Gladys Porter

Gladys Muriel Porter, MBE, (née Richardson; August 4, 1893 – April 30, 1967) was the first woman in the Maritimes to be elected as Mayor, and the first female Member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. She was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, the daughter of Walter Richardson and Christina Macpherson.

Porter was elected to Kentville town council in 1943. She was then elected Mayor of Kentville in 1946 and served until 1960, when she ran successfully as a Progressive Conservative to represent the provincial electoral district of Kings North.

Porter was re-elected to the Legislature in 1963 and served until her death on April 30, 1967 in Kentville, Nova Scotia.