12 Facts About Constance Hamilton

Constance Eaton Hamilton was a British-Canadian government official and activist.

Constance Hamilton was elected for a one-year term on the Toronto City Council in the 1920 elections, becoming the first female member of Toronto City Council and the first woman in Ontario to hold elected office at either the federal, provincial, or municipal level.

Constance Hamilton was born in Yorkshire, England in 1862 to Dr George Fowler Bodington and Caroline Mary Eaton.

Constance Hamilton worked as a part-time farmer for parts of her early life.

Constance Hamilton used her German to assist new immigrants to the city.

Constance Hamilton was a volunteer for Big Sisters and YWCA, and a writer, arts patron, linguist, and social advocate.

Constance Hamilton ran for Toronto city council for a one-year term in 1920, in the first year that women over 21 could vote.

Constance Hamilton was re-elected for another one-year term in 1921.

Constance Hamilton married Canadian Pacific Railway land commissioner and civil engineer Lauchlan Alexander Constance Hamilton, who was Vancouver City Alderman and designed the Coat of arms of Vancouver.

Constance Hamilton's husband died in 1941 and she died in 1945.

Constance Hamilton maintained a summer home at Lorne Park west of Toronto for "indigent artists and musicians" with a dozen "ramshackle" cottages on a large property with pine trees.

Constance Hamilton would cook for the collection of artists herself, never charging money for the meals.