Trea ...
that ended the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...
.
From 1949 to 1951 she was the only female member of the
, which recommended the establishment of the
Canada Council
The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the fede ...
.
Her book ''So Little for the Mind'' (1953) criticized contemporary reforms in the Canadian educational system that were based on
John Dewey’s philosophical ideas.
In 1969, the Board of Trustees at
Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, commissioned Neatby to write the history of that institution.
''Queen's University, Volume I, 1841-1917: And Not to Yield'' was published in 1978, after her death.
Neatby died in
Saskatoon
Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...
on May 14, 1975.
Awards and honours
In 1967, Neatby was made a companion of the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the cen ...
. In 1953, she received an honorary degree from the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
. Since 1982, the
Canadian Historical Association
The Canadian Historical Association (CHA; French ''Société historique du Canada'', SHC) is a Canadian organization founded in 1922 for the purposes of promoting historical research and scholarship. It is a bilingual, not-for-profit, charitable o ...
has awarded the Hilda Neatby Prize for works on women's history. In 2000,
Canada Post
Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...
issued a stamp in her honour. In 2005, the former Place Riel Theatre (a former cinema, later converted into a lecture theatre) at the University of Saskatchewan was renamed the Neatby-Timlin Theatre, in honour of her and former economics professor
Mabel Timlin.
Bibliography
*''So Little for the Mind'' (1953)
*''
Quebec, The Revolutionary Age 1760–1791'' (1966)
*''The Quebec Act: Protest and Policy'' (1972)
*''Queen's University, Volume 1: 1841–1917: To Strive, to Seek, to Find, and Not to Yield'' (1978)
*''So Much to Do, So Little Time-the Writings of Hilda Neatby'' (1983)
Citations
Works cited
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neatby, Hilda
1904 births
1975 deaths
20th-century Canadian historians
20th-century Canadian women writers
Canadian women historians
Companions of the Order of Canada
Historians of Canada
Academic staff of Queen's University at Kingston
People from Surrey
Presidents of the Canadian Historical Association
University of Minnesota alumni
University of Paris alumni
University of Saskatchewan alumni
Academic staff of the University of Saskatchewan
Writers from Saskatchewan
British emigrants to Canada