Labour leader, journalist.
Born at Marton, Yorkshire, England on 30 August 1867, son of Richard and Ann Appleton, he was educated at West House school. He began working as a printer and bookseller at Northallerton, England before coming to western Canada in 1890.
He was President of the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council (1897-1898) and Imperial Trade correspondent for the Imperial Board of Trade. In 1898 he was appointed financial and municipal editor with the Manitoba Free Press. He resigned in 1912 to become editor of the Financial Post in Toronto. He was also Secretary-Treasurer of the Dominion Mortage and Investments Association (1916-1936) and the Canadian Life Insurance Officers' Association (1920-1936).
In 1908, he married Amy Coleman (?-?) of Newnham, Saskatchewan and they had five children: Harry William Flintoff Appleton (1910-1995), John Miles Appleton, Arthur Richard Appleton, ? Appleton (wife of James Warren), and Margaret Coleman Appleton.
three sons and three daughters. He was a member of the Commercial Travellers Club and his recreations included cricket and curling. He was literary correspondent for the Canadian Club of Winnipeg, Vice-President of the Yorkshire Society, and Vice-President of the Children’s Aid Society of Winnipeg.
He died at Toronto, Ontario on 10 October 1939 and was buried in the Park Lawn Cemetery.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Appleton House (39 Mortimer Place, Winnipeg)
“Congress of labor men,” Winnipeg Tribune, 14 September 1907, page 11.
1911 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, edited by C. W. Parker, Vancouver: Canadian Press Association, 1911.
“Financial authority John Appleton dies,” Toronto Star, 10 October 1939, page 3.
“John Appleton,” Winnipeg Tribune, 12 October 1939, page 22.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, December 1999, 288 pages.
Lest We Forgett III, The Sturgeon Point History Project, 7 November 2011.
We thank Mary Appleton for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 30 September 2025
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