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Edward Alexander Partridge
Edward Alexander Partridge (5 November 1861 – 3 August 1931) was a Canadian teacher, farmer, agrarian radical, businessman and author. He was born in Ontario but moved to Saskatchewan where he taught and then became a farmer. He was active in the Territorial Grain Growers' Association (TGGA), founded in 1902, which addressed various problems with the Western Canada grain market. He founded the cooperative Grain Growers' Grain Company, the predecessor of the United Grain Growers, and the Grain Growers' Guide, a widely distributed weekly paper. His "Partridge Plan" was a broad and visionary proposal for addressing a wide range of farmers' issues, eliminating many abuses caused by the near-monopoly of grain elevator companies, and resulted in important reforms by the provincial governments. Patridge was named a National Historic Person in 2018.
Edward Alexander Partridge was born on 5 November 1861 near Crown Hill, Springwater then in Canada West. He was the third son in a farming family. His parents were John Thomas Partridge and Martha Chappell. There were fourteen children altogether in the family. His father's parents had emigrated from New York State in 1819 and settled to the northeast of Barrie, Ontario. Partridge's mother died while he was an infant, and he lived with his grandparents for a period while he attended public school. He completed secondary school in Barrie and obtained a teacher's certificate. He taught for a period, then in December 1883 moved west with his brother to attempt farming in the District of Assiniboia.
They settled at the hamlet and railway station of Sintaluta, now in Saskatchewan but then in the North-West Territories. Unable to afford the equipment and supplies he needed to operate a farm, Partridge returned to teaching. He taught near Broadview, at Saltcoats and at Maple Green near Lemberg. He served in the Yorkton Militia from April to June 1885 during the North-West Rebellion. In 1886, he married Mary Elizabeth Stephens in Balcarres, Saskatchewan, and they began a farm. They had three daughters and two sons.
Farmers formed the Territorial Grain Growers' Association (TGGA) in January 1902 to help them fight abuse by the grain dealers and railways. The TGGA had succeeded in getting the Manitoba Grain Act amended to eliminate the main abuses by 1903. With the passage of the amendments to the act it had achieved its primary objective, and lost some of its momentum. Partridge began to push the TGGA members to demand tighter control of the grading system and inspection of elevators. He also proposed a cooperative grain trading company owned by the farmers, a newspaper to help communication and greater involvement by farmers in political issues.
The Sintaluta Local was concerned about the operation of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange. They persuaded the federal government to appoint a "watchdog" to make sure that the exchange was treating grain growers fairly, and they sent Partridge to Winnipeg in January–February 1905 to observe the exchange. He was treated poorly and became convinced that the exchange was not interested in the farmers, who needed their own grain company. For his observations of the Grain Exchange he earned the nickname "That Man Partridge." Patridge spoke at the SGGA convention in 1906, and attacked the grain handling system. He said that the elevator companies, millers and exporters rigged the grain prices so they were low during the fall harvest period, when farmers had to sell to obtain cash to pay their debts. They then made future contracts to the English buyers for delivery at far higher prices. Many of his audience were convinced by his argument.
On 27 January 1906 the Grain Growers' Grain Company (GGGC) was founded as a cooperative company to handle marketing of the grain, under Partridge's leadership. The GGGC found itself engaged in a lengthy struggle with the existing grain companies over its seats on the Winnipeg Grain Exchange. It was expelled for paying patronage dividends to its member clients, then reinstated when the Manitoba Grain Growers' Association MGGA exerted pressure on the government of Rodmond Roblin. The president of the MGGA, D.W. McCuaig, sued three of the exchange's members for combining to obstruct trade.
Partridge resigned as president of the GGGC at the 1907 convention, in part because the company's original cooperative structure had been modified to meet the requirements of the Grain Exchange, in part because he was not interested in running the company he had launched. In 1908 Partridge lost a leg in an accident.
Partridge felt that the press had given unfair treatment of the struggle to get the GGGC off the ground, and helped organize a farmers' publication. The Grain Growers' Guide first appeared in 1908, edited by Partridge. It was published by the Grain Growers' Grain Company through its subsidiary, Public Press Limited. The Guide represented the interests of the MGGA and its sister organizations the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association (SGGA) and the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA). Partridge thought the guide should be a militant paper, but was not supported in this view. He resigned after the first issue.
