Charlotte Selina Bompas

Born Charlotte Selina Cox on February 24, 1830, in England, she later became known for her work in northern Canada after marrying Anglican missionary bishop William Carpenter Bompas in 1874. She spent many years connected with mission life in the Mackenzie River region and the Yukon, and became known as a capable writer as well as a public speaker.

She wrote Owindia: a true tale of the Mackenzie River Indians, North-West America, and her journals and letters later formed the basis of the memoir A Heroine of the North. Her writing is valued for the way it captures everyday experience, travel, hardship, and missionary work in remote northern communities.

After returning east, she continued speaking in support of missionary work until her death in 1917. Today she is remembered not only as the wife of a well-known bishop, but as an author in her own right whose work preserves a personal view of life in the Canadian North.