Anna Beecroft Briggs

Anna Beecroft was born in Greenbank, Ontario, Canada, in the 1860s.{{efn|Winter (1978) records Anna's year of birth as 1860.{{cite news |last1=Winter |first1=Brian |title=Historical Whitby |url=https://vitacollections.ca/whitbynews/2451292/page/8?q=Beecroft&docid=OOI.2451292 |access-date=18 January 2025 |work=Whitby Free Press |via=vitacollections.ca |date=1 March 1978 |page=7 |language=en}} Lawrence (1927) records that she was born in Toronto, Canada, on March 15, 1864. Binheim (1928) records her birth being in Canada, on March 15, 1865.}} Her parents were Alvary and Margaret Beecroft. Briggs grew up in Saintfield.

She was educated in public schools. Having musical talents, she toured her local district with singing schools.

Deciding to become a music teacher, for many years in her early career, Briggs was an organist and choir leader.

Unable to continue as a music teacher after becoming deaf, she turned her attention to writing. In the late 1890s, Briggs forged her writing career as editor of the Canadian Ladies' Home Journal, while also contributing poems and articles to magazines. Briggs contributed essays, editorials, special articles and verse to several American journals, including Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, Progress Magazine, Canadian Magazine, Mind, and Boston Brown Book. She was a prolific writer of letters, including state governors and U.S. presidents such as Woodrow Wilson.

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| quote = It is a hopeful sign of the times that the number Is slowly but surely increasing who believe that society can best protect itself by the application of science, Christian ethics, and a study of human nature in restoring and lifting up the fallen and that there is no justification for depriving them of life or even of 'liberty and the pursuit of happiness' to the extent now practiced especially in the treatment of youthful offenders." (Anna B. Briggs, Los Angeles Evening Post-Record, 1927){{cite news |title=Modern attitude toward crime |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-post-record-modern-a/163330190/ |access-date=18 January 2025 |work=Los Angeles Evening Post-Record |via=Newspapers.com |date=28 January 1927 |page=16 |language=en}} {{Source-attribution}}

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Her civic interests turned to prisoner rights, prison reform, and crime detection. These topics were woven into several of her plays, including Courts of Injustice (1916),{{cite news |title=Courts of Injustice |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-express-courts-of-in/163328653/ |access-date=18 January 2025 |work=Los Angeles Evening Express |via=Newspapers.com |date=22 May 1916 |page=14 |language=en}} {{Source-attribution}} The Jury Deliberates (one-act play, 1925){{cite news |title=Dinner of Opera Club |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-dinner-of-opera-cl/163330724/ |access-date=18 January 2025 |work=The Los Angeles Times |via=Newspaeprs.com |date=24 April 1925 |page=23 |language=en}} {{Source-attribution}} The Vanishing Jury (1929),{{cite news |title=Members of Audience Act as Play Jury |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-express-members-of-a/163329090/ |access-date=18 January 2025 |work=Los Angeles Evening Express |via=Newspapers.com |date=24 January 1929 |page=14 |language=en}} {{Source-attribution}} Sensations,{{cite news |title=At the regular meeting of the Playcrafters |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-express-at-the-regul/163328428/ |access-date=18 January 2025 |work=Los Angeles Evening Express |via=Newspapers.com |date=18 July 1924 |page=6}} {{Source-attribution}} and Heart Beats (1942). Heart Beats gave rise to several Hollywood actors.

Briggs was a member of the Southern California Woman's Press Club, where she won first prize in its contest for one act plays in 1927 and 1928. She was also a member of the Verse Writers Club, Drama League, and Playcrafters.

In 1892, she married D. Leslie Briggs, who kept a store in Myrtle, Ontario. They had two children.

A few years after marriage, the couple relocated to Toronto, with Mr. Briggs entering the seed business with a brother. Mrs. Briggs became deaf around this time and learned to lip read. In 1914, for health reasons, she removed to Los Angeles, California, her husband joining later.

During a European tour, she met Bernard Shaw.

Anna Beecroft Briggs died at her home in Los Angeles, on September 7, 1949; internment was at Forest Lawn.{{cite news |title=Mrs. Anna E. Briggs |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-mrs-anna-e-brigg/163291282/ |access-date=18 January 2025 |work=The Los Angeles Times |via=Newspapers.com |date=10 September 1949 |page=8}}{{efn|Whitby (1978) gave Anna's age at time of death as 89, while her Los Angeles Times obituary recorded her as being 87.}}

• Courts of Injustice (1916)
• The Jury Deliberates (1925)
• The Vanishing Jury (1929)
• Sensations
• Heart Beats: A Comedy Drama in Three Acts (1942) ([https://books.google.com/books/about/Heart_Beats.html?id=BllCAAAAIAAJ text])

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Category:1860s births

Category:1949 deaths

Category:People from Scugog

Category:Canadian organists

Category:Canadian choral conductors

Category:Canadian magazine editors

Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights

Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States

Category:Writers from Los Angeles

Category:American women dramatists and playwrights

Category:20th-century American women writers

Category:Deaf writers