28 Facts About Rice Sheppard

Rice Sheppard was a politician and farmers' activist in Alberta, Canada.

Rice Sheppard's father was James Sheppard, who was married to Louisa Sheppard and in total they had 13 children.

Family stories say that the Rice Sheppard family was thrown out of Lambourn by the Squire for not being Church of England, although this would have been unlikely as there were many non-conformists in the town by this time, and there was no effective 'squire' anymore.

Rice Sheppard took his first job when he was ten years old, working at a store.

Rice Sheppard emigrated to Canada in 1897, and took up farming near South Edmonton.

Rice Sheppard was soundly defeated in the two person race by the incumbent, Liberal Premier Alexander Rutherford.

Around the same time, Rice Sheppard was active with the Temperance and Moral Reform League of Alberta, which advocated for prohibition in Alberta.

In 1905, Rice Sheppard helped found the Alberta Farmers Association which held meetings in the Ross Block, still standing in Old Strathcona, Edmonton.

Rice Sheppard helped negotiate the 1909 merging of the local Society of Equity farmers' groups with the AFA to form the United Farmers of Alberta, which grew into a powerful co-op store chain, a lobby group and a political party.

Rice Sheppard was a member of a committee responsible for setting up Alberta's first municipal hospitals.

Rice Sheppard sought provincial office in a 1937 by-election in Edmonton.

Rice Sheppard finished last of five candidates with under one percent of the vote, as Edward Leslie Gray held the riding for the Liberals.

Rice Sheppard served a total of nearly twelve years on Edmonton City Council and ran in seventeen municipal elections.

Rice Sheppard ran for re-election at the conclusion of this term, in the 1915 election, but was defeated, placing tenth of fourteen candidates.

Rice Sheppard then stayed out of municipal politics for four years.

Rice Sheppard did not seek re-election at the conclusion of this term, but did return to office in 1922, finishing second of sixteen candidates; he was the only Labour candidate elected this election, as the Citizens' Committee to every remaining seat.

Rather than seek re-election as an alderman in the 1924 election, Rice Sheppard challenged mayor Kenny Blatchford's re-election attempt.

Rice Sheppard was defeated in the two person race, taking just under forty percent of the vote.

Rice Sheppard tried again the following year, this time taking less than ten percent of the vote in a fourth-place finish of six candidates.

Blatchford didn't seek re-election in 1926, and Rice Sheppard again ran for mayor.

Labour nominated Dan Knott, and Rice Sheppard ran as an independent.

Fellow Independent Ambrose Bury, a Conservative, was elected, and Rice Sheppard finished last in a six-person field.

Rice Sheppard did not receive a nomination from Labour, and ran as an Independent Labour candidate.

Rice Sheppard finished fifth of fourteen candidates - ahead of two of the Labour candidates - and was elected to a one-year term.

Rice Sheppard ran in the 1936 election as a Social Credit candidate, but he finished sixth of sixteen aldermanic candidates as the Citizens' Committee swept the five available seats; this was the first time since 1915 that Rice Sheppard had been defeated in an aldermanic race.

In 1944, Rice Sheppard was the sole challenger to incumbent mayor John Wesley Fry, but won less than thirty percent of the vote.

Rice Sheppard made a final bid for election in the 1945 election, when he was in his 80s, but finished twelfth of fourteen candidates as an Independent candidate for alderman.

Rice Sheppard then ran as a Labour candidate in that riding.