Date Published:
June 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Carrie Matilda Derick

DERICK, Carrie Matilda, M.A. - Professor of Morphological Botany McGill University , Montreal . Born Clarenceville, Que., Jan. 14th, 1862. Daughter of Frederick U. Derick and Edna Colton. Her great-grandfather, Philip Derick, United Empire Loyalist, came to Canada early in 1783; two other great-grandfathers, John Colton and Amasa Curtis also migrated to Canada immediately after the American Revolution, the former from Massachusetts, the latter from Connecticut. On her father's side, of Dutch, German and Scotch ancestry and on her mother's side, of English ancestry. Educated: Clarenceville Academy ; McGill Normal School ; McGill University. During long vacations, studied three summers at Harvard; seven months at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Wood's Hole, Mass; one summer at the Royal College of Science, London, England ; worked one year (1901-02) at the University of Bonn, Germany. Demonstrator in Botany, McGill University, the first woman appointed to a staff position in the University; Lecturer in Botany, 1895-1904; Asst. Professor, 1904-1912; Professor, 1912 to present time. Hon. Recording Secy., then Vice-President, and now Hon. Life Member of the Executive Committee of the National Council of Women of Canada; Vice-President of the Montreal Natural History Society; Associate Member, Protestant Committee of the Council of Public Instruction of the Province of .Quebec, being the first and only woman to receive this honor; member of the Corporation of the Marine Biological Laboratory, Wood's Hole, Mass.; Member of Executive, National Council of Education (1919-22); member of Executive, Federation of University Women of Canada; Convenor of Committee to report upon women workers of Montreal to the Royal Commission on Technical Training and Industrial Education; Organizer and Chairman of Educational Section of the International Conference held by the International Council of Women, in Toronto, 1909; Convenor of the Committee on Mental Deficiency, Montreal Local Council of Women. Reports on Mental Deficiency have been presented by request to the Privy Council and to the Dept. of Immigration and Colonization ( Canada ) and to the Provincial Government of Quebec. For several years a member of the International Council of Women's Committee on Education Author of papers and abstracts in scientific periodicals; of popular articles on Plant Life; Canadian Plant Lore ; Nature Study ; Variation ; Heredity and Environment ; Modern Educational Experiments ; of biographical sketches; of Professions open to Women and Women of Canada , their Life and Work , printed by the Dominion Government for distribution at the Paris International Exhibition, 1900. Has lectured frequently in Montreal and other Canadian cities upon such subjects as Heredity and Sex ; Biology and Social Reform ; Biology and Liberalism ; The Political Status of Women ; Women and War ; Mental Deficiency. Addresses and papers have also been given before many societies. One of the group of the McGill Alumnae who in 1891 organized the Girls' Club of Montreal, which later was the parent of the University Settlement. Life Member, Red Cross Society; one of the organizers of the Serbian Relief Committee, Montreal . In this connection received the Decoration of the Serbian Cross of Mercy. One of the Organizers and a Vice-President of the Khaki Club of Montreal. Throughout the Great War took an active part in the various patriotic work of the Montreal Local Council of Women (Past President), and of the Montreal Suffrage Association (first President). Member of Advisory Committee, Montreal Women's Liberal Club and Convenor of the Study Group of the club. Has given frequent political addresses. Church of England.

Source: Prominent People of the Province of Quebec, 1923-24, Montreal, Biographical Society of Canada, Limited, undated and unpaginated.