Dictionary of Manitoba Biography

J.M. Bumsted

• Publisher: University of Manitoba Press
• Year: 1999
• Print ISBN: 9780887556623
• eBook ISBN: 9780887552649
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Manitoba has been at the crossroads of many of the important debates and events in Canadian history. From the early fur trade to the Riel Rebellion to the Winnipeg General Strike, Manitobans have frequently played crucial roles in Canadian and sometimes world history. Until now, there has been no comprehensive, contemporary source for information on the many Manitobans who have left their mark on history and society. Dictionary of Manitoba Biography fills this gap, with biographical sketches of over 1700 Manitobans who have made an impact in politics, the arts, sports, commerce, agriculture, and society. It is an invaluable resource for scholars, students, and general readers interested in Canadian history. Particular emphasis has been placed on reflecting Manitoba's ethnic and social diversity, and on including men and women who were notable in their own day but have now been forgotten. Many entries also refer the reader to additional references for further reading.

More than a reference book, Dictionary of Manitoba Biography is also a fascinating work of history in its own right, which presents the full and colourful scope of over 300 years of people in Manitoba history and social life, from premiers and mayors to nightclub owners and sports heroes.

I

Iberville, Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’ (1661-1706) Soldier. Born in Montreal, he was apparently trained by his father as a seaman. In 1686 he participated in a Canadian expedition against the HBC, journeying overland to Hudson Bay by a chain of waterways that was extremely perilous. The French remained in the Bay for the next few years, d’Iberville’s handful of men continually defeating their more numerous English counterparts. D’Iberville returned to Canada in 1690 to take part in a French guerrilla raid on New York, then returned to the Bay in July 1690 for another series of campaigns against the English, punctuated by occasional forays into other regions. In 1697 his ship the Pelican single-handedly defeated three English warships at the mouth of the Nelson River, thus sealing the fate of the English on the Bay. When d’Iberville left Hudson Bay in 1697, he could hardly know that he would never return or that New France would be unable to retain his conquests. He spent his last years involved in Louisiana and then the Caribbean, much of the time fending off charges of corruption. See Guy Frégault, Iberville le conquérant (1944); Nellis M. Crouse, Lemoyne d’Iberville: Soldier of New France (1954). DCB II, 390-401.

Ingersoll, William Ernest (“Will,” 1879-1968) Author and journalist. Born in Shoal Lake, Manitoba, he joined the Free Press as a reporter in 1908 and served as church editor from 1935 to 1960. He had a short story in the first anthology of Canadian writing, published in 1929. He had previously published Daisy Herself (1918) and The Road That Led Home; A Romance of Plow-land (1918). A follower of boxing, he began collecting Elvis Presley records at the age of 80. He died in Winnipeg.

Inkster, Colin (1843-1934) Sheriff. Born at Seven Oaks, he worked as a boy on the farm belonging to his father, John Inkster.* He attended St. John’s College until 1863 and then freighted between Minnesota and Red River from 1863 to 1870. He met Bishop Robert Machray* in Minnesota in 1864. In 1871 he became a member of the Manitoba Legislative Council, serving until 1876 and becoming minister of agriculture and president of the council in 1874. He cast the deciding vote for abolition of the council in 1876. Upon the council’s abolition, he was made high sheriff of Manitoba, a post he held until the province was divided into three judicial districts in 1881, at which time he became sheriff of the eastern judicial district, which he served until 1928. An Anglican, he was rector’s warden of St. John’s Cathedral for over 50 years. In later years Inkster was always prepared to reminisce about the “early days.” A boulevard in Winnipeg is named for him.

Inkster, John (1799-1874) Stonemason, farmer. Born in the Orkney Islands, he came to the West in 1819 as a stonemason for the HBC. He soon left the Company and began farming along the Red River, not far from Seven Oaks. He later became a trader and merchant. He also taught in the Kildonan School organized in 1849 by the Scottish Presbyterian settlers, although he was an active Anglican and served as rector’s warden of St. John’s Cathedral. He was magistrate of the Lower District from 1850 to 1858. In 1856 he became president of the Steam Mill Company. He was a member of the Council of Assiniboia from 1857 to 1868 and was a member of the November 1869 council (although he did not attend). His house, constructed in Seven Oaks near his store between 1851 and 1853, was lived in continuously by the Inkster family until 1954, and is now a museum. He was known as “Orkney Johnny.” He is buried in St. John’s Cemetery. There are papers in the NAC and the PAM. DCB X, 376-77.

