Armine Nutting Gosling

Who was Armine Nutting Gosling?

Armine Nutting Gosling was a suffragette, best known in Newfoundland for her involvement in the nascent Newfoundland women's rights movement.

Born in Waterloo, Quebec, Canada East, Gosling came to St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador to teach at the Church of England Girl's School, where she met and married William Gilbert Gosling. Gosling is well known in St. John's for her community work; she worked for the Society for the Protection of Animals and the Child Welfare Association, and was the first female member of the Council of Higher Education in Newfoundland.

Gosling, however, is best remembered for her involvement in the Newfoundland women's rights movement, where she was founder and first Secretary of the Ladies Reading Room and Current Events Club. After World War I she became active in politics as president of the Women's Party, which ran two candidates in the 1925 St. John's municipal election. This was the first election that allowed Newfoundland women to vote.

Upon her husband's death, Gosling presented his book collection to the city of St. John's.