The Famous Five (Canada)

The Famous Five by the names of Emily Murphy (the leader of the Five), Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McLung, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby, were five Canadian women from Alberta who, in 1927, went to the Supreme Court of Canada to contest the definition of the word 'persons' within the British North America Act. At the time it referred only to men, not women, thus not allowing women to vote in federal elections and most provincial elections. They failed. In 1929, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of Great Britain, which was at that time the highest court of appeal, declared that the word "persons" include men and women.

National Archives of Canada Famous Five Link:

http://www.archives.ca/05/0530_e.html