Susan Agnes Macdonald, 1st Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe (née Bernard; 24 August 1836 – 5 September 1920), was the second wife of Sir John A. Macdonald, the first

Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada () is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority of the elected House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons ...

Early life

Agnes was born in

Spanish Town, Jamaica Spanish Town (Jamaican Patois: Spain) is the capital and the largest town in the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of St. Catherine, Jamaica, St. Catherine in the historic county of Middlesex, Jamaica, Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the Spanish and Briti ...

, to Thomas James Bernard (1796–1850), of Bellevue, south of

Montego Bay Montego Bay () is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth most populous urban area in the country, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore ...

; member of the Privy Council of the

Colony of Jamaica The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was a British colony from 1655, when it was Invasion of Jamaica (1655), captured by the The Protectorate, English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British Empire, British colon ...

, slave and sugar plantation owner. Her mother, Theodora Foulks Hewitt (1802–1875), was the daughter of William Hewitt, also of Jamaica, descended from a brother of James Hewitt, 1st Viscount Lifford. She was raised both in Jamaica and in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The family lost their residence to a planation riot in 1831, which ended the Bernards' time in Jamaica with emancipation of their slaves in 1832.

Marriage and family

After her father's death from cholera she came to

Barrie Barrie is a city in Central Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay. Although it is physically in the county, Barrie is politically independent. The city is part ...

, Upper Canada, with her mother in 1854 to live with her brother, Hewitt Bernard (who left in 1851 after giving up the family plantation), a lawyer and private secretary to political leader John A. Macdonald. It was through him that she met Macdonald in 1856. It was in 1866, in London, England, where Miss Bernard had been with her mother that she again met her husband-to-be, who was there to prepare the

British North America Act The British North America Acts, 1867–1975, are a series of acts of Parliament that were at the core of the Constitution of Canada. Most were enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and some by the Parliament of Canada. Some of the a ...

. They married on 16 February 1867, and had one daughter, Margaret Mary Theodora Macdonald (1869–1933), who was born severely handicapped, both mentally and physically. United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada website, ''When life's work is done - the passing of Sir John A. Macdonald'', article by Graham Evan MacDonell
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Wife of the prime minister

On the first prime ministerial trip to British Columbia on the newly opened

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

, Macdonald built Agnes a platform on the cowcatcher of the locomotive and had a chair nailed to it so she could better see the mountain scenery. During her life in Canada with her husband, she became intimately acquainted with many of the intricacies of the political and historical events of the country. Mount Lady Macdonald in Bow River Valley is named after her. Lady Macdonald Drive in

Canmore, Alberta Canmore is a List of towns in Alberta, town in Alberta, Canada, located approximately west of Calgary near the southeast boundary of Banff National Park. It is located in the Bow Valley within Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains. The to ...

, is named after her.

Later life

After her husband's death in 1891 she was raised to the peerage in his honour as Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe, in the Province of Ontario and Dominion of Canada.''Baroness Macdonald's Death'', The Globe. A1. 8 September 1920. By 1896 she left her home at Earnscliffe to go back to England. She actively participated in social and philanthropic work late into life. She died in

in September 1920, aged 84, and was buried in the Ocklynge Cemetery in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

. The barony became extinct on her death. Her daughter died in 1933 and also buried in Ocklynge Cemetery. She is the only wife of a Canadian prime minister to be buried outside of Canada and one of two not buried with their spouse.

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald Of Earnscliffe, Agnes Macdonald, 1st Baroness 1836 births 1920 deaths Spouses of prime ministers of Canada Agnes Macdonald, Agnes Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Hereditary peeresses created by Queen Victoria Canadian peers Wives of knights Jamaican emigrants to Canada People from Spanish Town Jamaican people of English descent 19th-century Jamaican people