Death of Grace Annie Lockhart

Grace Annie Lockhart died on 18 May 1916 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, at the age of 61.[5][6][10] After years accompanying her husband, Methodist minister John Laird Dawson, through various Maritime congregations, she spent her final period in Prince Edward Island, where she had become part of local religious and community life.[6][8][11]

Accounts from Mount Allison’s archives indicate that she had been ill for roughly two years prior to her death, a reminder of the limited medical options available to women in the early 20th century.[11] Her passing ended a life that had moved from the public visibility of academic trailblazer in the 1870s to the more conventional but demanding roles of minister’s wife, mother of three sons, and supporter of congregational and educational work across the region.[3][6][10]

Lockhart was buried in the People’s Cemetery in Tryon, Prince Edward Island, a rural community that became an important site of remembrance for her.[3][8][10] On the centenary of her death in 2016, local residents, historians, and representatives of Mount Allison University gathered there to commemorate her contributions and to reflect on how her 1875 degree had altered the landscape of women’s education.[6][8]

Her death on 18 May 1916 did not diminish the significance of her earlier accomplishments. Instead, it marked the close of a life whose quiet persistence—balancing family responsibilities, teaching, and advocacy for women’s learning—had helped prove that women could thrive in universities and professional fields.[4][5][9] Subsequent recognition by Parks Canada and ongoing public ceremonies ensure that this date is understood not only as the end of her personal story but also as a milestone in the long arc of women’s struggle for equal educational opportunity in Canada and the wider British Empire.[7][8]