Ellen Fairclough
Canadian politician (1905-2004)
Ellen Louks Fairclough (née Cook; January 28, 1905 – November 13, 2004) was a Canadian politician. A Progressive Conservative member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1950 to 1963, she was the first woman ever to serve in the Canadian Cabinet.
Early life and career
Fairclough was born Ellen Louks Cook on January 28, 1905, in Hamilton, Ontario, to Norman Ellsworth and Nellie Bell (née Loucks) Cook. Fairclough was a chartered accountant by training, and ran an accounting firm prior to entering politics. She also served as a member of the executive for the Girl Guides of Canada prior to her election as a Member of Parliament.
Political career
Fairclough's political career began as a member of Hamilton City Council (Ontario) from 1945 to 1950. Fairclough first ran for federal office as a Progressive Conservative in the 1949 federal election, in which she was defeated by incumbent Liberal MP Colin Gibson in Hamilton West. When Gibson was appointed to the Supreme Court of Ontario the following year, however, Fairclough ran in and won the resulting by-election.
As a Member of Parliament, she advocated women's rights including equal pay for equal work.
When the PC Party took power as a result of the 1957 federal election, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker appointed her, on June 21, to the position of Secretary of State for Canada, and she became Canada's first female cabinet minister.
The public source identifies “Ellen Fairclough” as canadian politician (1905-2004). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Ellen, Fairclough and Canadian.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q434334. VIAF identifies the subject as 77126456. The Library of Congress control number is no96007610. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1905, 2004, 1950 and 1963.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ellen Fairclough” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.