Tilly Rolston

Tilly Jean Rolston (née Cameron; February 23, 1887 – October 12, 1953) was a Canadian politician. She was the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of British Columbia for Vancouver-Point Grey from 1941 to 1953, and served as minister of education under Premier W. A. C. Bennett from 1952 to 1953.

Biography Born in Vancouver, she attended the University of British Columbia and the Vancouver Provincial Normal School.

She was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia as a Conservative in the 1941 provincial election, becoming one of three MLAs representing Vancouver-Point Grey alongside Royal Maitland and James Alexander Paton, and was re-elected in 1945 and 1949 as part of the Liberal-Conservative coalition.

With the Socreds forming a minority government following the watershed 1952 election, Rolston was named minister of education in the Bennett ministry, becoming the second woman cabinet minister in British Columbia, and the first woman in Canada to have a portfolio. In that role, she brought in a new method of school finance that came to be known as the "Rolston Formula",

She lost to Liberal leader Arthur Laing in the 1953 election. Despite her defeat, she remained education minister until her death from cancer four months later following an operation; she became the first woman in British Columbia to receive a state funeral.

Her grandson Peter Rolston served as Dewdney MLA from 1972 to 1975.

Electoral record