Inkster, William (1836-1868) Mixed-blood leader. Born in Red River, he was educated at St. John’s Parochial School and St. John’s College, and then became a teacher. He was a charter member of the Masonic lodge at Fort Garry, and he became its junior warden. He was appointed to the Council of Assiniboia in 1868.

Ironside, Robert (1854-1910) Cattleman. Born in Canada to Presbyterian Scots, he came to Manitou, Manitoba, in 1883 as an agent for agricultural implements. He soon opened his own business in Manitou and gradually added livestock dealings to his lumber and grain interests. He built the first grain elevator in Manitou. In 1890 he and James Thomas Gordon sent a large shipment of steers to Montreal, and they soon sent others to the United Kingdom. By 1897 Gordon, Ironside, and Fares was the largest livestock-exporting house in Canada, shipping 50,000 head of cattle to England in 1900 alone. They also had an abattoir in Winnipeg. Ironside was elected Liberal MLA from Manitou in 1892. He withdrew from contesting the federal riding of Lisgar in 1896 rather than compete with his business partner, who was the Conservative candidate. He later moved to Montreal, where he died, but he always remained associated with Manitoba. DCB XIII, 498-99.

Irvine, Acheson Gosford (1837 1916) Police officer. Born in Lower Canada, he served as a major in the Second Battalion of the Quebec Rifles during the Wolseley Expedition. He remained in Manitoba in command of a rifle battalion, retiring as lieutenant-colonel in 1875 to become assistant commissioner of the NWMP. In 1880 he became commissioner. He commanded the police during the North-West Rebellion of 1885 and retired from the NWMP in 1886. In 1892 he became warden of the Stony Mountain penitentiary. He died in Quebec City.

Irvine, William (1885-1962) Politician. Born in Gletness, Shetland Islands, he came to Canada in 1908. He studied in Winnipeg at Wesley and Manitoba Colleges. Ordained in the United Church and later moving to the Unitarian Church, he represented various Calgary ridings as Labor and later CCF member of the House of Commons (1921-35, 1945-49). He was the author of The Farmer in Politics (1920), Co-operative Government (1929), and The Forces of Reconstruction (1934). In 1935 a play he had written, The Brains We Trust, was performed in Toronto. See Anthony Mardiros, William Irvine: The Life of a Prairie Radical’(1979).

Isaacs, Leonard (1909-1997) Musician. Born in Manchester, England, he was educated at the Royal College of Music and in Paris, where he studied with Alfred Cortot. He worked with the English Light Opera Orchestra before joining the BBC in 1936. He was in charge of musical programs for the BBC from 1957 until 1963, when he became founding director of the University of Manitoba’s School of Music. He retired in 1973 and remained in Winnipeg until his death. In his later years he was most noted for his letters to the press, although he performed publicly on the piano until the end. There are papers at the PAM.

Isbister, Alexander Kennedy (1822-1883) Educator, Native rights reformer. Born at Cumberland House in present-day Saskatchewan, he was the son of an Orkney clerk of the HBC and a mixed-blood daughter of Alexander Kennedy and his Cree wife Aggathas. He was originally schooled in the Orkney Islands, but he returned to Rupert’s Land to attend Red River Academy (1833-37). He entered HBC service in 1838 but was unhappy with the lack of advancement granted to mixed-bloods. Isbister resigned in 1841 and left for Great Britain in 1842. He attended King’s College (Aberdeen) for two years and the University of Edinburgh for one year. He joined the staff of East Islington Proprietary School in 1849, was headmaster in 1851, and moved to a series of more prestigious headmaster appointments (Jews’ College, 1855; Stationers’ Company School, 1858). He became active with the College of Preceptors that oversaw the English teaching profession. He edited its magazine, the Educational Times, and was dean after 1872. He was a prolific author of school textbooks. Isbister received an MA from the University of Edinburgh in 1858 and an LLB from the University of London in 1866. Not surprisingly, he fought hard and long on behalf of his mixed-blood countrymen, whom he regarded as being under the tyranny of the HBC. In 1847 he presented to the Colonial Office a petition from 1,000 of the Red River Settlement’s inhabitants for status as a recognized colony, and he was an active lobbyist on behalf of the settlement with the public and the British authorities. He also wrote A Proposal for a New Penal Settlement in the Uninhabited Districts of British North America (1850) and, with A.W. Chesson, The Red River Insurrection: Three Letters and a Narrative of Events (1870). In 1857 Isbister testified before the parliamentary inquiry investigating the charter of the HBC. He endowed a schools prize for Red River in 1867 (now awarded by St. John’s College) and a trust fund for scholars ($100,000, first awarded in 1885) at the University of Manitoba. In addition, he left his extensive collection of nearly 5,000 books to the University of Manitoba. Regrettably, most were lost in a fire in 1898. He died in England. For a biography, see Barry Cooper, Alexander Kennedy Isbister: A Respectable Critic of the Honourable Company (1988). DCB XI, 445-46.

