Constance Eaton Hamilton (1862–1945) was a British-Canadian government official and activist. After activism supporting refugees and women in Winnipeg, she moved to Toronto and continued to support causes such as women's suffrage, becoming president of the Equal Franchise League of Toronto. She was elected for a one-year term on the Toronto City Council in the 1920 elections, becoming the first female member of Toronto City Council and the first woman in Ontario to hold elected office at either the federal, provincial, or municipal level. After two terms she resigned to continue her work campaigning for immigrant settlement and refugee issues, and for equal rights. In 1979, the Toronto city council established the Constance E. Hamilton Award on the Status of Women. Early life and education She was born in Yorkshire, England in 1862 to Dr George Fowler Bodington (1829-1902) and Caroline Mary Eaton (1825-1873). Early she studied with private tutors. Fluent in German, she attended the Conservatory of Music in Leipzig, Germany and became a skilled pianist. She also worked as a part-time farmer for parts of her early life. Hamilton immigrated to Canada with her family in 1887 and settled in Vancouver. The following year she met and married Lauchlan Hamilton, an older businessman. Career Civic activities in Winnipeg and Toronto In 1888 she and her husband moved to Winnipeg, when her husband was transferred there as senior Canadian Pacific Railway land commissioner. During her time in Winnipeg, she was one of the six women who founded the Women's Musical Club of Winnipeg, and served as the first president when it was formally organized in 1899. She also used her German to assist new immigrants to the city. She and her husband moved to Toronto, Ontario in 1899, when the city's population was 200,000. A supporter of women's suffrage, she became president of the Equal Franchise League of Toronto and also the National Suffrage Organization. With a passion described as focusing on the broad themes of "Bach, agriculture and politics," she chaired the Toronto branch of the National Refugee Committee and would lead the National Council of Women's agriculture committee. She founded Toronto's Bach Society. She was a volunteer for Big Sisters and YWCA, and a writer, arts patron, linguist, and social advocate. Elected office in Toronto in 1920 In 1919, women obtained the right to run for elected office in Ontario. Previously married women had been barred, by