Agnes Campbell Macphail

Agnes Campbell Macphail , 1890-1954, Canadian legislator, b. Ontario. She was elected (1921) to the Canadian House of Commons as a representative of the United Farmers of Ontario and Labor, the first woman in Canada to enter Parliament; she served until her defeat in 1940. She later became a member of the Ontario legislature (1943-45; 1948-51). On the formation (1933) of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, she became a leading member of this party.

Bibliography: See biography by M. Stewart and D. French (1959).

Campbell, Agnes, ‘the Lady of Kintyre’, Scottish noblewoman. Her third marriage in 1569 connected her husband, Turlough Luineach O'Neill, and her half‐brother, the earl of Argyll, who controlled the flow of redshanks into Ireland. Consequently it was through the agency of Agnes (and her daughter Finola MacDonnell) that most Scots mercenaries were recruited. Nevertheless Agnes was regarded as a calming influence on Turlough, encouraging him to follow the example of Scottish magnates in conforming to the dictates of state policy. She established a small Scots settlement around O'Neill's chief castle at Strabane, Co. Tyrone.

Hiram Morgan