Kiely, Mrs Elizabeth Bethune

(1889- 24 Sept. 1935), political worker, writer. (Mrs Philip Kiely) Born in Chicago. Parents: A.W. McDougald and his wife Annie Bethune McDougald, who was the daughter of James Bethune 1840-1884. Elizabeth was not yet an adult when her father returned, in the opening years of the twentieth century, to live for a period in GC, which for some years would also have been her home. Beyond this early involvement, however, her career was to be solely in the wider world outside GC. An obituary stated, “Her association with active politics began with charter membership in the first Women’s Liberal Association for the Dominion in 1913. She was honorary secretary of both the Toronto and provincial associations for several years, and was the first woman speaker to campaign [in] that province [Ontario?] in the party’s interest. In 1923 she was a delegate and guest-speaker at the incorporation at Ottawa of the Federation of Women’s Liberal Club of Canada. In the general election of 1921 she was the official nominee of the Liberal party in the division of East Toronto for a seat in the House of Commons, being the first woman in the Dominion to receive the recognition of a party nomination. She retired from her candidacy, however, to support Major [Walter] Rayfield, V. C., a wounded war veteran who was brought forward as a soldier candidate.” In 1912 she was married to Philip Grattan Kiely, an Ontario lawyer. Following the marriage she lived many years in Toronto, but “In 1931 she returned to Montreal to reside with her parents.” She died, after a short illness, at the Ross Memorial Pavilion of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal. Burial was in the Mount Royal Cemetery, Montreal. An obituary (Standard Freeholder) described her as “well known in Cornwall and Glengarry.” She was survived by her parents, husband, and one brother. She was the author of a 10-page booklet, now very scarce, on Dr Locke of Williamsburg, Ont., under the title of Canada’s Famous Country Doctor (1933). Also, she wrote articles on “topical and historical” subjects for Canadian journals.


Standard Freeholder 25 Sept. 1935, Glengarry News 27 Sept. 1935 (QF) * marriage, Cornwall Standard 1 Nov. 1912 * publication of her booklet on Dr Locke noticed, SFH 24 May 1933, GN 2 June 1933; see also Bibliography of Glengarry 48-49 for fuller description of booklet