Winifred Bambrick

Winifred Estella Bambrick (February 21, 1892 – April 11, 1969) was a Canadian classical musician and novelist. She won the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction in 1946 for her book Continental Revue.

Early life Bambrick was born in Ottawa, Ontario. Her father was John Bambrick, a grocer and her mother was Catherine Corbett, John's second wife. She was the youngest of three children all of whom were musically inclined. However, Winifred showed the most promise. She began harp lessons at the Rideau Street Convent. She performed with the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra in 1910 and 1911, but soon left to study harp in New York City.

Career Bambrick made her debut as a harpist at New York City's Aeolian Hall on October 22, 1913. The following year, she recorded a number of selections for Edison Records' Diamond Disc series, including Robert Ambrose's "One Sweetly Solemn Thought", Gabriel Verdalle's "Vision" and Angelo Francis Pinto's "Tarantelle". Continuously, some of the left over material from her first novel, eventually turned into short stories. Her second novel, "The Lasting Spring", was reportedly completed in 1947 which tells another story about her music career but, was never published.

Suffering from emphysema, she gave up public performance around 1960, and spent the remainder of her life living in Montreal and Sept-Îles.