Dorothy Dumbrille
Biography
Dorothy Dumbrille was born in 1897 and passed away in 1981. Born in Canada and a well-known author, she was best known for her poetry, which often chronicled the lives of women left on the homefront during World War I, and she was possibly "the literary name of Dorothy Dumbrille, she became, presumably, in effect the first woman in Alexandria to "keep her own name""[1]. Like many romance and female authors around the world in that era, Dumbrille was well-known by her own name, but identified in relation to her husband in public documents, such as her obituary. Her work sometimes touched nerves with her fellow citizens, as evidenced by this comment made by Dumbrille:
Another novel, All This Difference (1945, 1963) explores Scots-French relations in Alexandria. Dorothy Dumbrille remembered, "I lent the manuscript to one of the teachers to read and she said if I got it published Jim [J.T. Smith, Dumbrille's husband] would be run out of town to which Jim replied to me that if he did have to leave there were plenty of situations in Western Ontario and he would go.... The day it [All This Difference] came out in the stores I did not know whether the Fr. Canadians or the English neighbours would shoot me." [2]
As an author for Harlequin Romance, Dorothy Dumbrille published one novel in 1963.
