Persona

Motherwell, W.R.

1880-1943

William Richard Motherwell was born in 1880 in Perth, Canada West, He attended the Ontario Agricultural College, graduating in 1881; then worked that summer in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. The following year he spring he returned to the prairies joining settlers in who traveled by rail to Brandon, Manitoba, then by red river cart and wagon beyond to the area of Abernethy, Saskatchewan, where he settled and constructed the Motherwell Homestead. In 1901 he co-founded and became president of the Territorial Grain Growers' Association. Motherwell served in the provincial legislator from 1905-1918, and as Saskatchewan Minister of Agriculture from 1906-1917. His resignation from the provincial legislature was in protest over the provincial Liberal Party's support for conscription and reduction in French language rights. He first ran as the Liberal candidate for the House of Commons for the Saskatchewan riding of Assiniboia in a 1919 by-election. Although defeated, Motherwell was elected in the riding of Regina in the 1921 federal election. He was re-elected in 1925, 1926, 1930, and 1935 for the riding of Melville. From 1921 to 1930, Motherwell was the Minister of Agriculture, except for a short period in 1926. Motherwell died in Regina in 1943, and is buried at the Abernethy Community Cemetery, near his homestead.