Irene Mary Spry, OC (née Biss:

Standerton Standerton is a large commercial and agricultural town lying on the banks of the Vaal River in Mpumalanga, South Africa, which specialises in cattle, dairy, maize and poultry farming. The town was established in 1876 and named after Boer leader Co ...

Transvaal Colony The Transvaal Colony () was the name used to refer to the Transvaal region during the period of direct British rule and military occupation between the end of the Second Boer War in 1902 when the South African Republic was dissolved, and the ...

, August 28, 1907 –

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada, December 16, 1998) was an

economic historian Economic history is the academic learning of economies or economic events of the past. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of economic theory to historical situations and ins ...

and

social democrat Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

awarded two honorary doctorates and named to 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 ...

for her contributions to Canadian intellectual and public life.

Profile

Early years

The daughter of Evan Ebenezer Biss, Inspector of Schools in the Colonial and Indian Service, and Amelia Bagshaw Johnstone. She attended Bournemouth High School and was a member of their Old Girls association.

Education

Irene Biss, as she then was, first began her undergraduate training at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

(1924–25) and later obtained a graduate degree in economics at

Girton College Girton College is one of the Colleges of the University of Cambridge, 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1 ...

(1925–28) of the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, where she had been a student of

J.M. Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in m ...

, A.C. Pigou, D.H. Robertson and M. Dobb. This was followed by further studies for a master's degree (1928–29) in Social Research and Social Work at

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, U.S.A.

Career

Spry's formal career as an economic historian began when she joined the Department of Political Economy at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

in 1929 where she collaborated with the late H.A. Innis and taught Canadian economic history. Her marriage in 1938 to the late

Graham Spry Graham Spry, CC (February 20, 1900 - November 24, 1983) was a Canadian broadcasting pioneer, business executive, diplomat and socialist. He was the husband of Irene Spry and father of Robin Spry, Richard Spry and Lib Spry. Life He was born ...

, and subsequent births of their three children, Robin, Richard and

Lib lib or Lib may refer to: Computing * Library (computing) ** .lib, a static library on Microsoft platforms ** , a directory on Unix-like systems * Lib-80, a Microsoft Library Manager tool; see Microsoft MACRO-80 People * Lib, one of two Jaredite ...

, interrupted her academic career. However, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

she did serve actively on the

Wartime Prices and Trade Board The Wartime Prices and Trade Board is a former Canadian government agency, established on September 3, 1939, by the Mackenzie King government, under the authority of the ''War Measures Act'', in the Department of Labour responsible for price cont ...

and its later affiliate, the Commodity Prices Stabilization Corporation, in Ottawa and, during the early postwar years, went to England and co-founded Saskatchewan House with her husband, broadcast reformer

, who was Agent-General for

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

in London from 1946 to 1967. Spry's work in the women's movement blossomed during her time in London. She represented the

Federated Women's Institutes of Canada The Federated Women's Institutes of Canada is an umbrella organization for Women's Institutes in Canada. "The idea to form a national group was first considered in 1912. In 1914, however, when the war began the idea was abandoned. At the war's ...

at the

Associated Country Women of the World The Associated Country Women of the World (ACWW) is the largest international organization for both rural and urban women, with a membership of nine million in over 70 countries. ACWW holds a triennial conference and publishes a magazine, ''The Cou ...

from 1954 to 1967, including service as the group's executive chair from 1959 to 1965. Her formal academic career eventually resumed in 1967, first at 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, t ...

and finally at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...

in 1968, where she would remain for the rest of her life. Though officially retiring in 1973, Spry continued to teach courses at Ottawa's Department of Economics until the early 1980s and, indeed, gave lectures in Canadian economic history as recently as 1995. Throughout her retirement years, she maintained a strong intellectual presence at the

, and could be seen regularly at the

National Archives of Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is t ...

with a magnifying glass to compensate for her worsening eyesight. Spry met regularly with colleagues and friends who shared her interests in Canadian economic history and public policy and who espoused the social democratic principles that she had relentlessly defended throughout her adult life, beginning with her membership in the

League for Social Reconstruction The League for Social Reconstruction (LSR) was a circle of Canadian socialists officially formed in 1932. The group advocated for social and economic reformation as well as political education. The formation of the LSR was provoked by events such ...

in the 1930s. Moreover, she had an exceptional knowledge of the economic and social problems of countries other than

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, notably of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Research

Professor Emeritus Spry died in her Ottawa home peacefully on December 16, 1998, at the age of 91. Her most recent book on the early economic history of Western Canada, entitled ''From the Hunt to the Homestead'', was at the time due to be co-published by the University of Alberta and University of Calgary Presses. This latter work would largely have completed a line of research on Western Canadian economic history that began with her first two major books on the Palliser Expedition, published respectively in 1963 and 1968, which were then followed by her research on the records of the Department of the Interior regarding Canada’s western frontier of settlement, published in 1993. In addition to Spry's authoritative work on the Palliser Expedition, her research on how the Canadian prairies transitioned from a

commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons ...

to open access resources and, finally, to private property helped extend a branch of work often well-known even beyond the disciplines of economics and history, for instance in the prominence given

Innis Innis may refer to: Places * Innis, Louisiana, U.S. * Innis College, University of Toronto, Canada People Surname * Harold Innis (1894–1952), Canadian political economy professor who wrote on communication * Hubert Van Innis (1866–1961), Bel ...

and the

staples thesis In economic development, the staples thesis is a theory of export-led growth. The theory "has its origins in research into Canadian social, political, and economic history carried out in Canadian universities...by members of what were then known as ...

in Canadian communications thought. Spry's comparison of the loss of the

in England to the end of

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

' communal rights, in particular, would echo much subsequent research on private

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

in contradistinction to communal resources. * Spry, Irene M. (1963) ''The Palliser Expedition: The Dramatic Story of Western Canadian Exploration, 1857-1860.'' Toronto: MacMillan. Republished Toronto: Fifth House Publishers, 1995. . * Spry, Irene M., ed. (1968) ''The Papers of the Palliser Expedition, 1857-1860.'' Toronto: Champlain Society Press. . * Crabbé, Philippe, and Irene M. Spry, eds. (1973) ''Natural Resource Development in Canada.'' Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press. . * Spry, Irene M., and Bennett McCardle. (1993) ''The Records of the Department of the Interior and Research Concerning Canada's Western Frontier of Settlement.'' Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center. .

Honours

Among many and varied honours, Irene Mary Spry received honorary doctorates from the University of Toronto (1971) and University of Ottawa (1985). The latter degree was conferred at the same time that a book in her honour entitled ''Explorations in Canadian Economic History'' was presented to her. The

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, t ...

appointed her Officer of the

in 1992 not only for her long and inspiring career as writer, teacher and scholar but also for her prominence in the Canadian and international women's movements.

References

*''Girton College Register 1869-1946'', University Press, Cambridge, 1948 {{DEFAULTSORT:Spry, Irene 1907 births 1998 deaths People from Standerton Transvaal Colony people Alumni of the London School of Economics Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge Canadian women economists Officers of the Order of Canada South African emigrants to Canada People educated at Talbot Heath School 20th-century Canadian economists