Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire

The Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (IODE) is a women's charitable organization based in Canada.

It provides scholarships, bursaries, book prizes, and awards, and pursues other philanthropic and educational projects in various communities across Canada. The IODE's motto was "One Flag, One Throne, One Empire" and the IODE's magazine is called Echoes.

In 1899 Margaret Polson Murray was in England and was swept up in the wave of patriotic support for the British Empire that followed the outbreak of the Second Boer War. On her return to Canada she immediately started to organise a woman's support group which would "place themselves in the front rank of colonial patriotism" and give practical charitable aid to soldiers, and if they were killed, support for their dependants, and care for their graves. On 13 January 1900 she sent telegrams to the mayors of major Canadian cities asking for their support for her fledgling organization which she called "Daughters of the Empire" that would also be "inviting the women of Australia and New Zealand to join with them in sending to the Queen an expression of our devotion to the Empire, and an Emergency War Fund, to be expended as Her Majesty shall deem fit". On 15 January 1900 the founding meeting of the first chapter was held in Fredericton. On the same day, Polson Murray publicized her initiative by issuing a press release and giving interviews in Montreal newspapers. On 13 February 1900 25 women attended a meeting in Montreal and agreed to form a national organization called the "Federation of the Daughters of the Empire", Polson Murray was elected honorary secretary. For the rest of the year she energetically took steps to expand the Federation, and soon there were branches all over Canada and some affiliated ones in the United States. One of her initiatives was to contact the Department of Indian Affairs to encourage women of the First Nations to join the Federation.

The federation organized a huge welcome dinner for returning soldiers, and contacted a sister organization Guild of Loyal Women in South Africa and the British War Office to arrange the care of war graves of fallen Canadian and Boer soldiers, particularly those in isolated places.

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