After her husband's death in 1891, Queen Victoria raised her to the peerage in his honour as Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe, in the Province of Ontario and Dominion of Canada. Was intimately acquainted with many of the intricacies of the political and historical events of the country. They had one daughter who was born severely handicapped. in 1856 she married him in 1867 after seeing him in London where he was to prepare the British North America Act. Came to Canada to live with her brother who introduced her to John A. Born Susan Bernard near Spanish Town, Jamaica, raised in England, died in England. Macdonald, the 1st prime minister of Canada from 1867-1873, and again from 1878-1891. Medical examinations concluded that she was suffering from a somatization disease. Became ill after two years of marriage, died in 1857. Was Macdonald’s first cousin they met in Britain in 1842 Isabella journeyed to Kingston to visit with a sister in late 1842, and married John A. You can find the information on Canada's only female prime minister under "Prime Minister of Canada" or under "Kim Campbell".įirst wife of John A. Two of them never married, one was a widower at the time he was elected PM of Canada ( (but his wife is still included in the list below at #7), and one prime minister was a woman, therefore the following list contains 22 entries corresponding to the 22 wives of the Prime Ministers of Canada from 1867 to 2012. Among those 22, three of them remarried, and both wives are therefore included in the list. Since 1867, Canada has had 22 different prime ministers.