User:Connormah/Cornelius Gallagher (Canadian politician)

Cornelius Gallagher (December 31, 1854 – 1932) was a Canadian politician and butcher. He served as a municipal councillor and mayor of Edmonton.

Early life
Cornelius Gallagher was born on December 31, 1854 in Saint John, New Brunswick to Patrick and Katherine (nee Maher) Gallagher. His father, Patrick came to Canada from Ireland at the age of 14, and worked in the meat industry, being a wholesale meat merchant and meat packer. Patrick would die in Winnepeg in 1900. (MacRae 753)

Personal life
Gallagher was born December 31, 1854 in Saint John, New Brunswick and, as a young adult, joined his father's butchery. He and his father moved to Winnipeg in 1877, where they established wholesale and retail meat distributor P. Gallagher and Son. In 1888, Cornelius moved to Battleford, Saskatchewan, from which he supplied meat to troops suppressing the North-West Rebellion; he later supplied the North-West Mounted Police. The same year, he married Exilda Bourre; the couple would adopt two children. From 1889 to 1891 he was in Regina.

He came to Edmonton in 1891 and founded the Gallagher-Hull meat company, which he operated until his 1911 retirement. He first sought public office in 1893, when he was elected to Edmonton Town Council, placing sixth of nine candidates in an aldermanic race in which the top six candidates were elected. He was re-elected in 1894, once again placing sixth of nine candidates. Once this term expired in 1896, Gallagher stayed out of politics for several months until mayor Herbert Charles Wilson resigned over a dispute involving town funds. The council selected Gallagher as his replacement, making him the first mayor of Edmonton never to be elected to that position (Frederick John Mitchell and Terry Cavanagh would later join him in that distinction).

In the ensuing election, Gallagher elected to run for alderman rather than seeking re-election, which remains the only time in the city's history that a sitting mayor has run for alderman. He was elected, placing fifth of nine candidates, but did not seek re-election in 1897. In 1898 Gallagher ran for mayor, but was defeated by William S. Edmiston. He stayed out of politics until 1901, when he was elected to a two year term as alderman. He was defeated in his re-election bid in 1903, placing fifth of nine candidates (the staggered two year aldermanic terms meant that only three of the council's six aldermen were elected each election). His last bid for office took place during the 1907 election, when he placed eleventh of twelve candidates in the aldermanic race.

Cornelius Gallagher was a member of the Edmonton Board of Trade and was the first President of the Edmonton Exhibition Association. He was a member of the Conservative Party of Alberta and the Roman Catholic Church. He died in 1932.

Gallagher Park in Edmonton is named in his honour.

ELRefs

 * Edmonton Public Library biography of Cornelius Gallagher
 * City of Edmonton biography of Cornelius Gallagher
 * Excerpt from the Edmonton Daily, December 7 1907
 * Report to the Edmonton City Council Executive Committee including a list of aldermen who have been honoured in the names of Edmonton's features

Edmiston

 * Works
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 * Edmiston Board of Works
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 * Press excursion

Cameron

 * obit
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