George Skelding (May 18, 1864 – July 18, 1927) was a provincial politician from

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada. He served as a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from singl ...

from 1917 to 1921 sitting with the Liberal caucus in government.

Early life

George Skelding was born in

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, Canada West in 1864. He came west with the

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territory ...

in 1886 and helped establish the police barracks in

Lethbridge Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 Alberta municipal censuses, 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...

. He moved to Fort Macleod in 1887 and started working as a ranch hand at the Strong Ranch and later the Cochrane Ranch. After a brief career at ranching Skelding became a coal dealer within a couple years and continued with that business the rest of his life. He was also involved with the grocery business becoming one half of the partnership of Baker and Skelding Co. until it was sold off. He married his wife Annie Renwick in September 1904 and had no children.

Political career

Skelding ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature as a candidate for the Alberta Liberals in the

1917 Alberta general election The 1917 Alberta general election was held on 7 June 1917 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The Liberals won a fourth term in office, defeating the Conservative Party of Edward Michener. Because of World War I, eleven Mem ...

. He defeated Conservative incumbent Robert Patterson in a hotly contested race winning the Macleod district by just 50 votes to pick it up for his party. Skelding was a poor orator and did not speak very often on the floor of the Legislature. He lobbied the Liberal government for road improvements in the Macleod district and did most of his work as an MLA in legislature committee's. Skelding ran for a second term in the

1921 Alberta general election The 1921 Alberta general election was held on July 18, 1921, to elect members to the 5th Alberta Legislative Assembly. It was one of only five times that Alberta has changed governments. The Liberal Party, which had governed the province since it ...

but was defeated by

United Farmers United Farmers may refer to: *The United Farmers' MPs in the Canadian House of Commons who founded the Progressive Party of Canada in 1920 *United Farmers of Alberta, a political party which governed Alberta from 1921 to 1935 and also elected membe ...

candidate William Shield.

Late life

After being defeated from public office. Skelding expanded his business to include a lumber yard along with a chopping mill and a farm services business for seed grain cleaning. Skelding became very ill towards the end of his life. He required some surgeries and eventually became confined to his house as his health worsened and then was bed ridden for the last month before he died on July 18, 1927. He was buried the next day in the Macleod Union Cemetery at Fort Macleod. His funeral was widely attended by members of the former Liberal government and other prominent people from across Alberta.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skelding, George 1864 births 1927 deaths Alberta Liberal Party MLAs