Isbister, Joseph (c. 1710-1771) Fur trader. Probably from Stromness, Orkney Islands, he was apprenticed to Christopher Middleton* of the HBC in 1726. By 1740 he was master of a sloop, and soon he became head of Albany Fort. Isbister defied the London Committee of the HBC and established a trading post inland from Hudson Bay (Henley House) in 1743. He retired from Albany because of ill health in 1747 but soon became head of Fort Prince of Wales at Churchill. In 1752 he returned to Albany. While at Albany in the 1740s he had attempted to enforce committee instructions about drinking and Native women at posts, often using brute force in the process. His prohibition against all Native women except his own was decidedly unpopular. In 1755 he executed several Natives for the destruction of Fort Henley, and he was recalled soon after. He settled with his family in Quebec City in 1760. DCB IV, 380-81.

Isbister, William (fl. 1739-51) Fur trader. He first appears in the historical record as a sailor for the HBC in 1739, and he became master of Henley House in 1743. He had trouble with the isolation of the Bay and turned increasingly to alcohol. By 1751 he returned to England, one step ahead of a recall for general “sottishness and ill Conduct.” DCB III, 300-301.

Isham, Charles Thomas (1755-1814) Fur trader. Born at York Factory, the son of James Isham* and a Native woman, he was sent to England to be educated. He entered apprenticeship to the HBC in 1766, and by 1774 was sent inland. He was trading at Cumberland House by 1775-76. He was one of the few inlanders with any skills at canoeing, and he worked as canoeman and interpreter through the 1780s. In 1790 he became master at Swan River, the first Hudson Bay native to rise from the ranks into even a minor officership. In 1812 he served as interpreter for Miles Macdonell* at Red River. DCB V, 450-51.

Isham, James (c. 1716-1761) Fur trader. Born in Holborn, London, England, he first joined the HBC in 1732 as a writer. With occasional visits home, he remained at the Bay until his death. He became head of York Factory in 1737 and, as well as becoming intimately knowledgeable about the fur trade, he managed to send unusual bird specimens to London, which were employed by the naturalist George Edwards in his Natural History of Uncommon Birds (1750). In 1741 he was transferred to Churchill. In ill health, he went to England in 1745 with a collection of manuscript writings on the fur trade and the Bay, including an early vocabulary of Cree. Isham became involved in the controversy initiated by Arthur Dobbs,* because he had been friendly with Christopher Middleton* while at the Bay in 1741. He ended up at Flamborough House in 1750, where he served until 1761. Isham did not publish his work, and he remained known mainly through the writings of others until the publication of James Isham’s Observations on Hudson Bay, 1743, ed. E.E. Rich (1949). DCB III, 301-4.

Ivens, William J. (“Bill,” 1878-1958) Strike leader, politician. Born in Barford, Warwickshire, England, he came to Canada in 1896. Originally he worked as a market gardener, but he attended the University of Manitoba as a Methodist ministerial candidate and became Methodist minister at McDougal Church, Winnipeg. An active social gospeller, Ivens broke with the church over his pacifism during WWI and was expelled from the ministry for his refusal to accept church authority. He thereupon founded the Labour Church and in 1918 became editor of the labour newspaper the Western Daily News. During the Winnipeg General Strike he edited the daily strike bulletin, and he was arrested on 17 June by the federal authorities. His address to the jury in his trial lasted 14 hours. He was found guilty of seditious conspiracy by a jury on 28 March 1920 and sentenced to one year in prison. Before his trial, he had been charged with contempt of court for statements he had made regarding the trial of R.B. Russell.* He was elected to the Manitoba legislature in 1920 and re-elected in 1922 and 1927. He was active in the Anti-Vaccination League. He took a correspondence course with an American chiropractic college and set up a successful practice in 1925. He was defeated in the 1933 federal election and never held public office again. Ivens died in Chula Vista, California. See Michael Butt, ‘“To Each According to His Need, and from Each according to his Ability. Why cannot the world see this?’: The Politics of William Ivens, 1916-1936” (MA thesis, University of Winnipeg, 1993); Harry and Mildred Gutkin, Profiles in Dissent: The Shaping of Radical Thought in the Canadian West (1997), 51-92.

J

Jackson, Vincent William (1876-1953) Botanist. Born in South Grimsby, Ontario, he was educated in Ontario schools. He served on the staff of the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph until 1906, then served as director of New Zealand’s Agricultural Education Department until 1910. He taught in Toronto briefly before becoming director of biology and botany at the Manitoba Agricultural College from 1913 until 1930, when he was appointed professor of biology at the University of Manitoba. He retired in 1940. Jackson offered a series of weekly radio programs on nature until 1942. He was the author of A Manual of Vertebrates of Manitoba (1934). He died in Hamilton, Ontario.

Jacob, Robert (1879-1944) Lawyer, sportsman. Born in Baltensborough, Somersetshire, England, he came to Gladstone, Manitoba in 1892. He was educated there and at St. John’s College (class of 1901). He was proud that he had worked his way through school. Jacob then articled to a Gladstone lawyer, Thomas Morton, and later practised law in Winnipeg. He was a member of the Winnipeg School Board, was an Independent MLA from North Winnipeg from 1922 to 1928, serving for a time as provincial attorney general, and was chair of the unemployment advisory board. He was a footballer, a golfer (president of the Canadian Golf Association), and a lawn bowler (founder of the Manitoba Lawn Bowling Association). He was also a curler, serving two terms as president of the Manitoba Curling Association.

James, Charles (1854-1911) Livery operator. Born in Ireland, he came to Canada in 1870 and to Winnipeg a few years later. He worked first as a horse driver and later as proprietor of his own livery company. He was noted for his “bridal coach” and was known as “Dublin Dan.”

James, Thomas (c. 1593-c. 1635) Explorer. Probably born in Bristol, England, he apparently represented that city as a lawyer in a venture to search for a Northwest Passage and ended up in charge of the expedition. James sailed from Bristol on 3 May 1631 aboard the Henrietta Maria with a crew of 22, none of whom had any northern experience. After exploring the south coast of Hudson Bay, James deliberately wintered off Charlton Island, sinking his ship to preserve it from storms. Some of his crew died of scurvy, although most survived by eating green plants found along the shore. James took careful observations, especially of the effects of low temperatures. In the spring the crew refloated the ship and engaged in further exploration before returning to Bristol on 22 October 1632. James’s account of the journey was published as The Strange and Dangerous Voyage of Captaine Thomas James, in His Intended Discovery of the Northwest Passage into the South Sea where in the Miseries Indured, Both Going, Wintering Returning; and the Rarities Observed, Both Philosophicall and Mathematicall, Are Related in This Journall of It (1633). It was a literary triumph. James concluded that no Northwest Passage existed south of 66° North, and this and his account of his sufferings further deflected English Arctic exploration throughout the seventeenth century. James Bay is named for him. DCB I, 384-85.

James, Thomas William (b. 1883) Bandmaster. He was born in Umballa, India. His father was a schoolmaster and bandleader. James came to Winnipeg in 1911 to become assistant musical director of the 106th Regiment Light Infantry Band. He joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in August 1915, organizing the first Canadian Band with his division. After WWI he returned to Canada to form the Great War Veterans’ Association Band, which toured widely in North America and Europe, and he became director of music of the Princess Patricia Band, based in Winnipeg.

Jameson, Richard Willis (1851-1899) Municipal politician. He was born in South Africa and educated in England (BA, King’s College London, Trinity College Cambridge). He came to Canada in 1876 and to Winnipeg in 1881, and was admitted to the bar in 1882. Jameson became a municipal official of the City of Winnipeg, an alderman from 1892 to 1895, and eventually mayor in 1896. He was elected as a Liberal in a by-election for the House of Commons seat from Winnipeg in 1897. He was known as a fine public speaker. DCB XII, 468.

Jarvis, Edward (d. c. 1800) Fur trader, interpret...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Introduction
• Select Bibliography
• Editorial Notes
• Abbreviations
• Half Title Page
• Chapter A
• Chapter B
• Chapter C
• Chapter D
• Chapter E
• Chapter F
• Chapter G
• Chapter H
• Chapter I
• Chapter J
• Chapter K
• Chapter L
• Chapter Mc
• Chapter M
• Chapter N
• Chapter O
• Chapter P
• Chapter Q-R
• Chapter S
• Chapter T
• Chapter U-V
• Chapter W-X
• Chapter Y-Z