Background
He was born in Sydenham, Ontario and became a lawyer His father was William Pattison Telford, Senior, another member of Parliament.
He was born in Sydenham, Ontario and became a lawyer His father was William Pattison Telford, Senior, another member of Parliament.
From 1901 to 1903, Telford served as a municipal councillor for Owen Sound. He was first elected to Parliament at the Grey North riding in the 1926 general election after an earlier unsuccessful campaign there in 1921. He was defeated by Victor Clarence Porteous of the Conservatives in the 1930 election.
Telford resigned on 9 December 1944 to provide an available riding for fellow Liberal Andrew McNaughton to seek election, but McNaughton lost the resulting by-election to Conservative candidate West. Garfield Case.