Francis Hedley Auld, OBE (14 June 1881 – 15 February 1967) was a Canadian agricultural scientist who served as

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

's Deputy Minister of Agriculture from 1916 to 1946. Auld was instrumental in increasing the province's farm production during his career in the civil service. He was also appointed Secretary for the Better Farming Commission (1920) and Secretary of the Royal Commission on Grain (1928).

Biography

Auld was born in

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

and attended

Prince of Wales College Prince of Wales College (PWC) is a former university college, which was located in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. PWC merged with St. Dunstan's University in 1969 to form the University of Prince Edward Island. PWC traces its hi ...

Charlottetown Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County, Prince Edward Island, Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlott ...

. Upon graduation in 1899, he taught public school briefly. In 1902, aged 21, he moved to western Canada, intending to settle in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, Alberta. He visited his brother who taught in Abernethy, and met the Honourable W. R. Motherwell. A general store job did not last long, as Motherwell secured employment for him in the provincial government's Dairy Branch. He married and had several children. Auld was the first Director of Extension at the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

(1910–1912). On 31 January 1911 Auld met with 42 women in Regina and the Saskatchewan Homemakers clubs were initiated. These clubs provided networking on homemaking, temperance issues, gardening, health, and poultry raising. Auld returned to the province's civil service in 1914, rejoining the Provincial Department of Agriculture. In 1916, Auld became Deputy Minister of Agriculture, serving until 1946. He was elected to the University of Saskatchewan

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in 1944. F. H. Auld was a member of the Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists in 1946. He became the fifth Chancellor of the University of Saskatchewan. From 1950 to 1951 F.H. Auld was Grand Lodge of Saskatchewan, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons Past Grand Masters. Until 1966, Auld was a member of the Board of Governors of St. Andrew's College. He died on 15 February 1967.

Quotation

My personal opinion is that too many farmers are depending entirely upon grain farming. It is, of course, also true that present prices for live stock are rather discouraging, but it is my opinion also that the safest and surest means of successful farming is by diversifying to the greatest possible extent. A few cows, a few pigs, some hens with a variety of crops necessary to provide a good variety of feed for these various classes of live stock will provide the greatest measure of safety...(F.H. Auld to Thomas Rennie, East Anglia, Sask. December 3, 1920)

Saskatchewan Archival Papers

The book ''A Capsule History Settling and Abandoning the Prairie Dry Belt'' by David C. Jones states that there are few records chronicling the drought years which began in

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 ...

in the 1920s. The papers of Deputy Minister of Agriculture F.H. Auld and other Saskatchewan ministers held in the Saskatchewan Archives help to understand municipal and village disintegration and debt relief programs for a succession of crop failures.

Publications

* "Farmer's Institutes in the North-West Territories." by F. H. Auld. ''Saskatchewan History Magazine'', 1957, vol. 10, no. 2, p. 41.

Other awards

The University of Saskatchewan bestowed an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree on F. H. Auld in 1936. Auld was initiated as a Fellow of the Agricultural Institute of Canada. The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE), which is a British

order of chivalry An order of chivalry, order of knighthood, chivalric order, or equestrian order is a society, fellowship and college of knights, typically founded during or inspired by the original Catholic military orders of the Crusades ( 1099–1291) and ...

, was bestowed upon him in 1946. In 1973 he was inducted into the Saskatchewan Agriculture Hall of Fame.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Auld, F. H. 1881 births 1967 deaths Canadian university and college chief executives Chancellors of the University of Saskatchewan Members of the Order of the British Empire Saskatchewan civil servants People from Queens County, Prince Edward Island Canadian agronomists Canadian Officers of the Order of the British Empire