Adelaide Plumptre

Who was Adelaide Plumptre?

Adelaide Wilson Plumptre was a Canadian activist, diplomat, and municipal politician in Toronto.

She was born Adelaide Proctor in Surrey, England and studied at Somerville College, Oxford University. There she met and married Henry Pemberton Plumptre, the vice-principal of the theological college. They moved to Toronto in 1901 when he accepted the position of principal at Wycliffe College. Upon arrival she took a job at Havergal College, an elite Anglican girl's school.

H.P. Plumptre became an important figure in the local Anglican church, rising to become rector of St. James Cathedral. Adelaide Plumptre became a committed activist in an array of different causes. She was active in the YWCA, a founding member of Girl Guides of Canada, and active in the women's movement and the Canadian Council of Women. She was most involved with the Red Cross. She became Director of Supplies of the Canadian Red Cross in September 1914 and remained in that role for the whole of the First World War. She took the lead in organizing the logistics of the Red Cross' wartime relief efforts across Canada and overseas. She also directed the communications and recruitment of the Red Cross, writing much of the material herself. She was the first woman named to the executive of the Canadian Red Cross, In 1918 she was appointed by the federal government to be chair of the Woman's War Council.