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Edward Alexander Partridge
Edward Alexander Partridge (5 November 1861 – 3 August 1931) was a Canadian teacher, farmer, agrarian radical, businessman and author. He was born in Ontario but moved to Saskatchewan where he taught and then became a farmer. He was active in the Territorial Grain Growers' Association (TGGA), founded in 1902, which addressed various problems with the Western Canada grain market. He founded the cooperative Grain Growers' Grain Company, the predecessor of the United Grain Growers, and the Grain Growers' Guide, a widely distributed weekly paper. His "Partridge Plan" was a broad and visionary proposal for addressing a wide range of farmers' issues, eliminating many abuses caused by the near-monopoly of grain elevator companies, and resulted in important reforms by the provincial governments. Patridge was named a National Historic Person in 2018.
Edward Alexander Partridge was born on 5 November 1861 near Crown Hill, Springwater then in Canada West. He was the third son in a farming family. His parents were John Thomas Partridge and Martha Chappell. There were fourteen children altogether in the family. His father's parents had emigrated from New York State in 1819 and settled to the northeast of Barrie, Ontario. Partridge's mother died while he was an infant, and he lived with his grandparents for a period while he attended public school. He completed secondary school in Barrie and obtained a teacher's certificate. He taught for a period, then in December 1883 moved west with his brother to attempt farming in the District of Assiniboia.
They settled at the hamlet and railway station of Sintaluta, now in Saskatchewan but then in the North-West Territories. Unable to afford the equipment and supplies he needed to operate a farm, Partridge returned to teaching. He taught near Broadview, at Saltcoats and at Maple Green near Lemberg. He served in the Yorkton Militia from April to June 1885 during the North-West Rebellion. In 1886, he married Mary Elizabeth Stephens in Balcarres, Saskatchewan, and they began a farm. They had three daughters and two sons.
Farmers formed the Territorial Grain Growers' Association (TGGA) in January 1902 to help them fight abuse by the grain dealers and railways. The TGGA had succeeded in getting the Manitoba Grain Act amended to eliminate the main abuses by 1903. With the passage of the amendments to the act it had achieved its primary objective, and lost some of its momentum. Partridge began to push the TGGA members to demand tighter control of the grading system and inspection of elevators. He also proposed a cooperative grain trading company owned by the farmers, a newspaper to help communication and greater involvement by farmers in political issues.
The Sintaluta Local was concerned about the operation of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange. They persuaded the federal government to appoint a "watchdog" to make sure that the exchange was treating grain growers fairly, and they sent Partridge to Winnipeg in January–February 1905 to observe the exchange. He was treated poorly and became convinced that the exchange was not interested in the farmers, who needed their own grain company. For his observations of the Grain Exchange he earned the nickname "That Man Partridge." Patridge spoke at the SGGA convention in 1906, and attacked the grain handling system. He said that the elevator companies, millers and exporters rigged the grain prices so they were low during the fall harvest period, when farmers had to sell to obtain cash to pay their debts. They then made future contracts to the English buyers for delivery at far higher prices. Many of his audience were convinced by his argument.
On 27 January 1906 the Grain Growers' Grain Company (GGGC) was founded as a cooperative company to handle marketing of the grain, under Partridge's leadership. The GGGC found itself engaged in a lengthy struggle with the existing grain companies over its seats on the Winnipeg Grain Exchange. It was expelled for paying patronage dividends to its member clients, then reinstated when the Manitoba Grain Growers' Association MGGA exerted pressure on the government of Rodmond Roblin. The president of the MGGA, D.W. McCuaig, sued three of the exchange's members for combining to obstruct trade.
Partridge resigned as president of the GGGC at the 1907 convention, in part because the company's original cooperative structure had been modified to meet the requirements of the Grain Exchange, in part because he was not interested in running the company he had launched. In 1908 Partridge lost a leg in an accident.
Partridge felt that the press had given unfair treatment of the struggle to get the GGGC off the ground, and helped organize a farmers' publication. The Grain Growers' Guide first appeared in 1908, edited by Partridge. It was published by the Grain Growers' Grain Company through its subsidiary, Public Press Limited. The Guide represented the interests of the MGGA and its sister organizations the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association (SGGA) and the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA). Partridge thought the guide should be a militant paper, but was not supported in this view. He resigned after the first issue.