Henry Wise Wood, CMG (May 31, 1860 – June 10, 1941) was an American-born

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

agrarian thinker and activist. He became director in 1914 and was elected president of the

United Farmers of Alberta The United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) is an association of Alberta farmers that has served different roles in its 100-year history – as a lobby group, a successful political party, and as a farm-supply retail chain. As a political party, it forme ...

in 1916. Under his leadership the UFA became the most powerful political lobby group in the province. In 1919, Wood oversaw the transition of the UFA into a political party and in 1921 they formed the

government of Alberta The government of Alberta (french: gouvernement de l'Alberta) is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of Alberta. As a constitutional monarchy, the Crown—represented in the province by the lieutenant governor—i ...

, winning 38 of 61 seats in the Legislative Assembly."Henry Wise Wood"
. ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' Wood refused to enter electoral politics himself but led the UFA's extra-parliamentary organization throughout, and influenced the elected government from the sidelines.

Background and early career

Wood was born on a farm near

Monroe City, Missouri Monroe City is a city in Marion County, Missouri, Marion, Monroe County, Missouri, Monroe, and Ralls County, Missouri, Ralls counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 2,652 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mario ...

to a prosperous farming family with land holding in Missouri and Texas. He became an accomplished stockman while still a teenager. At the age of 44 he visited

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 ...

and the following year (1905) purchased a wheat farm and moved his family to

Carstairs, Alberta Carstairs is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is located on Highway 2A, south of the provincial capital, Edmonton, and north of Calgary, the nearest major city. The closest neighbouring communities are the towns of Didsbury and Crossfield ...

Leadership of United Farmers of Alberta

An earnest student of agrarian reform, he had observed the Alliance and Populist movements in Missouri during the 1890s and after relocating to Canada soon joined the Society for Equity, an early farm association. In 1909 the Society for Equity merged with the

Alberta Farmers' Association The Alberta Farmers' Association (AFA) was a farmer's association that was active in Alberta, Canada from 1905 to 1909. It was formed from the Alberta branch of the Territorial Grain Growers' Association (TGGA) when Alberta became a province in 190 ...

to form the

. In 1914 Wood became a director of the UFA; in 1915 he was elected vice-president and was president from 1916 to 1931.

Class conflict ideology

Wood became well known as the main theorist and head of the radical Albertan branch of the wave of agrarian discontent that was sweeping Canada at the time. He consistently refused to run for office. After initial opposition due to past experience with will-fated political farm organizations in the U.S., he backed the United Farmers when they began to engage in direct politics - running for office - and also supported the

Progressive Party of Canada The Progressive Party of Canada, formally the National Progressive Party, was a federal-level political party in Canada in the 1920s until 1930. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces, and it spawned the P ...

and UFA candidates federally. Wood's basic ideology was one of supporting farmers' class interests against bankers and industrialists and hope for birth of co=operative society. He put forward new idea of representative government - the concept of "group government" - in which a legislature proportionally representing each sector of the society would replace the existing parliamentary system where political parties represent narrow class interests. Rolph, Henry Wise Wood of Alberta

Later life

Appointed a

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

in 1935, Wood continued to play an important role in the UFA until 1937 when he retired to his farm in

. He died in 1941. A school in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, Henry Wise Wood Senior High, was named after him.

References

Works cited

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Henry Wise 1860 births 1941 deaths Canadian cooperative organizers United Farmers of Alberta politicians American expatriates in Canada Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Canadian agrarianists People from Carstairs, Alberta People from Monroe City, Missouri Canadian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George