Hilda McDonald

Hilda McDonald
Born
Hilda Ellen Maud Edwards

(1883-08-03)3 August 1883
Antigua
Died6 April 1961(1961-04-06) (aged 77)
OccupationsPoet and politician
Notable workSnowflakes and Stardust (1956)
Spouse
William MacLachlan McDonald
​
​
(m. 1902)​
ChildrenArthur McDonald; John Archie McDonald
RelativesIan McDonald (grandson)

Hilda Ellen Maud McDonald (3 August 1883 – 4 June 1961) was an Antiguan poet and politician. She was the first female member of the Antiguan House of Assembly.

Biography

She was born Hilda Ellen Maud Edwards on 3 August 1883 in Antigua. In 1902, she married Dr. William MacLachlan McDonald, MRCS LRCP OBE, a physician with the Royal Army Medical Corps, in South Africa. Their sons were Air Marshal Sir Arthur William Baynes McDonald, KCB, AFC, FRAeS, DL and John Archibald McDonald.

In addition to serving in the Antiguan legislature, she was Chief Information Officer of the colonial Antiguan government.

She published a book of poetry, Snowflakes and Stardust (1956), including the pastoral poem "Evensong", which has appeared in several anthologies. She told her grandson Ian McDonald that "Poetry takes infinite time, and I never made enough time for it. We all have enough time, but very few make enough time for important things."

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 McDonald, Ian (2020). Inheritance: The Story of a West Indian Family. ISBN 978-976-8244-43-7.
  2. 1 2 "Antigua and Barbuda: Their Early Voices" (PDF). The Antigua and Barbuda Review of Books. 5 (1): 12. Summer 2012.
  3. ↑ "BBC - WW2 People's War - DUNQUERQUE CALLING by Gillian Howie". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC. 25 January 2006. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  4. ↑ McDonald, Ian (1 February 2009). "'I shake hands with you in my heart'". Stabroek News. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  5. ↑ Herdeck, Donald E.; Maurice Alcibiade Lubin; Margaret Laniak-Herdeck, eds. (1979). Caribbean Writers: A Bio-bibliographical-critical Encyclopedia. Three Continents Press. ISBN 978-0-914478-74-4.