Adelaide M. Plumptre

Plumptre, Adelaide Mary (Wynne Willson). (Hanborough, England, January 22, 1871--September 1948, Toronto, Ontario). Anglican. Studied, then taught, at Somerville College, Oxford, before marrying (1901) Henry Pemberton Plumptre and coming to Canada, where he became chaplain of Wycliffe College, Toronto (1901-1903) and curate of St. George's, Montreal (1903-1908) before returning briefly to England. In 1909 he came back to Toronto as rector of St. James' Cathedral, succeeding Edward Ashurst Welch; after his retirement in 1935, the couple lived on in Toronto, where Adelaide Plumptre published a pamphlet of hymns just before her death. "Keep thyself pure!", which the Book of Common Praise (1908 and 1938) included, dates from 1907, when the temperance movement in Canada was reaching its height.

--Hugh D. McKellar, DNAH Archives