Alwyn Bramley-Moore

Alywn Bramley-Moore (July 3, 1878 – April 4, 1916) was a provincial politician, author and soldier from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1909 to 1913 sitting with the Liberal caucus in government. After his political career he served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in World War I from 1914 to his death in 1916.

Alywn Bramley-Moore
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
In office
March 22, 1909 – April 17, 1913
Preceded byNew district
Succeeded byJames Lowery
ConstituencyAlexandra
Personal details
Born(1878-07-03)July 3, 1878[1]
Bloomsbury, London
DiedApril 4, 1916(1916-04-04) (aged 37)
Political partyLiberal
Occupationauthor, military man and politician
Military service
AllegianceCanada
Branch/serviceCanadian Expeditionary Force
Years of service1914-April 4, 1916
Battles/warsFirst World War

Early life

He was the son of the Rev. William Bramley-Moore, of 26 Russell Square, London, educated at Malvern College which he left in summer 1895.[2] That year he emigrated to Canada, initially settling at Sarnia, Ontario. He homesteaded a farm near Lloydminster, Alberta, and had an interest in coal mine there.[3] He moved to Edmonton in 1910.[4]

Bramley-Moore met and married Ellen Nellie Grieve (1877–1950). They had two daughters and one son William, later a prominent Edmonton doctor. (William Bramley-Moore (1906–1976) is the namesake of an Edmonton park.)

Political career

Bramley-Moore ran for a seat to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1909 Alberta general election as the Liberal candidate in the electoral district of Alexandra. He defeated the other candidate, future MLA James Lowery, in a landslide victory, taking 65 percent of the vote.[5] He served only a single term in the provincial legislature, sitting in the back benches on the Government (Liberal) side of the Legislative Assembly.

In 1911, he wrote Canada and Her Colonies, or Home Rule for Alberta. This book sets forth a claim for the end of the protective tariff that is "designed to build up Canadian industries," mostly located in central Canada. He also called on the federal government to grant Alberta control of its natural resources and Crown lands (finally achieved in 1929). He described Alberta as a colony of the Phoenician type (that is, settled by emigrants of he home country) and not a colony of the Roman type (a conquered people). He states that just as in 1911 the Irish were accorded by many the right to Home Rule so should Alberta's right be recognized.[6]

He though did not call for secession of the West (the territory west of a line drawn from Port Arthur (Thunder Bay) to the Hudsons Bay). He wrote "We are not urging the secession of the West from the East but we are endeavouring to show that such a result must ensue unless a change in her system of colonial government is made by Canada." He feared for the result if reforms were not made, saying "The laws of evolution are inexorable, and resistance will only result in a catastrophe." The 1911 Canadian election produced a win for the Conservatives who were strongly in support of Protectionism.[7]

He retired from elected office at dissolution of the Assembly in 1913 and did not run for re-election

Late life

After Bramley-Moore retired from provincial politics, he served on the Alberta Commission of the American Commission for the Study of Agricultural Credit. He and Henry Marshal Tory, president of the UofA, co-wrote a report on rural credit reform (to address the need for low-interest farm loans).[8]

After the outbreak of World War I, he volunteered to join the Canadian army. He died in the war, shot by a German sniper in March 1916 and died in hospital on April 4. Bramley-Moore was buried in the Boulogne Eastern Cemetery,Pas de Calais, France. [9]

Legacy

After his death a portrait of Moore was commissioned by Premier Arthur Lewis Sifton and was displayed in the legislature for many years.

His wartime letters home have been published in Path of Duty, edited by Ken Tingley.

Bramley-Moore has become a hero to later Alberta separatists for his many quotations and writings on exploitation of Alberta by eastern Canada.[10]

References
  1. "Lance Corporal Alwyn Bramley-Moore :: CGWP Record Detail".
  2. Malvern College (Malvern, England) (1905). The Malvern register, 1865-1904. Malvern: Printed and published at the Office of the Malvern Advertiser. p. 316.
  3. Tennyson, Brian Douglas (2013). The Canadian Experience of the Great War: A Guide to Memoirs. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 397. ISBN 978-0-8108-8679-7.
  4. Naming Edmonton, p. 342
  5. "Alexandra Official Results 1909 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  6. Bramley-Moore, Canada and her colonies, p. 50-60, 78. http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/3556.html
  7. Bramley-Moore, Canada and Her Colonies, p. 171-2.
  8. "Peel 3951: Tory, Henry Marshall, Report of the Alberta commissioners on the American Commission for the Study of Agricultural Credit (1914)".
  9. "In memory of: Lance Corporal Alwyn Bramley-Moore". Canadian Virtual War Memorial. Government of Canada-Veterans Affairs Canada. 5 November 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  10. Coulter, Barry (6 November 2019). "The argument for Alberta independence in 1911". BC Local News. Archived from the original on 7 November 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
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