Fairley, Margaret

Margaret Fairley was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1885. She graduated with first class honours from Oxford, and soon thereafter came to Canada. She went to the University of Alberta and obtained her degree. It was in Edmonton that she met her husband, Barker Fairley. The Fairleys were subsequently to settle in Toronto. Fairley edited the following: Spirit of Canadian Democracy (1946), The Selected Writings of William Lyon Mackenzie, 1824-1837 (1960) and Highways to Peace (1961). Between 1952-1956, she also edited a progressive quarterly called New Frontiers. She was an active member of the Communist Party. Fairley died in 1968. In 1972, the city dedicated the corner of Brunswick and Ulster Streets as the Margaret Fairley Park in recognition of her contribution to the life of Canada.