Bob Edwards (satirist)

{{Infobox person

| name = Bob Edwards

| image = Bob Edwards Calgary.jpg

| caption =

| birth_name = Robert Chambers Edwards

| birth_date = {{birth date|1860|09|17}}

| birth_place = Edinburgh, Scotland

| death_date = {{death date and age|1922|11|14|1860|09|17}}

| death_place = Calgary, Alberta, Canada

| occupation = journalist, politician

| education =

| years_active =

| known_for =

| spouse(s) =

| relatives = Robert Chambers (grandfather)

| awards =

| notable_works =

}}

Robert Chambers Edwards (September 17, 1860{{cite book | last = MacEwan | first = Grant | authorlink = Grant MacEwan | title = Eye Opener Bob: The Story of Bob Edwards | url = https://archive.org/details/eyeopenerbobstor0000mace_o8s7 | url-access = registration | others = Annotated by James Martin | publisher = Brindle & Glass | year = 2004 | isbn = 0-9732481-6-5 }} {{rp|6 }} – November 14, 1922) was a Canadian newsman, humorist, editorialist, entrepreneur, and provincial politician. He is best known, as the writer and publisher of the early 1900s weekly newspaper, the Calgary Eye Opener. {{rp|3}}

Personal life and education

Edwards was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Little is known about any siblings, beyond the fact that he had an older brother, Jack. Edwards' mother, Mary Chambers, survived his birth by only a few weeks. His father, Alexander Mackenzie Edwards FRSE, an Edinburgh surgeon and medical author, died in 1868 while on a world cruise. He was raised by unmarried aunts, and attended school in St. Andrews and Edinburgh before spending time at Glasgow University. His mother's father, Dr. Robert Chambers, was a founder of the Scottish publishing house W. & R. Chambers. {{rp|6–7}}

in the late 1910s, he sobered up and bought a car.Monto, Old Strathcona Edmonton's Southside Roots (2012), p. 180 After 25 years in Canada, in 1917, at the age of 57 he married Katherine Penman, a 20-year-old newly arrived from Scotland.{{cite web |title=Biography – EDWARDS, ROBERT CHAMBERS – Volume XV (1921-1930) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography |url=http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7914 |website=www.biographi.ca |access-date=24 January 2021}} In 1921 he was elected MLA for Calgary.

Career

=Journalism=

In 1881 and 1882, Edwards put out a tourist periodical, The Channel, aimed at visitors to the French Riviera. He returned to Scotland and worked for a time with the Glasgow city clerk, Sir James David Marwick. Edwards and his brother Jack emigrated to North America in 1892. {{rp|8}}

Edwards settled in the village of Wetaskiwin and founded a newspaper, the Free Lance, which he published for four years.David Mittelstadt. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yUIU5cNT1bwC&pg=PA134 Foundations of Justice: Alberta's Historic Courthouses]. University of Calgary Press; 2005. {{ISBN|978-1-55238-123-6}}. p. 134–. He then moved to Strathcona, where he published a newspaper until the year 1900.Paul Leonard Voisey. [https://archive.org/details/highrivertimesal00vois/page/28 High River and the Times: An Alberta Community and Its Weekly Newspaper, 1905-1966]. University of Alberta; 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-88864-411-4}}. p. 28–.

