Henrietta Edwards

Who was Henrietta Edwards?

Henrietta Muir Edwards was a Canadian women's rights activist and reformer.

She was born Henrietta Louise Muir in Montreal. She grew up in an upper-middle-class family that valued culture and religion. Edwards became active in many religious organizations, where she became disenfranchised with old traditions where the exclusion of women was acceptable.

As a young woman, she exposed various feminist causes, Edwards and her sister Amélia founded a Working Girls’ Club in Montreal in 1875 to provide meals, reading rooms and study classes. They also published a periodical, The Working Women of Canada, which helped to bring working conditions into the public eye. This project was undertaken at their own expense, and was funded from their earnings as artists. They also founded the Working Girls’ Association.

Henrietta Edwards was married to Dr. Oliver C. Edwards in 1876 and they had three children. They moved to Indian Head, North West Territories in 1883. Dr. Edwards was the government doctor for the Indian reserves there. Henrietta continued to pursue women’s rights and feminist organizations on the prairies.