Agnes Campbell Macphail (1890-1954) National Historic Person

Agnes Campbell Macphail was designated as a national historic person in 1985.

Historical importance: first woman elected to the House of Commons (1921).

Commemorative plaque: Jane Street at Grey Road 4, Ceylon, Ontario^{Footnote 1}

Agnes Campbell Macphail (1890-1954)

Agnes Macphail was the first woman to be elected to the House of Commons following the enfranchisement of women in Canada. A rural schoolteacher, she joined the United Farmers of Ontario, and ran successfully as a Progressive candidate in the 1921 federal election for Grey County. In Ottawa she fought for penal reform, disarmament, and social welfare, and championed the cause of the disadvantaged. Defeated in 1940, she sat as a CCF member of the Ontario legislature from 1943 to 1951. Witty and forceful, fearless and uncompromising, Macphail left a lasting mark on Canadian public life.