Richard Bedford Bennett (1870-1947) was a leader of the Conservative party of Canada and prime minister during the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Richard Bedford Bennett was born at Hopewell, New Brunswick, on July 3, 1870, a descendant of pre-Loyalist settlers from Connecticut. After graduating from Dalhousie University in 1893, he practiced law in Chatham, New Brunswick, for 4 years and then moved to Calgary in the Northwest Territories. There he soon built up a successful legal business and established a connection with the E. B. Eddy Company that was to lead to his holding a controlling interest in it 25 years later. He also acted as solicitor for the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Bennett was a member of the Assembly of the Northwest Territories for 6 years and was elected to the Alberta Legislature in 1909, then resigned to contest and win the Calgary East Riding for the Conservatives in the general election of 1911. He...