Memorable Manitobans: Katherine Ross Queen (1885-1934)

Feminist and socialist.

Born on 14 February 1885, she married politician John Queen at Winnipeg on 25 June 1908. They had five children: Gloria Queen-Hughes, John Queen Jr., Jean Queen (wife of R. A. Wise), Flora Queen (wife of John Hamilton), and David Queen.

She opposed conscription in 1917, and after the First World War she organized the Labor Women of Greater Winnipeg, which lobbied for birth control clinics and equal opportunities for women. In 1931 she represented the Winnipeg West-End Independent Labor Party at a Calgary conference that called for “the socialization of economic life in the country.”

She died of injuries sustained in a fall down the stairs at her Winnipeg home, on 10 September 1934. Her coffin was, at her own insistence, draped in a red flag. She was buried in Brookside Cemetery.

Sources:

Death registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“Funeral service for Mrs. J. Queen will be held this afternoon”, Winnipeg Free Press, 12 September 1934, page 4.

“Many are present at funeral service of Mrs. John Queen”, Winnipeg Free Press, 13 September 1934, page 7.

Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by J. M. Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

Profile revised: 22 March 2012

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