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Nellie McClung Facts & Worksheets

Nellie McClung was a Canadian writer, suffragette, and women’s rights activist who played a significant part in the social reform movements in Western Canada in the early 1900s.

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Nellie McClung was a Canadian writer, suffragette, and women’s rights activist who played a significant part in the social reform movements in Western Canada in the early 1900s. She is known for her involvement in the Persons Case, a constitutional ruling that established that women were eligible to be appointed to the Senate of Canada.

See the fact file below for more information on the Nellie McClung or alternatively, you can download our 22-page Nellie McClung worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE

  • Nellie McClung was born Letitia Ellen Mooney on October 20, 1873 at Chatsworth, Ontario.
  • She was the youngest daughter of John Mooney, an Irish farmer, and Letitia McCurdy, who was Scottish.
  • In 1880, their family moved to Manitoba when her father’s farm failed.
  • They lived on a homestead in the Souris Valley of Manitoba.
  • Nellie did not learn to read until she was nine years old and did not attend school until she was ten.

FAMILY AND CAREER

  • At 16 years old, she received her teaching certificate and consequently became a teacher.
  • In 1890, she met Annie McClung, a social reformer, through whom she met her would-be husband Robert Wesley McClung, a pharmacist.
  • In 1896, she married Robert McClung, with whom she had five children.
  • When she became a mother in 1897, her passion for giving a voice to those who don’t have a voice in politics grew, which led her to join the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.
  • Nellie’s mother-in-law was provincial president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, and eventually she became a prominent member of the organization in Manitou, Manitoba.
  • In 1908, McClung published her first novel, entitled Sowing Seeds in Danny, a narrative about life in a small western town.
  • Her novel became a national bestseller.
  • She continued to write articles and short stories in Canadian and American publications.

ACTIVISM

  • In 1911, the McClung family moved to Winnipeg.
  • In 1912, she founded the Winnipeg Political Equality League, an organization that lobbied for women’s suffrage at the provincial level.
  • Being an effective spokesperson, Nellie McClung played a significant role in the 1914 campaign of the Liberal Party against Sir Rodmond Roblin’s Conservative government.
  • The Conservative government had refused women suffrage.
  • The Liberals won in Manitoba in 1915 but McClung had already moved to Edmonton in the Canadian province Alberta.
  • In Alberta, McClung continued to lobby for feminist social reforms, such as woman suffrage, dower rights for women, factory safety legislation, among others.
  • She was elected as a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1921 until 1926.

FAMOUS 5 AND THE PERSONS CASE

  • In 1927, Nellie McClung was part of a group of five female activists from Alberta known as “Famous 5.”
  • The four other activists of Famous 5 were Henrietta Muir Edwards, Emily Murphy, Louise Crummy McKinney, and Irene Parlby.
  • The Famous 5 filed a petition to the Supreme Court to have women declared “qualified persons” who were eligible to be appointed to the senate.
  • The case was known as Edwards v Canada, or more famously, the Persons Case.
  • The Supreme Court decided against the petitioners in 1928, but the British Privy Council rescinded that decision in 1929, officially declaring women as “persons.”
  • The Persons Case is now a famous Canadian landmark constitutional case that decided women were eligible to hold office in the senate of Canada.
  • From it the living tree doctrine was named, an approach of constitutional interpretation that treats a constitution as organic and must be read in a liberal manner.
  • In October 2009, the Senate voted to name the Famous 5 as Canada’s first “honorary senators” posthumously.

LATER CAREER

  • In 1933, the McClungs relocated to Vancouver Island, where Nellie wrote the first volume of her autobiography Clearing in the West: My Own Story, which was published in 1935.
  • In her lifetime, Nellie wrote and published 16 books as well as short stories and a column.
  • Her activism was focused on two things: women’s suffrage and prohibition reforms.
  • She founded the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada, and the Women’s Institute of Edmonton, for which she was the first president.
  • She was also an active member of the Canadian Authors Association, the Canadian Women’s Press Club, and the Calgary Women’s Literary Club, among others.
  • She also became a public speaker by lecturing on her own writings.
  • In 1936, she became the first female member of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Board of Broadcast Governors in 1936 and served on the board until 1942.
  • In 1938, she was a delegate to the League of Nations.
  • She toured extensively and spoke publicly as an author and activist in Canada, the United States, and Great Britain.

DEATH AND LEGACY

  • McClung died in Saanich, British Columbia, on September 1, 1951.
  • She is credited primarily for being a maternal feminist and her involvement in the Persons Case.

Nellie McClung Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about Nellie McClung across 22 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Nellie McClung worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Nellie McClung who was a Canadian writer, suffragette, and women’s rights activist who played a significant part in the social reform movements in Western Canada in the early 1900s. She is known for her involvement in the Persons Case, a constitutional ruling that established that women were eligible to be appointed to the Senate of Canada.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Nellie McClung Facts
  • McQuiz
  • Correct Timeline
  • Building Vocabulary
  • Biography Review
  • Passage Analysis
  • Speech Analysis
  • Persons Case Review
  • Famous 5
  • Women’s Rights Collage
  • Vote! Slogan

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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