Margaret Polson Murray

[2] [a] Margaret Smith Polson was born in Paisley, Scotland and married Scottish philosopher John Clark Murray in 1865.

In 1872, he accepted an appointment at McGill University and the family, now with three small children, headed to Montreal.

In 1900, she began organizing chapters of the Federation of Daughters of the Empire across Canada, with headquarters in Montreal.

The Toronto branch of the Victoria League, formed in England in 1901, claimed that the Federation was in competition with their organization; the bitter feud ended up involving Lady Minto, wife of the governor-general.

The Toronto chapter took over leadership and became the headquarters with the new name of Imperial Order of the Daughters of Empire, but the feud continued.