Alice Maud Ardagh (1861-1936)
Born in Wales, Alice Maud Ardagh spent much of her life in Barrie, ON, where she wrote poetry and several novels.
15 July 1861, Christchurch, Monmouthshire, Wales
13 January 1936, Los Angeles, CA
Name at birth:
Alice Maud Ardagh
Alternate names:
"Esperance"
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Helen L. Whyte for contributed research and family content, and unpublished research.
Note
This author’s life was researched for inclusion in the earlier Canada’s Early Women Writers project at Simon Fraser University. Information in this entry therefore may not be comprehensive, but was verified in 2012-16.
Entry revised by Linnea McNally
Alice Maud Ardagh (1861-1936)
Alice Maud Ardagh was born in 1861 in Christchurch, Monmouthshire, Wales, to Irish-born innkeeper, Arthur Wellington Ardagh (1822-1868), and his second wife, English-born Frances "Fanny" Mary Neal (1829-1915). Arthur and Fanny raised their family in Pontypool, Wales, until 1863, when the family emigrated, to Ontario, Canada West. Arthur died in 1868, leaving Fanny and her eldest step-daughter, Louisa, to continue caring for the household as they moved to Whitby, ON then to Yorkville, ON.
In 1888, Alice published her first novel,
Tangled Ends (1888). By 1900, she was living in Barrie, ON, where relatives had established themselves as successful practitioners of theology and medicine. She seems to have led the quiet life of a literary lady, contributing verse to periodicals such as The Canadian Monthly and The Week under the delicately equivocal pseudonym of "Esperance."
Soon after the death of her sister, Edith, in 1917, Alice moved to southern California, where she joined a cousin, Anna Browne Ardagh. During her first five years in California, Alice travelled frequently, residing in San Diego, Santa Monica, La Jolla, and finally Los Angeles. Continuing with her literary work, Alice self-published her second novel in 1933:
On the Potter's Wheel (1933) was dedicated to fundamentalist Dr. P.W. Philpott, whom the author credits as the source of the idea for the novel. The last of Alice's novels, For Me to Live (1936) was published months after her death in Los Angeles in January 1936.
Published Texts
Fiction
Tangled Ends (Toronto: Briggs; Montreal, QC: Coates; Halifax, NS: Huestis, 1888)
On the Potter's Wheel (Author, 1933)
For Me to Live (Chicago, IL: Bible Institute Colportage, 1936)—apparently published simultaneously by Moody Publlishers, also in Chicago
Periodical Contributions
Canadian Monthly and National Review (Toronto)
Rose-Belford's Canadian Monthly and National Review (Toronto)
The Week (Toronto)
Other Publications
Anthologized in:
Brooks, Lillie A. M., ed. The Band of Purple: A Collection of Canadian Poems (Toronto: Oxford UP, 1915).
Harrison, Susan Frances. The Canadian Birthday Book with Poetical Selections for Everyday in the Year from Canadian Writers, English and French (Toronto: Robinson, 1887).
<XREF URL="https://archive.org/details/ninetyfourcalend00toro" RESP="KME">Ninety-Four: A Calendar for the Year of Our Lord MDCCCXCIV with Verses by Some of the Canadian Writers of Verse and Drawings by Members of the Toronto Art Students' League</XREF>. Toronto: Toronto Art Students' League, [1893].
<XREF URL="https://archive.org/details/ninetythreecalen00toro" RESP="KME">Ninety-Three: A Calendar for the Year of Our Lord MDCCCXCIII</XREF> (Toronto: Toronto Art Students' League, [1892]).
Rand, Theodore H., ed. A Treasury of Canadian Verse: With Brief Biographical Notes (New York: Dutton, 1900).
Family and Relationships
Father: Arthur Wellington Ardagh (1822 – 4 June 1868)
Arthur Wellington Ardagh was born in about 1822 in Tipperary, Ireland, to Lieutenant Stephen Thomas Ardagh (1792-1884) and Catherine Jackman. Arthur served as a soldier for the Irish Guards prior to moving to Wales, where he worked as an excise man. He married Mary Anne Young (1823-1854) in 1846, and the couple had five children.
