John Wright Sifton
Canadian politician (1833-1912)
John Wright Sifton (August 10, 1833 – September 19, 1912) was a Canadian politician who was the 4th Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and the founder of an important political family in Western Canada.
Life and career
Sifton was the son of Bamlet Sifton (1793–1876) and his wife Mary (née Evans), members of the Anglo-Irish gentry who arrived in Upper Canada in 1832 from County Tipperary, Ireland. Members of the Sifton family, including Sifton's grandparents, Charles Sifton (1752–1842) and his wife Rebecca (née Wright), had already established themselves around present-day London, Ontario, in 1818 and 1819.
Born in London Township, Upper Canada, Sifton was educated at local schools. In October 1853, he married Kate Watkins (d. March 1909), third daughter of James Watkins of Parsonstown, Kings County, Ireland. He became a farmer and oil producer in Lambton County.
Following the birth of his son Clifford in 1861, Sifton became a railway contractor in Brant County and then a businessman in London, Ontario. The Siftons went on to have five children in all.
In religion, Sifton was a Wesleyan Methodist, and in politics he was a Reformer, and supporter of and campaigner for George Brown and Alexander Mackenzie.
“John Wright Sifton” enters the record as canadian politician (1833-1912). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what John, Wright and Sifton can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6264980. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1833, 1912, 1793 and 1876.
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This entry incorporates text from “John Wright Sifton” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.