William Templeton (Canadian politician)

Templeton was born in Belleville, Ontario, in 1853.[1] He came to Vancouver in January 1886, when the settlement was named Granville.[2] Later that year, he entered the grocery business, building a store on the corner of Hastings 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.[3] He was also involved in railroad 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 1 tonne (2,200 lb) of turkeys to be shipped to Vancouver from Ontario to celebrate.[4] In 1896, Templeton chartered the Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railway.[5]

In 1891, Templeton was elected to the Vancouver City Council as an alderman. He also served on the School Board as a trustee from 1892 to 1897.[6] 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 [to] building castles in the sky" and not enough time to his official duties and to law enforcement.[7][8] 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.[9] He is also said to have mocked Oppenheimer's German accent and to have lost supporters as a result.[6][10] 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.[9]

He ran once again for mayor in 1897 and this time won by a majority of 319 votes,[11] 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.[12] He was defeated for re-election by James Garden in the next election on January 13, 1898, by 1260 to 950 votes.[13][14] The prominent issue of the election was the granting of licenses to music halls in the city, which Templeton opposed and Garden supported.[15]

Templeton died suddenly during the afternoon of Sunday, January 16, 1898, three days after his defeat, at his home in Vancouver.[16] He left a wife and children. At the time of his death, he was in the butchery business, as a pork 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,[12] while newspaper reports at the time stated that he died from heart disease,[17] a cerebral hemorrhage[18] or apoplexy.[19][20] He was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver. A newspaper at the time reported:

Mayor Templeton's death was about a tragedy. At the last moment in the contest for a second term as chief magistrate of the city his friends seemed to have deserted him. After the fight was over and he went home a beaten man; he told of the shameful lies that had been circulated about him and remarked "These slanders cut into my heart like a knife." He gave instructions to his wife regarding his children and quietly went to sleep, a sleep from which he never awakened, although life remained in the body for thirty-six hours. Many say that Templeton died of a broke heart, but the doctor's verdict is "burst a blood vessel on the brain."

— The Rossland Times[18]

The Templeton Building still stands today, at 1 East Hastings Street. Templeton Street and Templeton Secondary School in Vancouver are both also named after him.[12]

• William Templeton at Find a Grave