Emily Ferguson Murphy 1868-1933
Text from the plaque
A leading Canadian feminist, journalist and reformer, Emily Murphy lived in Chatham from 1890 to 1894 when her husband was rector of this church. In 1916 she was appointed police magistrate for Edmonton. Her authority was challenged by a lawyer who claimed that under the British North American Act women were not legal "persons" and could not hold crown appointments. Women's organizations tested the law repeatedly by submitting female candidates for the Senate. All were rejected. Judge Murphy, with four other Alberta feminists, took the "Persons Case" to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Britain. That body ruled in 1929 that women were indeed persons. The following year, a woman was appointed to the Senate of Canada.
Transcribed from the marker, not summarised.
Find the place
The Municipality of Chatham-Kent
In Chatham, on the northwest corner of
Selkirk Street and Victoria Avenue
N 42 24.635 W 82 11.366
Recorded August 2004. Check current access before visiting.
More information
Where it stands
Visitors' notes
March 13, 2009
See the others of the Alberta Five. Also their Historic Sites and Monuments Board/Parks Canada plaques. Mrs. McClung, Mrs. McKinley, Mrs. Parlby, Mrs. Edwards. Note the Heritage Minute re Murphy that says their menfolk poo-pooed their efforts is nonsense. The husbands were supportive and in the case of Ferguson-Murphy, a well known relative tipped her off to the little-known procedure of appealing over the head of the Supreme Court of Canada to the Law Lords of the Imperial Privy Council in London. Read "Emily Murphy Crusader", 1945, by Byrne Hope Saunders for an almost contemporary account of her career.