The Rural Voice, 1987-09, Page 103C
anada's famous wartime
pilot, William Avery Bishop,
was born on February 8,
1894, in Owen Sound, the son of the
registrar for York County.
Billy Bishop attended schools in
Owen Sound and later the Royal Mil-
itary College in Kingston. He joined
the Canadian Mounted Rifles and saw
action overseas with the regiment in
1915. Wearying of muddy trenches,
he applied for a transfer to the Royal
Flyng Corps and became a member of
the famous Number 60 squadron in
1917.
Bishop quickly earned a reputation
as a relentless sky fighter. He would
Agnes
Campbell
Macphail
A
gnes Campbell Macphail,
Canada's first female
Member of Parliament and
an outspoken defender of the farmer,
was born in 1890 near Hopeville,
Proton Township.
Growing up, she had one consum-
ing ambition: she wanted to teach.
After passing her entrance, she battled
for two years with her parents before
she was allowed to go on to high
school in Owen Sound.
By the time she was teaching at
her second school, she was getting
interested in politics. Liberal Prime
Minister Wilfred Laurier was fighting
the 1911 election on the issue of
reciprocity, or free trade. Macphail
was convinced that free trade, roundly
defeated by the Conservatives, would
be a boon to farmers.
Circumstances soon turned the
country schoolteacher who loved a
good debate into an internationally
known poltician. One circumstance
was the formation of the United Far-
mers of Ontario in 1914. Party offi-
cials soon discovered that they had a
Billy Bishop
hover at extreme altitudes watching
for German formations heading for the
front, then swoop down, shattering the
unsuspecting black -crossed planes
with machine-gun fire.
One of his most courageous acts
was a lone attack at dawn on a Ger-
man airbase, in which he destroyed
three fighter planes and severely
damaged several others. This act of
bravery won him the Victoria Cross.
Before he was 23 years old, he had
also won the Military Cross and the
Distinguished Service Order. When
his career in France ended with the
war in November of 1918, he had
downed a total of 72 enemy planes,
the second highest score of any pilot
in the Royal Air Force.
He also offered his services in
World War II and dreamed of becom-
ing commander of a fighter wing, but
was considered too valuable to risk in
active duty. Instead, he became chief
recruiting officer of the Royal Cana-
dian Air Force, his appeal for airmen
bringing an enthusiastic response at a
time when other services complained
of man shortages. Bishop died in
1956.
The Grey County Museum in
Owen Sound has a permanent display
commemorating this local and nation-
al hero.0
The home of Agnes Macphail's parents in the village of Ceylon. She spent
many weekends there during her years in the House of Commons.
gold mine in Macphail. Not only
could her deep voice be heard around
any hall, but she had the bravado and •
wit to tackle any issue. In 1919, her
fate was decided. Women were grant-
ed the right to serve in Parliament.
In 1921, when Macphail was 31,
she became the Member of Parliament
for South -East Grey. Female reporters
wrote catty articles about the "uni-
form" she wore in the House, a plain
navy serge dress. Other people stared,
so much so that for a time she gave up
eating in the Commons cafeteria. And
the novice MP didn't endear herself to
fellow politicians when she returned
$1,500 or her $4,000 salary.
Macphail's political career is well
charted in her biography, Ask No
Quarter. Finally defeated in 1940, she
was soon writing a column called
"Farm Betterment" for the Globe and
Mail. When 52, she was elected to
Queen's Park and served as MPP from
1943 to 1945 and from 1948 to 1951.
In 1954, just before she was to be
named to the Senate, Macphail died.0
Alice Gibb
SEPTEMBER 1987 17