R. B. Bennett : biography
Richard Bedford Bennett, 1st Viscount Bennett, PC KC FRSA (July 3, 1870 – June 26, 1947) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He served as the 11th Prime Minister of Canada from August 7, 1930, to October 23, 1935, during the worst of the Great Depression years. Following his defeat as prime minister, Bennett moved to England, and was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Bennett.
University, early legal career
Bennett started at Dalhousie University in 1890, graduating in 1893 with a law degree. He worked his way through with a job as assistant in the library, being recommended by Dr. R. C. Weldon.
He was then a partner in the Chatham law firm of Tweedie and Bennett. Max Aitken (later known as Lord Beaverbrook) was his office boy, while articling as a lawyer, acting as a stringer for the Montreal Gazette, and selling life insurance. Aitken persuaded him to run for alderman in the first Town Council of Chatham, and managed his campaign. Bennett was elected by one vote, and was later furious with Aitken when he heard all the promises he had made on Bennett’s behalf.
Moving to Alberta
Despite his election to the Chatham town council, Bennett’s days in the town were numbered. He was ambitious and saw that the small community was too narrow a field for him. He was already negotiating with Sir James Lougheed to move to Calgary and become his law partner. Lougheed was Calgary’s richest man and most successful lawyer.
Bennett moved to Alberta in 1897. A lifelong bachelor and teetotaler (although Bennett was known by select associates to occasionally drink alcohol when the press was not around to observe thisShadow of Heaven: The Life of Lester Pearson, volume 1, 1897-1948, by John English, 1989, Vintage UK, p. 166-171.), he led a rather lonely life in a hotel and later, in a boarding house. For a while a younger brother roomed with him. He ate his noon meal on workdays at the Alberta Hotel. Social life, such as it was, centered on church. There was, however, no scandal attached to his personal life. Bennett worked hard and gradually built up his legal practice. In 1908 he was one of five people appointed to the first Library Board for the city of Calgary and was instrumental in establishing the Calgary Public Library.E. Gorosh, Calgary’s "Temple of Knowledge": A History of the Public Library. 1975 Century Calgary Publications. p.5.
In 1910, Bennett became a director of Calgary Power Ltd. (now formally TransAlta Corporation) and just a year later he became President. During his leadership projects completed included the first storage reservoir at Lake Minnewanka, a second transmission line to Calgary and the construction of the Kananaskis Falls hydro station. At that time, he was also director of Rocky Mountains Cement Company and Security Trust.
Electoral record
Northwest Territories (West Calgary)
1898 Northwest Territories general election | |||||||||||||||
url =http://www.saskarchives.com/web/seld/1-00.pdf | title =North-West Territories: Council and Legislative Assembly, 1876-1905 | publisher =Saskatchewan Archives | accessdate = 2007-09-30 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070928101028/http://www.saskarchives.com/web/seld/1-00.pdf |archivedate = 2007-09-28}} | Name | Vote | % | Richard Bennett | 291 | 40.87% | William W. Stuart | 205 | 28.79% | James Muir | 169 | 23.74% | Thomas Riley | 47 | 6.60% |
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Total Votes | 712 | 100% |
March 22, 1901 by-election | |||||||||
Name | Vote | % | Richard Bennett | 562 | 66.20% | Charles Stuart | 287 | 33.80% | |
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Total Votes | 849 | 100% |