The Honourable William Ralph Talbot Chetwynd (July 28, 1890 – April 3, 1957) was a British-Canadian businessman and politician. The town of

Chetwynd, British Columbia Chetwynd is a district municipality located in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains, in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. Situated on an ancient floodplain, it is the first town eastbound travellers encounter after emerging from ...

was named in his honor. Born in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, England, he was the younger brother of Sir (Arthur Henry) Talbot Chetwynd, 7th Baronet. He came to Canada at the age of eighteen, and was soon in

Ashcroft, British Columbia Ashcroft is a village municipality that straddles the Thompson River in the Thompson Country region of south central British Columbia, Canada. East of British Columbia Highway 1, BC Highway 1 and on British Columbia Highway 97C, BC Highway 97C, t ...

(west of

Kamloops Lake Kamloops Lake in British Columbia, Canada is situated on the Thompson River just west of Kamloops. The lake is 1.6 km wide, 29 km long, and up to 152 m deep. In prehistoric time, the lake was much longer, perhaps 20x, with adjacent sil ...

). He received employment from

Charles Paget, 6th Marquess of Anglesey Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Henry Alexander Paget, 6th Marquess of Anglesey, (14 April 1885 – 21 February 1947) was a British peer, farmer and soldier. Biography Paget was born in 1885 to Lord Alexander Paget, third son of Henry Paget, 2nd ...

(nephew of Lady Florence Cecilia Paget, who was married to Chetwynd's first cousin once removed Sir George, 4th Baronet) to manage Anglesey's fruit farm holdings at

Walhachin Walhachin is an unincorporated community in the Thompson Country region of south central British Columbia, Canada. The place is on a south shore bench of the Thompson River between Brassey and Jimmie creeks. The locality, off BC Highway 1, is by ...

. On October 8, 1912, he married Frances Mary Jupe, daughter of James Jupe of

Mere, Wiltshire Mere is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It lies at the extreme southwestern tip of Salisbury Plain, close to the borders of Somerset and Dorset. The parish includes the Hamlet (place), hamlets of ...

. He fought in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

as a member of the

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It was created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of the regiment, the ...

, attaining the rank of lieutenant therein. He received the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

(MC) in 1918 for his service. The citation for his MC, which appeared in ''

The London Gazette ''The London Gazette'', known generally as ''The Gazette'', is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, i ...

'' in November 1918, reads as follows: After returning from Europe, he entered cattle

ranching A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often applied to li ...

and the transportation business needed to get the cattle and other agriculture products to eastern markets. As a fruit grower and rancher, he saw both the potential for the Cariboo and Peace River Country, but also the need for efficient rail transportation to serve the region. In 1942 he became the public relations officer for

Pacific Great Eastern Railway The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

(PGE; later

BC Rail The British Columbia Railway Company , commonly known as BC Rail, is a railway in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Chartered as a private company in 1912 as the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE), it was acquired by the provincial ...

; now part of the

CN Rail The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue an ...

system), a post he held until 1952; he also served as a director of the PGE. He was a big advocate for building a railroad to central British Columbia. Running as a member from the District of Cariboo, he was elected to the provincial legislature in 1952. He served on the

Executive Council of British Columbia The Executive Council of British Columbia (the Cabinet) is the Cabinet of the Canadian province of British Columbia. Almost always composed of members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, the Cabinet is similar in structure and rol ...

as Minister of Trade and Industry, Minister of Railways, Minister of Fisheries and also as Minister of Agriculture. He died in office on April 3, 1957. Full of confidence, he once bet executives at PGE, and politicians (a new

Stetson Stetson is an American brand of hat manufactured by the John B. Stetson Company. "Stetson" is also used as a generic trademark to refer to any campaign hat, particularly in Scouting. John B. Stetson gained inspiration for his most famous ...

hat), that the new extension line for

Peace River The Peace River () is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in the Peace-Athabasca Delta to form the ...

would leave North Vancouver on June 11, 1956 at 4:15 pm. He had many takers, totaling more than $800 in hats. He won the bet, and got his picture in the newspaper wearing a stack of hats. Chetwynd died at

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

on April 3, 1957. Rail service arrived in Little Prairie in April 1958. It would bring an economic transformation to the area, which until then had to rely on trucks to get any goods, such as timber, out of the valley. The

Premier of British Columbia The premier of British Columbia is the first minister and head of government for the Canadian province of British Columbia. Until the early 1970s, the title ''prime minister of British Columbia'' was often used. The word ''premier'' is derived ...

W.A.C. Bennett William Andrew Cecil Bennett (September 6, 1900 – February 23, 1979) was a Canadian politician who served as the 25th premier of British Columbia from 1952 to 1972. With just over 20 years in office, Bennett remains the longest-serving premier ...

, renamed the PGE station at Little Prairie to Chetwynd, in his honour, and the town of Little Prairie soon changed its

name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...

in 1959.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chetwynd, Ralph 1890 births 1957 deaths British Army personnel of World War I British Columbia Social Credit Party MLAs Canadian transportation businesspeople Canadian cattlemen Canadian orchardists Canadian public relations people Canadian recipients of the Military Cross English emigrants to Canada Farmers from British Columbia Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia People from Stafford People from the Thompson-Nicola Regional District Royal Field Artillery officers Military personnel from Staffordshire 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia