Manning William Doherty (September 27, 1875 - September 26, 1938) was a farmer, businessman and politician serving as Ontario's Minister of Agriculture during the

United Farmers of Ontario The United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) was an agrarian and populist provincial political party in Ontario, Canada. It was the Ontario provincial branch of the United Farmers movement of the early part of the 20th century. History Foundation and r ...

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

government of 1919 to 1923 and as leader of the Progressives (as the UFO had become known) in Opposition before leaving provincial politics.

Early life

Doherty was the descendant of an old

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...

family that immigrated to

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

from Ireland. His great-grandfather, Bernard Doherty, arrived in York (present-day Toronto) in 1812 and was offered a farm on the land now bordered by

Queen Street West Queen Street is a major east-west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in the west to Victoria Park Avenue in the east. Queen Street was the cartographic baseline for the original east-w ...

Yonge Street Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. Once the southernmost leg of provincial Hi ...

University Avenue A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

, and College Street - then on the outskirts of town but today the heart of

Downtown Toronto Downtown Toronto is the main central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Stre ...

. He rejected the offer as too low and wet for agricultural purposes and instead accepted of the original homestead was inherited and farmed by Manning Doherty, Bernard Doherty's great-grandson. As a child, Doherty attended Toronto Township School Section No. 11, Hanlan. Doherty graduated from

Upper Canada College Upper Canada College (UCC) is an elite, all-boys, private school in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as the country's most prestigious preparatory school, and has produce ...

and then earned a Bachelor of Scientific Agriculture from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

Ontario Agricultural College The Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) originated at the agricultural laboratories of the Toronto Normal School, and was officially founded in 1874 as an associate agricultural college of the University of Toronto. Since 1964, it has become affili ...

(became part of the

University of Guelph , mottoeng = "to learn the reasons of realities" , established = May 8, 1964 ()As constituents: OAC: (1874) Macdonald Institute: (1903) OVC: (1922) , type = Public university , chancellor ...

since 1964) in 1895. He then studied at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

where he received his master's degree before returning to the Ontario Agricultural College to teach from 1898 to 1902 as an associate professor.

Political career

UFO

He was a supporter of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

initially before being attracted to the agrarian movement and the fledgling United Farmers. He became vice-president of the United Farmers of Ontario and director of the United Farmers Co-operative Company. Shortly after the 1919 provincial election in which the UFO won an upset victory Manning was appointed agriculture minister in the government of

E.C. Drury Ernest Charles Drury (January 22, 1878 – February 17, 1968) was a farmer, politician and writer who served as the eighth premier of Ontario, from 1919 to 1923 as the head of a United Farmers of Ontario–Labour coalition government. ...

and entered the Ontario legislature by means of a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

. As Agriculture Minister, Doherty encouraged co-operative marketing for agricultural products serving until the government's defeat in the 1923 provincial election. Doherty was personally re-elected to the legislature in his riding of Kent East.

Progressives

Doherty served as acting leader of the Progressives through the 1924 legislative session but announced at the beginning of this tenure that he would not be seeking the leadership permanently."Progressive Party to meet in Toronto and select leader", ''Globe and Mail'', September 27, 1924 Doherty remained leader until January 1925 when the Progressive caucus chose

William Raney William Edgar Raney (1859–1933) was a lawyer, politician and judge in Ontario, Canada, in the early twentieth century. He was known for his opposition to gambling on horse racing and the sale of alcohol. Early life Born on December 8, 1859, ...

as its leader after Doherty refused to reconsider his retirement."Progressive Group chooses Mr. Raney as its leader", ''Globe and Mail'', January 21, 1925 Despite the fact that the UFO/Progressives were the second largest party in the

Ontario legislature The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

following the 1923 provincial election, Doherty did not become

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

since Conservative Premier

Howard Ferguson George Howard Ferguson, PC (June 18, 1870 – February 21, 1946) was the ninth premier of Ontario, from 1923 to 1930. He was a Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1905 to 1930 who represented the eastern provincia ...

used an announcement from UFO general secretary

James J. Morrison James J. (J.J.) Morrison (1861–1936) was a Canadian farm leader in Ontario, Canada, a founder of the United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) in 1914, and a leader of the co-operative movement. He was the UFO's sometimes controversial general secretary, ...

was withdrawing from party politics as a pretext to recognise the third place Liberals as the official opposition, despite Doherty's protests. The parliamentary wing of the UFO and its non-parliamentary wing had been at loggerheads throughout the party's time in government and Morrison's statement was issued without consulting UFO members of the legislature, who subsequently became officially known as the Progressive group due in part to the dispute with Morrison's wing of the UFO.

Conservatives

Doherty resigned his seat in the provincial legislature in 1926 in order to campaign in support of the federal Conservatives led by

Arthur Meighen Arthur Meighen (; June 16, 1874 – August 5, 1960) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Canada from 1920 to 1921 and from June to September 1926. He led the Conservative Party from 1920 to 1926 and fro ...

."M.W. Doherty is dead at 62", ''Globe and Mail'', September 27, 1938 He considered running as a federal Conservative candidate against former Liberal Labour minister

John Campbell Elliott John Campbell Elliott, (August 25, 1872 – December 20, 1941) was a Canadian lawyer and politician. Early life He was born in Ekfrid, Ontario, the son of George Elliott and Jane Campbell. He was educated at the University of Trinity C ...

Middlesex West Middlesex West was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867 which divided the County of Midd ...

win the 1926 federal election but, in the end, did not run.

After politics

Following his retirement from politics, Doherty focussed his efforts on his business interests, principally in the brokerage firm of Doherty, Roadhouse and Company.Subsequently part of Midland Doherty (since 1998 part of

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

) He became treasurer of the

Toronto Stock Exchange The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; french: Bourse de Toronto) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in t ...

in 1936 and was its vice-president when he died in 1938."Manning W. Doherty dead, once Agriculture Minister", ''Toronto Daily Star'', September 26, 1938 His son Brian Doherty was a playwright.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Doherty, Manning United Farmers of Ontario MLAs Leaders of the United Farmers of Ontario/Progressives Members of the Executive Council of Ontario University of Toronto alumni Ontario Agricultural College alumni 1875 births 1938 deaths