Edwards worked for the Winnipeg Free Press for a short time, then moved to High River. On March 4, 1902 he began publishing a newspaper there.Peel's Prairie Provinces holdings online At first he called his paper The Chinook, but as the paper became known for its satirical content, he changed the name to the Eye Opener. In 1903 he moved operations to Calgary, where the Eye-Opener became widely popular.Grant MacEwan. [https://archive.org/details/coyotemusicother0000mace/page/163 Coyote Music and Other Humorous Tales of the Early West]. Rocky Mountain Books Ltd; 1993. {{ISBN|978-0-921102-26-7}}. p. 163–.William Bernard Fraser. [https://archive.org/details/calgary0000fras Calgary]. Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada; 1967. p. 67–68.{{cite book|last=Shiels|first=Bob|title=Calgary : a not too solemn look at Calgary's first 100 years|year=1974|publisher=The Calgary Herald|location=Calgary|page=78|url=http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/loc_hist/page.aspx?id=3596985|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130918061024/http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/loc_hist/page.aspx?id=3596985|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 18, 2013}} Through this outlet he poked fun at local politicians, government officials, clergymen and other well-known Calgary residents. He even invented fictitious people to lampoon.Pierre Berton. [https://books.google.com/books?id=X9xvnwdHDggC&pg=PT118 The Promised Land: Settling the West 1896-1914]. Doubleday Canada; 10 August 2011. {{ISBN|978-0-385-67366-2}}. p. 118–.

Edwards published negative stories on the Canadian Pacific Railway and those employed by the organization, including R. B. Bennett and CPR Western Superintendent John Stoughton Dennis.{{sfn|Gray|1991|p=85}} Edwards often published stories and photographs of CPR train wrecks, with an emphasis on those occurring in downtown Calgary.{{sfn|Gray|1991|p=87}} Eventually the CPR banned the Eye-Opener from its passenger cars as an "obscene publication”.{{sfn|Gray|1991|p=89}}

Dissatisfied with Calgary, he moved to Port Arthur, Ontario, then to Winnipeg, finally returning to Calgary in 1911 and continued with the Eye-Opener.

=Politics=

Edwards was elected in the 1921 Alberta general election as an Independent candidate.[https://books.google.com/books?id=AOIXAAAAYAAJ Peoples of Alberta: Portraits of Cultural Diversity]. Western Producer Prairie Books; 1985. {{ISBN|978-0-88833-151-9}}. p. 117. He was one of five MLAs elected in Calgary by block voting in that election. He advocated for the ready availability of beer and the prohibition of stronger alcoholic beverages, in spite of (or because of) the fact that he himself was an alcoholic.{{cite book|author=Grant MacEwan|title=Eye Opener Bob: The Story of Bob Edwards|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_to5PcR8prEC&pg=PA195|date=15 November 2011|publisher=Brindle & Glass|isbn=978-1-926972-56-5|pages=195–}}Candace Savage. [https://books.google.com/books?id=DdKCBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA153 Our Nell: A Scrapbook Biography of Nellie L. McClung]. Formac Publishing Company Limited; 27 January 2014. {{ISBN|978-1-4595-0317-5}}. p. 153–.

He died before the issue came to a vote.

Death and legacy

Edwards died November 14, 1922 at the age of 62.Ted Byfield. [https://books.google.com/books?id=UfURAQAAIAAJ Brownlee and the triumph of populism]. United Western Communications; 1996. p. 60. He was buried in Calgary's Union Cemetery.I{{cite news |first=Jeremy |last=Klaszus |title=We visit Bob Edwards's grave… |url=http://www.ffwdweekly.com/article/news-views/city/we-visit-bob-edwardss-grave/ |work=Fast Forward Weekly |date=January 10, 2008 |accessdate=2008-09-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080604160146/http://ffwdweekly.com/article/news-views/city/we-visit-bob-edwardss-grave/ |archivedate=June 4, 2008 }}

Bob Edwards Junior High School in Calgary, Alberta is named in his honour.

The Bob Edwards Award has been presented annually since 1977 to a provocative Canadian who is not afraid to speak his or her mind. Notable recipients have included Rick Mercer, Margaret Atwood and Preston Manning. Originally supporting Alberta Theatre Projects as a fundraising luncheon, in 2012 the event moved to the Calgary Public Library Foundation as their signature gala.

The long-running Calgary Eyeopener morning show on CBC Radio One in Calgary is named after Edwards' newspaper.

References

; Works cited

{{cite book |last1=Gray |first1=James H. |author1-link=James H. Gray |title=R.B. Bennett: The Calgary Years |date=1991 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |isbn=978-0-8020-5975-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780802059758 |url-access=registration}}