Written By Alice Gibb
Although the first Women’s Institute group in Ontario was organized at Stony Creek in 1897, the women of Middlesex County were more cautious in leaping on the bandwagon. But rural women wanted more education and they wanted to a make their own – not just their husbands’ – voices heard in their local communities. In Birr, two progressive sisters prompted area women to form that community’s first women’s institute group.
Emily (1871-1936) and Irene Guest (c1885) were the daughters of John and Elizabeth (Scott) Guest. The Guests weren’t the typical farm family of their day. Mrs. Guest had taught before her marriage to John, a forward-thinking farmer and founding member of the Ilderton Apple Association. The Guests had six children – and most of their children attended university.
Emily Jane, their eldest child, insisted on attending Lucan high school, although her parents tried to interest her in art and music. She went on to Western University before earning a master’s degree at the University of Toronto. Later Emily pursued postgraduate courses at Oxford University and Columbia University. She taught high school at both Parkhill and later Belleville.
Irene, the youngest Guest offspring, was not as highly educated as her three older sisters, but she was also interested in improving rural women’s lives. In 1911, she and Emily invited other neighborhood women to meet at the Guest farm on the Proof Line Road. The result was the formation of Birr Women’s Institute – Irene was elected as the first president. Shortly afterwards, Irene married Earl Grose, living in Toronto for the remainder of her life. She returned to her old stomping grounds in 1946 to help celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Birr Women’s Institute.
Emily Jane’s involvement in Institute affairs increased during the First World War after she went to England to work in a Red Cross hospital. Miss Guest was asked to join the British department of agriculture to launch a food conservation program. Her solution – to start organizing Women’s Institute groups around England and Scotland. Before returning to Canada in 1918, Emily was presented with a jeweled brooch from the women’s institutes of Britain in honor of her wartime efforts.
Once back in Canada, Emily spent the rest of her life as an extension worker involved with women’s institute work for the Department of Agriculture in Toronto. After her death, her sisters Dr. Edna Guest and Irene Grose, presented Emily’s jeweled pin to the Birr group to be worn by presidents during their term of office.
Dr. Edna Guest wrote of Emily: “A teacher and one of the pioneers of women’s institute work in Canada, she was one of those profound scholars whose optimism and delightful sense of humor, coupled with serious work, carried her happily through a life of inspiring influence.”
