Austin Bingley Claypool (April 13, 1887 – June 4, 1956) was a provincial politician from

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada. He served as a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. Since 2012 the Legislative Assembly has had 87 members, elected first past the post f ...

from 1921 to 1935 sitting with the United Farmers caucus in government.

Political career

Claypool ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature for the first time in the

1921 Alberta general election The 1921 Alberta general election was held on July 18, 1921, to elect members to the 5th Alberta Legislative Assembly. The Liberal government is replaced by the United Farmers of Alberta. It was one of only five times that Alberta has changed gov ...

. He ran as a United Farmers candidate in the electoral district of Didsbury. Claypool defeated Liberal candidate George Webber with a comfortable majority to win the two-way race. Claypool ran for a second term in the 1926 Alberta general election. The race was contested by three candidates. Claypool won a large majority despite losing some of his popular vote from 1921. The

1930 Alberta general election The 1930 Alberta general election was held on June 19, 1930, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The United Farmers of Alberta won election to a third term in government, and John E. Brownlee continued as premier. This pro ...

would see Claypool stand for his third term. He ran in a two-way race against Independent W.A. Austin and beat him by less than 300 votes to hold his seat. Claypool ran for a fourth term in the

1935 Alberta general election The 1935 Alberta general election was held on August 22, 1935, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The newly founded Social Credit Party of Alberta won a sweeping victory, unseating the 14-year government of the United Farme ...

but was defeated in the four-way race finishing a distant second place to Social Credit candidate Edward Foster. Claypool made a bid to run for a seat to the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

in the 1940 federal election. He ran in a five-way race as a Liberal candidate but was defeated finishing a close second to incumbent Charles Johnston. Claypool died in an automobile crash near his hometown of Muncie, Indiana in 1956.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Claypool, Austin United Farmers of Alberta MLAs Candidates in the 1940 Canadian federal election 1887 births 1956 deaths People from Muncie, Indiana American emigrants to Canada Liberal Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Road incident deaths in Indiana Alberta candidates for Member of Parliament 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta