George Clift King

King was born in Chelmsford, England in 1848. At the age of 26, he left England for Canada, arriving in Toronto, Ontario, in 1874.

King joined the North-West Mounted Police and was part of the first contingent sent west to establish Fort Calgary in 1875. Constable King is often called Calgary's First Citizen, since he was the first NWMP officer to cross the Bow River and set foot on the future site of Calgary.{{cite book |last1=Ward |first1=Tom |title=Cowtown: an Album of Early Calgary |date=1975 |publisher=McClelland and Stewart West Limited |location=Calgary |isbn=978-0-7712-1012-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/cowtownalbumofea0000ward |access-date=November 19, 2020 |pages=32–36}} This title is also sometimes given to Sam Livingston, another Calgary pioneer who arrived in the Calgary area in 1874; however, Calgary's first European settler was John Glenn who settled at Fish Creek in 1873. According to his scrip record, Antoine Godin, a Métis, had taken up more-or-less permanent residence in the vicinity of Calgary as early as 1870.{{cite web | title=Godin, Sr., Antoine - Concerning his claim as a head of family - Address, Calgary, P.O. [Post Office] - Born, 1820 at Edmonton - Father, Godin, (Métis) - Mother, Josephte, (Cree Indian) - Married, 1850 at Edmonton to Susanne Bruneau - Children living, four (names on declaration) - Children deceased, eight - Scrip for $160 - Claim 324|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/CollectionSearch/Pages/record.aspx?app=fonandcol&IdNumber=1497847&new=-8585596784329808991 |website=Library and Archives Canada |access-date=11 January 2022}}

King left the NWMP in 1877 to manage the first store in Calgary, the I. G. Baker Store. In November 1879, he married Louise Munro. Louise was the daughter of Métis fur trader, Felix Munro, and Louise Laderoute.{{Cite web |last=Canada |first=Library and Archives |date=2016-11-25 |title=MUNROE, La Louise (Wife of George King) - Scrip number 0089 |url=https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Record?app=fonandcol&IdNumber=4633120&q=RG15%20scrip%20Louise%20Monroe&ecopy=e011325992 |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca}}{{Cite web |last=Canada |first=Library and Archives |date=2016-11-25 |title=Monroe, Louise - Born Laderoute, new wife of Augustin Racette, concerning the claim of her deceased husband, a Métis head of family, Félix Monroe - Address, Calgary - Born, 1825 at Mountain House, North West Territories - Father, Hugh Monroe, (Scot) - Mother, Piegan Indian - Married, 1845 at Edmonton to Louise Laderoute - Died, 1875 on Plains near Red Deer River - Heirs, Louise Laderoute, widow and deponent; and his daughters, Julie, wife of Norman Vandal; Émelie, wife of Augustin Gouin; Louise, wife of George King; Philoméne Monroe; Marie Monroe; his sons, Benjamin Monroe, Francis Monroe - Seven scrips for $20 - Claim 389 = Monroe, Louise - née Laderoute, épouse d'Augustin Racette, concernant la réclamation de son défunt époux, un chef de famille métisse, Felix Monroe - résidence, Calgary - né, en 1825 à Mountain House, Territoires du Nord-Ouest - père, Hugh Monroe, (Ecossais) - mère, Piegan - marié, en 1845 à Edmonton à Louise Laderoute - décédé, en 1875 à Plains près de Red Deer River à titre |url=https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Record?app=fonandcol&IdNumber=1498223&q=RG15%20scrip%20Louise%20Monroe&ecopy=e000028387 |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca}} She was also the granddaughter of famed plainsman Hugh "Rising Wolf" Munro and his Piikani wife. Together, George Clift King and Louise Munro were the first couple married in Calgary. Together they had four children. His son Edward (1885–1970) became a well-known ice hockey player in Calgary, and also played professionally with the Ottawa Senators in 1911–12.[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-calgary-albertan-obituary-for-eddie/132195801/ "Services Monday for city pioneer"] (newspapers.com) The Calgary Albertan. June 15, 1970 (pg. 2). Retrieved 2023-09-24.

In 1882, King started his own store G. C. King & Co. which sold a wide variety of goods including groceries, clothing, drugs, stationery and tobacco. King's store housed the local post office, and in 1885, King was appointed postmaster, and held this position for 36 years.

King was the mayor of the town of Calgary in the November 1886 Calgary municipal election, defeating John Lineham and served in the role from November 4, 1886, to January 16, 1888. King was elected following the Travis Affair where Mayor George Murdoch along with councillors Issac Sanford Freeze and Dr. Neville James Lindsay were removed from office effective October 21, 1886, by a special Territorial Ordinance issued by Stipendiary Magistrate Jeremiah Travis on allegations that Mayor Murdoch tampered with the voters' list in the prior election. Travis appointed James Reilly, the runner-up as Mayor, and Calgary was effectively without a local government until Justice Thomas Wardlaw Taylor was dispatched by the federal government to investigate and resolve the issue.{{cite book |last1=Mittelstadt |first1=David |title=Foundations of Justice: Alberta's Historic Courthouses |date=August 2005 |publisher=University of Calgary Press |location=Calgary, Alberta |isbn=978-1-55238-345-2 |pages=17–19 |url=https://archive.org/details/foundationsofjus0000mitt |url-access=registration}}{{cite web |last1=Foran |first1=Max |title=George Murdoch |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/murdoch_george_13E.html |website=Dictionary of Canadian Biography |publisher=University of Toronto/Université Laval |access-date=7 March 2020}}{{cite news |title=Yesterday's Election |url=http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/newspapers/CWH/1886/01/06/4/ |access-date=8 March 2020 |work=The Calgary Herald |issue=18 |date=January 6, 1886 |page=4}} King also spent four years as town councillor.

After his retirement as postmaster in 1921, he opened a tobacco and confectionery counter in MacLean's Drug Store on Eighth Avenue. King ran this business until his death in 1935.{{Cite news|url=https://cdm22007.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p22007coll19/id/141490/rec/1|title=G. C. King, Pioneer of 1875, Passes|date=July 18, 1935|work=Calgary Daily Herald|access-date=August 12, 2019|via=Early Alberta Newspapers}} King was inducted into the Order of the British Empire on January 1, 1934, by King George V.

King was laid to rest in Calgary's Union Cemetery. On June 22, 2000, a monument was placed at King's grave and the grave of James Colvin, as they had been unmarked for several years. This was done as part of the 125-year anniversary celebrations of Calgary.{{Cite web|url=https://people.ucalgary.ca/~dsucha/mountie/followup.html|title=Honouring the Memories of James Colvin and George Clift King|website=people.ucalgary.ca|access-date=Oct 6, 2020}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dsucha/mountie/king.html Mounted Police of Calgaries Cemeteries: George Clift King] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070812030839/http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dsucha/mountie/king.html |date=12 August 2007 }}
• [http://members.shaw.ca/rcmpvets.calgary/king.htm Calgary RCMP Vets: George Clift King]

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before=George Murdoch|

title=Mayor of Calgary|

years=1886–1888|

after=Arthur Edwin Shelton

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{{Calgary Mayors}}

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Category:1848 births

Category:1935 deaths

Category:Mayors of Calgary

Category:Canadian postmasters

Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Category:People from Chelmsford

Category:English emigrants to Canada

Category:19th-century mayors of places in Alberta