James Clinkskill was a Canadian politician and engineer, merchant, author and justice of the peace.

Early life

Clinkskill was educated at St. Andrews University and Madras College

Madras College

Madras College is a secondary school in St. Andrews, Fife in Scotland.-History:Madras College, founded in 1832, takes its name from the system of education devised by the school's founder, the Rev Dr Andrew Bell....

. He moved to the Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

 in 1882. In 1884 he got married.

Northwest Territories Assembly

Clinkskill was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, winning the Battleford

Battleford (N.W.T. electoral district)

Battleford was a territorial electoral district mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories. The electoral district came into existence with the passage of the North-West Representation Act in 1888 and was abolished in 1905 when Alberta and...

 electoral district. He ran in the 1888 Northwest Territories general election

Northwest Territories general election, 1888

The Northwest Territories general election of 1888 was the first general election in the history of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Elections were held in various districts between 20 June and 30 June 1888...

 and defeated Daniel Livingstone Clink in a hotly contested battle by 24 votes. He would run for a second term in office in the 1891 Northwest Territories general election

Northwest Territories general election, 1891

The Northwest Territories general election of 1891 was held on 7 November 1891 to elect twenty five members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It was the second general election in the Northwest Territories' history. The legislature gained three seats, and six new...

, slightly increasing his margin of victory. He was re-elected for a third term in the 1894 Northwest Territories general election

Northwest Territories general election, 1894

The Northwest Territories general election of 1894 held 31 October 1894. This was the third general election in the history of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, the writs were dropped on 3 October 1894...

. After his third term expired in 1898 Clinkskill did not run again for his seat. He returned to territorial politics by running in a by-election held on December 19, 1902. The by-election was held in the Saskatoon electoral district; he won defeating candidate Benjamin Chubb by 14 votes.

Mayor of Saskatoon

Clinkskill became Mayor of Saskatoon for the first time in 1906. He would serve a second stint as Mayor from 1911 to 1912.

Published works

Three books were published about James Clinkskill, written by Arthur Morten and Co authored by Clinkskill himself the books feature his memories about his life in the early days as Mayor of Saskatoon Saskatchewan.

• Reminiscences of a pioneer in Saskatchewan. 1927. (Co authored with Arthur Morton)
• Narrative of ex-mayor James Clinkskill. 1927. (Co authored with Arthur Morton)
• Narratives of Saskatoon, 1882-1912. 1927. (Co authored with Arthur Morton)

External links