In the 1850s, Arthur was manager of the Clarence Hotel in Pontypool, Wales. In the 1860s, he was an "agent of soda water" and a wine merchant. After Mary Anne died in childbirth in 1854, Arthur married Frances Mary Neale (1829-1915) in 1857, with whom he had six children. The family left Wales in 1863 and lived in England for a period before emigrating to Canada in about 1867. There, Arthur was a civil servant, possibly again an excise man. Arthur died in 1868 in Prescott, ON, and was buried at Sandy Hill Protestant Cemetery.
Mother: Frances Mary Neale (30 December 1829 – 12 January 1915)
Frances Mary Neale, who went by "Fanny," was born in 1829 in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, to Harry Neale and Annie Smith. She married widower Arthur Wellington Ardagh (1822-1868) in 1857. After her husband's death in about 1868, Fanny continued to live in Toronto, ON, on her own for a number of years. She was involved in the Plymouth Brethren Church. Fanny died in 1915 in Barrie, ON, and was buried at Barrie Union Cemetery.
Siblings
Catherine Mary "Louisa" Ardagh (half-sister) (1847 – 1898)
Frances Mary Anne "Fanny" Ardagh (half-sister) (24 March 1849 – 1935): m. Charles Rowland Seys
Arthur Augustus Stephenson Ardagh (half-brother) (6 November 1850 – 1904)
Arthur was a clerk.
Elizabeth Hannah Maria Ardagh (half-sister) (26 December 1852 – 3 February 1854)
Robert Young Ardagh (half-brother) (12 December 1854 – 1935): m. Margaret Key; m. Harriet Doris Bates
Robert was a timber merchant.
William Arthur Ardagh (25 December 1858 – 21 April 1860)
Edith Kathleen Mary Ardagh (28 January 1860 – 27 December 1916)
Edith lived her entire life with her mother.
Florence A. J. Ardagh (1863 – 11 November 1876)
Florence died of diphtheria.
Harry Wellington Neale Ardagh (1865 – 14 December 1883)
Harry was a clerk. He died seemingly of a heart defect or disease.
Frederic Ardagh (26 September 1867 – 1923): m. Margaret
Frederic was a commercial traveller, based in Winnipeg, MB.
Religion
Anglican
Plymouth Brethren
Residences
Barrie, ON (1904)
Los Angeles, CA (c1929-1936)
Ontario (1867)
Pontypool, Monmouthshire, Wales (1861)
San Diego, CA (1918, 1922-1929)
Santa Monica, CA (1919-1921)
Toronto, ON (1891)
Whitby, ON (1871)
Yorkville, ON (1881)
Education
Awards
Employment and Volunteer Activities
Employment
Clerk, T. Eaton Company
Tangential Information
The greater Ardagh family residing in or near Barrie, ON, were important members of Canadian society. They include Ontario lawyer, judge, and politician, William Davis Ardagh (1828-1893), who⏼like Alice Ardagh's father—was born in Tipperary, Ireland.
Archival Holdings
Lighthall Family Papers, McGill University Archives, McGill University, Montreal, QC (letters to W.D. Lighthall)
Published Resources
1851 Wales Census.
1861 Wales Census.
1871 Census of Canada.
1881 Census of Canada.
1901 Census of Canada.
1911 Census of Canada.
1920 United States Federal Census.
1930 United States Federal Census.
Canadian City and Area Directories, 1819-1906.
Deaths, With Funeral Announcements: Ardagh. Los Angeles Times (January 1936).
England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index, 1837-1915.
Horning, Lewis E., and Lawrence J. Burpee. <XREF URL="https://archive.org/details/bibliographyofca00horniala/page/n5" RESP="KME">A Bibliography of Canadian Fiction (English)</XREF> (Toronto: Victoria U Library, 1904).
Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947.
U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989.
Watters, R.E. A Checklist of Canadian Literature and Background Materials 1628-1960. 1959 (Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1972): 239.