Herbert Arthur Sinnott (January 7, 1871 – after 1923) was a Canadian educator, lawyer and municipal politician who served as the 18th mayor of Calgary, Alberta from 1913 to 1915. Sinnott was born in

Kings County, New Brunswick Kings County (2016 population 68,941) is located in southern New Brunswick, Canada. Its historical shire town is Hampton. Both the Saint John and Kennebecasis rivers pass through the county. Approximately half of the Kings County population ...

on January 7, 1871 to David S., a farmer, and Frances (née Taylor) Sinnott.MacRae 1912, pg. 573 After attending schools in

Sussex, New Brunswick Sussex is a town in Kings County, New Brunswick, Kings County, New Brunswick, Canada. Sussex is located in south central New Brunswick, between the province's three largest cities, Saint John, Moncton, and Fredericton. Sussex straddles the ...

, Sinnott graduated from

Mount Allison University Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839. Like other liberal arts colleges in North America, Mount Allison does not parti ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

and started his teaching career in Gagetown as principal of a grammar school. He later taught high school in Moncton, New Brunswick before moving west to Alberta in 1900. In 1903, he became a high school principal in Calgary, the first ever to the city. He began a career in law in 1908, articling under Thomas M. Tweedie. In 1911, he was called to the

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. Around this time, Sinnott also owned and rented out various properties in the city of Calgary as well as

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 also served on the Calgary School Board as trustee in 1912 and 1920–22 along with chairman from 1908–11 and 1918–19.Leslie 1975 Sinnott was elected as Mayor of Calgary and served in this position from January 2, 1913 to January 2, 1915. During his time in office, oil was discovered within the city of Calgary, and it was said that the " hole cityquickly became oil conscious". In January 1923, Sinnott pleaded guilty in a court to "misappropriating clients' trust funds" during his work as a lawyer in Calgary. During his trial, Sinnott admitted his guilt and was sentenced to seven years to be served in a Prince Albert, Saskatchewan jail. The magistrate had expressed that "the more grievous" crime that of the betrayal of trust of Sinnott to his clients, and that it was unfortunate that such a citizen of high of esteem, had admitted to committing the crimes. The magistrate also expressed that the punishment was decided to set a precedent and to "deter others from doing the same thing", along with restating that though it was hard to see "a citizen of Mr. Sinnott's calibre" take the sentence, it was a necessary justice. It is not known where Sinnott went after presumably leaving prison, although there have been rumours that he may have moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

shortly thereafter. While the

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The ...

reported Sinnott as living in

Eastern Canada Eastern Canada (also the Eastern provinces or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of the Hudson Bay/Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newfoundland and Labrador, ...

in December 1937. He married Margaret Horne, a graduate nurse and daughter of a sea captain, in 1901 and had one child with her, Margaret. His wife died in 1906. A conservative in politics, during his time in Calgary, Sinnott was a member of the Ancient Order of Foresters in Calgary as well as the

Methodist church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

. Sinnott was widely regarded for his work in the educational field, with a 1912 biography beginning with "The educational annals of the Northwest present few names which shine with a brighter luster of good deeds done than the one which forms his paragraph.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sinnott, Herbert Arthur 1871 births People from Kings County, New Brunswick Mayors of Calgary Year of death missing Place of death missing 20th-century Canadian politicians