Life of Lighthall recounted for WHA

It was Alice who alerted the press to the proposed development of the land and destruction of the house. It had been put up for sale by Leopold Hurtubise, the last of six generations of the family to live in the house since it had been built in 1739.

Following on her activism, the house and land was bought by Colin Molson with his sister Mabel, and James Beattie, who formed the Canadian Heritage of Quebec to maintain it.

The 50 WHA members and friends who gathered in the Westmount Room of the Westmount Library on Thursday, Dec. 13 listened attentively to their invited speaker, Ruth Allan-Rigby, bring to light other aspects of Miss Lighthall’s long, productive life. Allan-Rigby began by explaining family history followed by Alice’s experience at McGill University, 1909-1913 and her service overseas during World War I as a Volunteer Aid Detachment (VAD) 1916-1919.

Alice was only three years old when the Lighthall family moved to Westmount in 1894. She grew up in their home on the edge of the Murray property (Murray Avenue today). Allan-Rigby brought the vision of Alice Lighthall alive for everyone when she quoted directly from the introduction Alice wrote in 1967 for the book, Old Westmount.

“In these days Westmount was largely composed of beautiful, large estates, farms and orchards with a great deal of open space. I was one of the children who played in the Murray fields, and the Raynes orchard, who splashed in the spring that ran down the east side of the road between the two.”

Those present learned that Alice had been born in Montreal in 1891 and died two months short of a century in 1991. She was influenced by her parents. Alice was very proud of her father, who was a well-known lawyer as well as being a poet, amateur geologist, botanist and supporter of native rights. William Douw Lighthall had also been a mayor of Westmount from 1900 to 1902.

Continuing the efforts of her father to fight for the rights of native peoples and her mother’s dedication to volunteer work, Alice began to volunteer with the Canadian Handicrafts Guild in the 1920s. From 1931 on she was in charge of their annual exhibitions, as she said, "to arouse interest in preserving the crafts” and encourage people to buy sculptures and prints. She soon became an authority on native peoples and was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1973 for her efforts.

Allan-Rigby also pointed out the leadership qualities shown by Miss Lighthall in every area of interest she undertook. In addition to being one of the WHA founders in 1944 and its president from 1970 to 1974, she was also president of the Women’s Art Society of Montreal and the Poetry Group of Montreal in the 1960s. Her poems are included in Five Montreal Poets and other publications.

On the occasion of Alice’s 90th birthday in 1981, the WHA organized a surprise party for her in the Hurtubise House, which she had saved and loved so much.



• Doreen Lindsay is president of the Westmount Historical Association.