- Born November 1892 in Ormstown, Quebec. Schooled locally. Father David Morison was a Minister of local churches.
- Higher Education at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (BA, 1913) Became a teacher of French, teaching first in Montreal before moving to Paris.
- Morison was teaching in Paris when she visited Oxford and was reacquainted with Percy Elwood Corbett, who had been at McGill at the same time, and was by then studying at Oxford.
- Married Corbett in Beauharnois, Quebec, Canada (the then home of her parents) in 1921 before returning to Oxford.
- Moved to Geneva where Percy Corbett was a Legal Officer in the International Labour Office, The League of Nations, Geneva. Margaret was said to have been a great asset to Percy throughout their married life in socialising as she was intelligent, witty, gracious and spoke excellent French. This complemented his shyness and somewhat stern manner and helped him to meet people important to his work as well as to make friends.
- Had two children, Helen Roberts (born 1923) and David Charles (born 1925).
- Returned to Montreal in 1924 (but made several further visits to Geneva). Percy worked at McGill University Faculty of Law and continued his involvement with the ILO. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Law from 1928 to 1936, and briefly as acting principal of the University.
- Margaret Corbett worked as a teacher of French in Quebec and raised her two children there.
- The summer residence for the family was a lakeside house at Lake Memphremagog where Margaret made many lifelong friends. In the winters, however, it was soon preferred by the family to move in to the township of Magog, avoiding the risk of isolation in the heavy snows and the related costs of running the large house there.
- By the mid 1940s – Corbett had decided to move to the USA, taking up his position at Yale University as Chair, Department of Political Science, and professor of government and jurisprudence, and taking out American citizenship in 1947.
- 1951 to 58 Corbett joined the Centre of International Studies at Princeton. He also lectured at The Hague, 1954; California, 1956; New Delhi, 1958-59. Margaret lived with him in the USA, settling in Princeton, New Jersey at “Ringoes”, their main home for many years until her death.
- Margaret died in 1980, survived by both her children and by Percy.
Short Biography for Margaret Corbett
Published
Corbett Family - view from Australia 