In a time when social constraints on women were strict, Elinor Dunsmuir balked at her father James’ plans for her future. Instead, Dunsmuir—who faced even more social constraints than most, thanks to her family name—chose a life of music, gambling, and personal exploration.
These life choices, as well as her music, are at the heart of Elinor Dunsmuir: An Extraordinary Life, a two-part event co-presented by Craigdarroch Castle and the Greater Victoria Public Library. Craigdarroch Castle registrar Danielle MacKenzie hopes this event will give Dunsmuir the attention she deserves.
“It’s a really great opportunity for people to learn a little bit more about a really fascinating person, someone that we appreciate a lot more today than she was in her time,” says MacKenzie. “She was an incredibly talented woman who had a hard time fitting into her time and the social constraints that women had placed upon them. She was really unappreciated, just because of the world that she lived in.”
Indeed, Dunsmuir was a modern woman trapped in an unforgiving period for anyone unwilling to play by society’s rules.
“She was very likely queer,” says MacKenzie. “She was somewhat out at the time, which really made her live on the fringes of society, but at the same time, she had to straddle this awkward balance between her very important and privileged family, and the world that they lived in while trying to be herself.”
This tightrope existence took its toll on Dunsmuir, who MacKenzie says was “clearly a very tortured individual.”
“She had a gambling addiction, and squandered enormous amounts of her mother’s money in casinos, and she was suicidal at times,” says MacKenzie.
Although this event will explore Dunsmuir’s colourful private life, it will also highlight her talents as a musician.
“She was an incredibly gifted composer,” MacKenzie says. “She never achieved the level of success one would expect for the kind of music she was writing. She wasn’t able to break that glass ceiling.”
MacKenzie hopes events like this will change that.
“She had all this work that didn’t see the light of day in her time,” says MacKenzie. “So, now we are going back and looking at that with our modern lenses and realizing how unique and talented she was.”
Elinor Dunsmuir: An Extraordinary Life
2 to 3:30 pm, Saturday, April 28
Free; registration is requested
Greater Victoria Public Library Central Branch
gvpl.ca/event/elinor-dunsmuir-an-extraordinary-life