The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1943-05-28
CANADA'S FIRST
WOMAN CONSUL
LIKES CAREER
AGNES MccLosKEY BEGAN
WORK AS OFFICE GIRL:
CLIMBED STEADILY UP
THROUGH RANKS
BY ADELAIDE KERR
APP Features Writer

N@o0A
ada's first woman diplomat-and
you will see quiet brown-hair-
ed woman porting over papers.
Try to talk to Agnes McClos-
key about herself and you will
be lost in a maze of Canadian
history. Not because the first
Canadian consul in New York
tries to balk you Though she is
certainly not anxious to talk
about herself). But because for
nearly 35 years the warp and
wool of her life fabric have been
woven around Canada's Depart
ment of External Affairs. She
began work there as kind of
glorified office girl, and worked
Slowly, steadily and undramat-
ically up through the ranks.
She talks of developments in
the department over the years
with the same warm glow IN
which some women recall past
romances. Ask her about the
high points in her life and she
will say when we opened the
offices in Paris and Japan with
the shining eyes some women
might show when they recall!
the year | was in love with
john.
Agnes McCloskey is a brown
haired, green-eyed woman of
medium height who likes fem
mine clothes. She favors dress
maker suits. pastel blouses and
hats with wells. After she puts
her work aside-it never is real.
iy finished she likes IT, rle.
bridge.
She was born in ChesterviIle,
Canada (near Ottawa), and was
schooled in an Ottawa convent.
Then she took the civil service
examinations and soon there
after landed in Canada's Depart
ment of External Affairs 1t has
just been created to serve as l.
liaison between various govern i
ment branches and the Cover
nor General, who then repre-
scented only the Crown Her sal
airy was so small-$500 year
that her family, which did not
approve of her working. had to
help support her. In the newly
opened office nobody gave little
Agnes much direction. She sour
ried around and found jobs for
herself, taught hersel TO type
write, kept records and read
proof on treaties.
The young generation, looking
for secrets of success, might take
a tip from what Miss McCloskey
told me of those days.
Nothing was beneath me.
she said. II didn't mind doing
those things. I don't YET"
AS the Department of External
Affairs progressed and increased
in scope, Agnes McCloskey pro-
crossed with it. When World War
thrust it into international af-
fairs, she coded and decided its
foreign reports, and learned the
value of a closed mouth. (She has
not forgotten it to this day. At
the end of World War | she went
into the finances of the depart
ment, looked after accounts and
play lists.
Recently Canada, whose consul
lar affairs had been handled by
the Canadian Trade Commission
ers Office, decided to open its first
consular office in the United
States. H. d. Scully was named
consul general and Agnes Nc |
Closkey and Hugh Cole (the for
mer trade-commissioner) were APP |
pointed consuls. Miss McCloskey
accepted after good many sleep !
less nights.
She takes an old fashioned
pleasure in the fact that Canada
placed woman in its first consul
Lar set-up
We have an American wo-
man consul in canada--Kath-
crime O'Connor." she said. so
by appointing another woman
Canada has repaid the compli-
ment."
m n n ~ N m ~ q NJ n