Armine Nutting Gosling

Armine Nutting Gosling ( November 6, 1861 – December 15, 1942) was a Canadian-born educator, suffragist, and social reformer who played a leading role in the women's rights movement in Newfoundland. ^[1][2]

After serving as principal of the Church of England Girls’ School in St. John’s, she became deeply involved in public life through her advocacy for child and animal welfare, women’s education, and political equality. ^[3] Gosling was a founding force behind the Ladies Reading Room and Current Events Club and later served as president of the Newfoundland Women’s Franchise League, spearheading the petition that led to women winning the right to vote in 1925. A gifted writer and speaker, Gosling’s influence extended beyond suffrage, laying groundwork for expanded civic engagement and social reform in Newfoundland. She is remembered as a pioneering voice for women’s rights and public service.

Armine Nutting was born on November 6, 1861, in Waterloo, Canada East, to Vespasian and Harriet Sophia (Peasley) Nutting.^[4] Her father, a cobbler by trade, struggled to support the family as mass production of footwear made his work increasingly obsolete. He turned to alcohol, and this was devastating to the Nutting Family. Harriet, determined to secure a better future for her children, supported the household as a seamstress and prioritized their education, ensuring that Armine and her sister received lessons in elocution, music, and drawing alongside their academic studies. ^[5]

Affectionally nicknamed “Minnie” in childhood, Armine was a gifted student with early ambitions to teach. She completed her education at Shefford Academy in Quebec. In 1881, believing that better opportunities lay outside of Waterloo for her children, Harriet, moved with Armine, her brother Jim, and sister Mary Adelaide Nutting to Ottawa. There, she rented a flat to support her children as they pursued education and career paths, while Vespasian remained in Waterloo with their eldest son’s family.^[6]

The move initially allowed Armine to continue her education, but within six months she applied for and accepted a position in St. John's, then part of the Colony of Newfoundland, as Headmistress of the Church of England Girls’ School (later known as Bishop Spencer College. She arrived to St. John's, Newfoundland, in January 1882 at the age of 21 to undertake her position as principal.^[7]

While boarding at Ms. Coen's on Prescott Street in St. John’s, Nutting met William Gilbert Gosling, a fellow resident originally from Bermuda. The two became engaged in 1886 and married in 1888. Gilbert Gosling went on to become director of Harvey and Company in 1913 and served as mayor of St. John's from 1916 to 1920.^[8] Armine Gosling is well known in St. John's for her community work; she worked for the Society for the Protection of Animals, the Child Welfare Association, and in 1912, became the first woman to serve on the Council of Higher Education in Newfoundland.

Gosling is best remembered for her involvement in the Newfoundland women's rights movement, where she was founder and first Secretary of the Ladies Reading Room and Current Events Club (Old Colony Club).^[9] After World War I she became active in politics as president of the Women's Franchise League. Armine Gosling delivered her first address on the subject of women's suffrage in 1912, which was so well received that it was later published as a pamphlet. The 1925 election was the first election that allowed Newfoundland women to vote.^[10] Gosling's participation in the women's rights movement was gradual. As a child in Waterloo, her mother was the pillar of the household as her father suffered from alcoholism. Her mother, Harriet, was a seamstress and milliner who pushed her children to "get ahead" from their working class position.^[11] During the first portion of her married life, she led a conventional life as a homemaker and mother, raising four children past infancy. However, as her husband became more successful and they established a comfortable life for themselves, she began to address topics of women's rights and women's importance in Newfoundland society. Her first public address that touched on women's rights was given in 1894 at the Athenaeum Club on the topic of Charles Wesley's hymn "Jesus, Lover of my Soul."^[12] Armine Gosling took an active interest in many causes, helping to found the Society for the Protection of Animals in 1912, as well as being a keen and competent curler. Armine Gosling took a particular interest in the welfare of children, working with her husband to establish the Child Welfare Association and was the Secretary of the Church of England Orphanage.^[13]

Armine Gosling married Gilbert Gosling in 1888. They had six children, four of whom survived to adulthood.

Upon her husband's death in 1930, Gosling devoted much of the rest of her life to preserving and publishing his work. She presented his book collection to the city of St. John's. This collection subsequently formed the nucleus of the Gosling Memorial Library at the Memorial University of Newfoundland.

• List of people of Newfoundland and Labrador

• Biography at Memorial University of Newfoundland Library