Richard Charles Hardisty (3 March 1831 – 18 October 1889) was a

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

official at

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

and a politician in the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He married Eliza McDougall on 21 September 1866 while he was a Hudson's Bay Company employee. He ran as an Independent Conservative in the

1887 Canadian federal election The 1887 Canadian federal election was held on February 22, 1887, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 6th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald retained power, defeating the ...

and finished a close second in the

Alberta (Provisional District) Alberta (Provisional District) was a federal electoral district in the Northwest Territories, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1887 to 1908. History The Alberta Provisional District was created in 1886 when the ...

. He lost to

Donald Watson Davis Donald Watson Davis (November 23, 1849 – June 4, 1906) was a politician from Northwest Territories, Canada. Born in Londonderry, Vermont, he served in the Union army during the U.S. Civil War. He came west and then north to southern Alberta ...

. He was appointed to the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the B ...

on the advice of Prime Minister

John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...

on 23 February 1888, the first

Metis Metis or Métis may refer to: Ethnic groups * Métis, recognized Indigenous communities in Canada and America whose distinct culture and language emerged after early intermarriage between First Nations peoples and early European settlers, prima ...

Senator. He died just a year later while fording a river on horseback on October 18, 1889. His replacement in the Senate was Sir

James Lougheed Sir James Alexander Lougheed, ( or ; 1 September 1854 – 2 November 1925) was a businessman, lawyer and politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a senator for 35 years, and held a number of Cabinet positions. Early life Lougheed was bo ...

, who would marry his niece Belle Hardisty in 1891, and the grandfather of

Peter Lougheed Edgar Peter Lougheed ( ; July 26, 1928 – September 13, 2012) was a Canadian lawyer and Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, Progressive Conservative politician who served as the tenth premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985, presiding ...

. The village of

Hardisty, Alberta Hardisty is a town in Flagstaff County in east-central Alberta, Canada. It is approximately from the Saskatchewan border, near the crossroads of Highway 13 and Highway 881, in the Battle River Valley. Hardisty is mainly known as a pivotal pet ...

, is named in his honour, as is

Mount Hardisty Mount Hardisty is a mountain summit located in the Athabasca River valley of Jasper National Park, in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, Canada. Its nearest higher peak is Mount Kerkeslin, to the south. Both mountains are part of the Maligne R ...

Jasper National Park Jasper National Park is a national park in Alberta, Canada. It is the largest national park within Alberta's Rocky Mountains spanning . It was established as a national park in 1930 and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. Its locatio ...

References

External links

*
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
1831 births 1889 deaths Independent candidates in the 1887 Canadian federal election Canadian senators from the Northwest Territories Hudson's Bay Company people Indigenous Canadian senators {{Alberta-politician-stub Canadian Métis people

References

Further reading

External links