Historical Stones of
Toronto's Mount Pleasant
Cemetery
​William G. Barker, VC:
Mausoleum: Room B, Crypt B
One of Canada’s greatest war heroes, Colonel Barker destroyed 50 enemy aircraft during the First World War, becoming Canada’s second ranking air ace. In addition to being awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Military Cross and Bars, Barker also received the coveted Victoria Cross. Born in Dauphin, Manitoba in 1894, Barker was killed on March 12, 1930 when a Fairchild biplane he was testing crashed at the Ottawa Airport. Burial took place on the 15th from Barker’s father-in-law’s residence at 355 St. Clair Avenue West. During the actual service, six Toronto Flying Club aircraft flown by First World War pilots skimmed over the grave site and released thousands of rose petals as their tribute to one of the nation’s most distinguished war heroes. In 1931, a small airfield on the west side of Dufferin Street, north of Lawrence Avenue, was named Barker Field in memory of Colonel William Barker.
​Mary Fortune: Mausoleum: (Room C, Crypt 30) On the evening of April 14, 1912 the stately RMS Titanic ploughed its way across the North Atlantic striving, some said, to set a new trans-Atlantic speed record. At precisely 11:40 p.m. that evening, the huge vessel struck a massive iceberg and in less than three hours the ill-fated Titanic slipped beneath the waters of the cold Atlantic, taking 1502 souls to their icy graves. When the Titanic set sail from her Southampton, England port on April 10, 1912, six passengers were from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Mark Fortune had taken his wife Mary and their four children, Ethel, Alice, Maud and Charles, with him on his business trip to Great Britain. The return trip on the maiden voyage of the White Star Line’s newest ship was to be the highlight of the Fortune family’s trip. When the extent of the loss of life after the great ship foundered was finally established, two of the dead were Mark Fortune and his young son, Charles. Mary and the girls were fortunate to be counted among the pitifully meagre list of survivors that in total amounted to just 705
Dr Augusta Stowe Gullen: Social Reformer, Canadian Folk Figure. She is known for being the first woman to graduate from a Canadian university with a degree in medicine, and she is legendary for her outburst in a lecture hall where she chastised the professor, and the mostly male students who were mocking her being there. Her mother, Emily Stowe, became the first woman to practice medicine in Canada, but only after graduating from a U.S. school. Emily fought to change the law that prohobited women from obtaining a medical license, and was succesful in 1880. Augusta married Dr. John Gullen, one of the founders of Western Hospital, located on Bathurst St. in Toronto. She worked there as a Demonstrator of Anatomy, and later as Lecturer on Diseases of Children. Despite a busy medical career, Augusta continued to champion women's rights. In 1903 she succeeded her mother as president of the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association, remaining president after it became the Canadian Suffrage Association in 1907. She retired from the position in 1911 but continued to agitate vigorously for "votes for women" until this was granted during World War I. Around this time she became one of the founding members of the Women's College Hospital in Toronto. It is said that a visitor once asked her if everyone in the hospital was female. "Of course not," she replied. "Half the babies born are male." She died in her home at the age of 85.
Barbara Hamilton
Birth: Dec. 11, 1926
Death: Feb. 7, 1996
Actress. Known for her work on Canadian stage and television, she was once labelled the funniest woman in Canada. Born in Kingston, Ontario, Hamilton attended the University of Toronto before embarking on a career in theatre arts. Her father, who raised her and sister Mary, alone since the death of her mother when she was three years old, disapproved of her choice of profession, referring to it as a 'vagabond lifestyle.' Hamilton was persistent, however, and her first big break came with a role in Arsenic and Old Lace at Toronto's historic Royal Alexandra Theatre. From there, she went on to perform in theatres across the country, in works that ranged from classical tragedies to modern comedies. She gained international acclaim in the early 1970s and a drama critics award for Best Actress for playing Marilla Cuthbert in the London stage version of Anne of Green Gables. Hamilton worked frequently in television over the years in countless supporting roles, which included Aggie Apple in The Forest Rangers and Eulalie Bugle in Road to Avonlea. She has the distinction of appearing at the Royal Alexandra theatre more than any other actor, and in fact, one of her last performances was on that stage in the musical comedy, Crazy For You.
Allan H Kent
Birth: 1915
Death: Jul. 10, 1962
Allan Kent, 47, a reporter with the Toronto Telegram for 21 years, died at Sunnybrook hospital last night after a long illness. His death marks the end of a distinguished career in journalism which gained him many citations and awards. Born in Halifax, Mr Kent's first experience was on the Halifax Chronicle where he worked for five years after graduating from Queen's University in honors English and history in 1936. He joined The Telegram in 1941, and later that year enlisted in the RCAF. Soon after winning his RCAF comission he resigned to become a Telegram war correspondent covering the capturing of Caen, the liberation of Paris, the surrender of German armies to Montgomery and other major war stories. Among his postwar assignments was covering the aftermath of the 1956 Hungarian revolution with emphasis on conditions in the refugee camps. He won two Bowater awards in journalism during the 1950s and two Canadian aviation writing awards. First newsman at the 1950 Noronic fire at the Toronto waterfront, Mr Kent won a Toronto Fire Fighters' award for his eyewitness account. In 1957 he won honorable mention in the National Newspaper Awards for a murder trial coverage.
