Harvey Bossenberry (December 15, 1880 – June 19, 1951) 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 1930 to 1935 sitting with the Liberal caucus in opposition.

Early life

Harvey Bossenberry was born December 15, 1880, in

Huron County, Ontario Huron County is a county of the province of Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeast shore of its namesake, Lake Huron, in the southwest part of the province. The county seat is Goderich, also the county's largest community. The populat ...

, to Henry Bossenberry and Caroline Rau, both of German descent. He was educated at Grand Bend, Ontario Public School and Parkhill High School. Bossenberry eventually attended Forest Model School and Stratford Business College. He married Mary Ravelle on August 12, 1904. Bossenberry served as the mayor of

Pincher Creek Pincher Creek is a town in southern Alberta, Canada. It is located immediately east of the Canadian Rockies, west of Lethbridge and south of Calgary. History For centuries before European settlers reached this area and inhabited it, Indigen ...

in 1920 and 1928.

Political career

Bossenberry ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature 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 ...

as a Liberal candidate in the electoral district of Pincher Creek. Bossenberry finished second out of four candidates losing to United Farmers candidate Earle Cook. Cook and Bossenberry ran against each other for the second time in the

1926 Alberta general election The 1926 Alberta general election was held on June 28, 1926, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The United Farmers of Alberta government that had first been elected in 1921 was re-elected, taking a majority of the seats in t ...

. The three way race was hotly contested with Cook defeating Bossenberry in the second vote count. Bossenberry ran against Cook for the third time in the

1930 Alberta general election Year 193 ( CXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sosius and Ericius (or, less frequently, year 946 ''Ab urbe condit ...

. He defeated Cook in a very close two way race by 39 votes to pick up the seat for his party. After the election, Bossenberry became embroiled in the controversy surrounding the leadership of John McDonald and his quest to find a seat after being defeated in the election. McDonald had run for election in the neighboring

Macleod MacLeod, McLeod and Macleod ( ) which cited: are surnames in the English language. Generally, the names are considered to be Anglicised forms of the Scottish Gaelic ', meaning "son of '". One of the earliest occurrences of the surname is of Gi ...

riding. Bossenberry refused to yield his seat to McDonald to run in a by-election. Cook and Bossenberry would face each other in the fourth straight election held in 1935. They were both defeated with Cook finishing in last place and Bossenberry a distant second losing to Social Credit candidate Roy Taylor in the four way race.

References

External links

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Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bossenberry, Harvey Alberta Liberal Party MLAs Mayors of places in Alberta People from Huron County, Ontario 1951 deaths 1880 births