Reverend (Rev.) A.R. (Albert Richard) Aldridge was born about 1865 in Berkshire, England and came to Canada in 1884. He initially worked as a student minister in Canadian Pacific Railway construction camps. He attended Wesley College and the University of Manitoba, graduating from the latter in 1891. He was ordained in the Methodist Church in 1895, ministering in Manitoba for a few years before returning to England. He returned to Canada in 1901 to Fort Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories. He also served in a number of Alberta areas including Vermilion, Wetaskiwin, Edmonton, and Calgary. In 1938, Rev. Aldridge was presented with a Doctor of Divinity degree by Welsey College. He and wife Mildred (McGorman) had one daughter, Mrs. W.B. (Ruth) Crichton, and five sons: Hardy C., Lawrence, Athelstan, Edward, and Samuel Richard who died in 1917 while serving the First World War. Rev. A.R. Aldridge died in Calgary on July 13, 1949.