Fonds MG 21.43 - Annie Whitfield collection

Annie Whitfield (née Annie Jones) was born in Yorkshire, England, probably in the town of Wombwell, on May 13, 1893 to Thomas Jones and Elizabeth Jones. She was baptized on June 1, 1893 at Low Valley Primitive Methodist Church in Darfield, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England. Her mother died when she was eight and Annie, with her father and a brother, migrated to Wales circa 1905. In Wales, she went into service with two spinster sisters and learned to bake. In 1910, at the age of 17, she immigrated to Canada alone, arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia on November 18 onboard the Virginian. She immediately made her way to Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, where she had an aunt and uncle, Aggie Newton and Ben Newton.

On June 22, 1911, Annie married James Richard Whitfield in New Aberdeen, Cape Breton. James was a coal miner. Together, the couple had seven children, Tom Whitfield, Jimmie Whitfield, Maggie Whitfield, Marc Whitfield (aka Mac Whitfield), Joe Whitfield, Ted Whitfield, and Lauchie Whitfield. The family also kept a small subsistence farm with dairy cows, hens, pigs and vegetable gardens.

In adulthood, Annie developed a deep passion for labour rights, was a feminist, and became a tireless political activist. She joined the Women’s Labour League, the New Aberdeen Labour Club, Friends of the Soviet Union, and the Canadian Labour Defence League and fought for worker’s and women’s rights through protest, letter writing campaigns, and showing up for local politics, including her local school board. In a letter to “The Worker,” a newspaper published by the Communist Party of Canada, on March 29, 1930, Annie wrote, “Well the members of the Women’s Labour League here realize that life is worth living for after all if we are willing to fight for what we want.”

In 1930, Annie was chosen as one of six delegates to join the Canadian Women’s Working Delegation to Russia, along with Rebecca Buhay (Beckie Buhay), Annie Zen, Bessie Schachter, Pearl Wedro, and Elsa Tynjala. For two months, they travelled to parts of Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia, stopping in Moscow, Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Odessa, Bachu, Batumi, Sucoomb, and Chechnya. They toured agricultural and tea farms, vineyards, factories, hospitals, schools, army camps, the Kremlin, the Czar’s Palace and Catherine the Great’s Palace. They also took in museums, the opera, and the theatre, seeing “Madame Butterfly,” “Legend of the Sultan,” “Scarlet Poppy,” and “Carmen.” The delegation sailed from St. Petersburg (Leningrad) on October 11, 1930 to begin their journey back to Canada.

Annie returned home and continued her work, sometimes working alongside J.B. McLachlan. According to her family, she returned to Russia later in life, working various jobs along the way and staying with people she met who were interested in her cause.

She died in 1977 at the age of 84.