Smith, Mary Ellen (1861–1933)

Canadian legislator and social reformer. Name variations: Mary Ellen Spear. Born on October 11, 1861, in Devonshire, England; died on May 3, 1933, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; married.

First woman elected to the British Columbia Legislative Assembly (1918–28); first woman in the British Empire appointed as a Minister (1921); first woman to serve as Acting Speaker of the Legislature (1928).

A native of England, Mary Ellen Smith was born in Devonshire, England, in 1861, and immigrated to Canada with her husband in the early 1890s. Residing originally in Nanaimo, British Columbia, they eventually settled in Vancouver, where she became active in several women's organizations, including the National Council of Women, Women's Canadian Club, Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (IODE), the Red Cross of British Columbia, and the Vancouver Women's Liberal Association.

Smith's husband, a Liberal member of the British Columbia legislature, died in office in 1917, and Smith was elected to his seat in 1918, becoming the first woman in the British Empire to do so. Faithful to her campaign slogan of "women and children first," Smith supported the Minimum Wage Act for Women and Girls in 1918. Although she initially ran for her husband's seat as an Independent, she won subsequent elections by sizable majorities in 1920 and 1924 as a member of the Liberal Party.

In March 1921, Smith became the first woman in the British Empire to be appointed Minister without Portfolio. However, she resigned the office that November to continue her political career as a legislator. Throughout her ten years in office, Smith worked to improve the conditions of women and children and to ensure their rights under the law.

In addition to her legislative duties, Smith was a sought-after speaker both within and outside of Canada. She was especially popular in Europe where she represented the government in promoting immigration to Canada. In 1928, she served briefly as the Acting Speaker of the Legislature, another first for women in the British Empire, and in 1929 she represented Canada at the International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Smith died in Vancouver, British Columbia, on May 3, 1933.

Martha Jones , M.L.S., Natick, Massachusetts