William Templeton (March 27, 1853 – January 16, 1898) was the sixth

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, serving only one term in 1897. A

butcher A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishm ...

and

grocer A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

, he operated a grocery store in the first brick building in Vancouver. Templeton also was a member of the

Vancouver City Council Vancouver City Council is the governing body of Vancouver, British Columbia. The council consists of a mayor and ten councillors elected to serve a four-year term. Monthly, a deputy mayor is appointed from among the councillors. The current mayo ...

and school board and had once run unsuccessfully for the mayor's seat before being elected in 1897. He was defeated in the next election in January 1898 and died shortly after. He is commemorated with a street and school named in his honour.

Early life and business

Templeton was born in

Belleville, Ontario Belleville is a city in Ontario, Canada situated on the eastern end of Lake Ontario, located at the mouth of the Moira River and on the Bay of Quinte. Belleville is between Ottawa and Toronto, along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Its populat ...

, in 1853. He came to Vancouver in January 1886, when the settlement was named Granville. Later that year, he entered the grocery business, building a store on the corner of

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

and Carrall Streets. After the building was destroyed in a fire, also the same year, Templeton and his partner Joseph Northcott commissioned a new brick building to be built on the corner lot that they had just purchased for $1800. It would be the first brick building in the city's history. He was also involved in

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

affairs, a member of a Canadian Pacific Railway group that benefitted from a land grant from the city in order to make it the terminus of the railway. On the occasion of the announcement in 1884, he ordered of turkeys to be shipped to Vancouver from Ontario to celebrate. In 1896, Templeton chartered the Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railway.

Local government

In 1891, Templeton was elected to the

as an alderman. He also served on the School Board as a trustee from 1892 to 1897. In 1890, Templeton ran unsuccessfully for the mayoralty of Vancouver, losing to David Oppenheimer. During the time leading up to the election, Templeton accused Oppenheimer of devoting "too much time obuilding castles in the sky" and not enough time to his official duties and to law enforcement. It was also said that Templeton was running to serve the "working and middle class", himself being a member of the working class, with Oppenheimer a higher class businessman. He is also said to have mocked Oppenheimer's German accent and to have lost supporters as a result. Templeton lost the election to Oppenheimer by 434 to 585 votes. This particular election has been said to have changed the politics of the city, initiating a divide in ideology and interests between the upper-class and middle-class citizens of the city. He ran once again for mayor in 1897 and this time won by a majority of 319 votes, and served for the year. When in office, he advocated for a smelter to be built in the city, for the extension of voting hours to suit the workers, and for the removal of a requirement that civic election candidates own property in the city. Templeton was also noted for an aggressive personality. He was defeated for re-election by

James Garden James Ford Garden (February 19, 1847 – December 9, 1914) was a Canadian engineer and the seventh Mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, serving from 1898 to 1900. Under his tenure the city developed a street car system, sidewalks, road grade ...

in the next election on January 13, 1898, by 1260 to 950 votes. The prominent issue of the election was the granting of licenses to music halls in the city, which Templeton opposed and Garden supported.

Death and legacy

Templeton died suddenly during the afternoon of Sunday, January 16, 1898, three days after his defeat, at his home in Vancouver. He left a wife and children. At the time of his death, he was in the

y business, as a

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...

packer. The cause of Templeton's death is unclear: some sources state that he committed suicide due to the distress of his defeat by overdosing on sleep medication, while newspaper reports at the time stated that he died from heart disease, a cerebral hemorrhage or

apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...

. He was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver. A newspaper at the time reported: The Templeton Building still stands today, at 1 East Hastings Street. Templeton Street and

Templeton Secondary School Templeton Secondary School is a public secondary school located in the Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood on the East Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Its student teams won the SmartAsk competition in 2004, the junior ''Reach For The Top'' pro ...

in Vancouver are both also named after him.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Templeton, William 1853 births 1898 deaths Businesspeople from Ontario Businesspeople from Vancouver Mayors of Vancouver Politicians from Belleville, Ontario Burials at Mountain View Cemetery (Vancouver) 19th-century Canadian politicians