MHS Centennial Organization: Manitoba Association of Optometrists

Link to:
Presidents | Founding Members | Sources

The Manitoba Association of Optometrists, known at its founding as the Manitoba Optical Association, is the regulatory body for optometrists in the province. It is responsible for licensing and granting registration certificates for optometrists. Through the years, it has promoted the adoption of quality and educational standards with its members.

The Association itself was formed in 1907 by a few of Winnipeg’s optometrists. On 1 July 1909, in response to lobbying by the Association and its president Wellington G. Maybee, the Province of Manitoba passed the Manitoba Optometry Act. It formalized the profession and gave the Association its powers. A Board of Examiners was appointed to oversee the training and testing of optometrists in the province. The initial Board, made up of the first five members of the Association, comprised W. G. Maybee (chair), H. A. Nott (secretary), R. T. Butchart, F. A. E. Leach, and J. H. Bartlett.

An MHS Centennial Organization Award was presented by Gordon Goldsborough to the Manitoba Association of Optometrists at a ceremony on 18 April 2009.

Presidents

Period	President
1909-1911	Wellington Graham Maybee (1866-1929)
1912	Herbert Arthur Nott (1880-1963)
1913	Archibald Murdock McDougall (1862-?)
1914	John E. Tulloch (1880-1945)
1915	David Allan Maguire (1879-1946)
1916-1917	Frederick William Dudley (1878-1950)
1918-1919	James Ferguson Tulloch (1890-1956)
1920	Norman Herbert Neill (1875-1956)
1921	Maitland Tinlin (1876-1934)
1922-1923	Henry Scovil “Harry” Nowlan (1887-1977)
1924	Benjamin F. Armstrong (1876-?)
1925-1926	James Franklin Hiscox (1888-1983)
1927	Maitland Tinlin (1876-1934)
1928	Stanley Norman Cochran (1890-1971)
1929	Archie Reuben Pippy (1891-1968)
1930-1931	David Allan Maguire (1879-1946)
1932	William E. Nott
1933-1934	Benjamin F. Armstrong (1876-?)
1935-1936	Charles A. Dempsey
1937-1939	Henry Scovil “Harry” Nowlan (1887-1977)
1940	Charles A. Campbell
1941-1942	Earl Ira Cummings (c1896-1960)
1943-1944	James T. Westby
1945	James Franklin Hiscox (1888-1983)
1946	Charles A. Dempsey
1947	Donald C. Small
1948-1950	William M. Lyle
1951-1952	Herbert W. Moore
1953-1954	Emanuel M. Finkleman
1955-1956	Donald C. Small
1957-1958	Herbert W. Moore
1959-1960	George E. Dunkin
1961-1962	Bernard M. Rosner
1963-1964	Elwood J. Spearman
1965-1966	Manuel Norman Lecker (1913-2007)
1967-1969	?
1970-1971	James D. McQueen
1972-1973	Neil R. McCaughey
1973	A. Harry Basman
1974-1975	D. Roderick Small
1976-1977	?
1978-1979	A. Harry Basman
1980-1993	?
1994-1995	Jane E. Thrall

Founding Members

The following members were registered as of 1909.

No.	Member	Community
1	Wellington Graham Maybee (1866-1929)
2	Herbert Arthur Nott (1880-1963)
3	Robert Thompson Butchart (1866-1930)
4	James Henry Bartlett (1869-1929)	Souris
5	Frederick Arthur Edmond Leach (1875-1930)
6	Charles Clinton Gorrie (1885-1968)
7	John E. Tulloch (1880-1945)
8	Norman Herbert Neill (1875-1956)
9	Frederick William Dudley (1878-1950)
10	Frank Depew Culp (1883-?)
11	Thomas Turnbull Malcolm (1874-1938)	Dauphin
12	Reginald Coulson (1874-?)
13	A. C. Whittaker
14	Charles Joseph Western (1878-?)
15	Archibald Hector McIntyre (1857-?)
16	James Andrew Dunkin (1876-?)
17	George Stevenson (1870-?)
18	William Edward Crawford (1865-1947)	Hartney
19	James William Young Collins (1876-?)
20	Joseph Frederick Higginbotham (1868-?)
21	Percival James Horwood (1877-?)
22	Robert Arthur McRuer (1880-1974)	St. Boniface
23	Henry James May (1874-?)
24	Harry Josiah Stevenson (1878-?)
25	David Anson Reesor (1860-1940)
26	William Mackenzie Campbell (1878-?)
27	Samuel Alwyn Bartlett (1881-?)
28	Duncan Alexander Kennedy (1883-?)
29	Charles Frederick Hasslefield (1876-?)
30	Sanford Tudor Tyndale (1874-1956)	Roland
31	Richard Skinner (1875-?)
32	John Howard Germain (1885-?)
33	Carl P. Johnston (1877-?)
34	Charles Clackson (1869-?)
35	Robert Edgar Hunter (1883-?)
36	Allen Leon Oratio Baker (1877-?)
37	Charles Carnaby Parker (1877-?)
38	James Fraser Cameron (1875-?)
39	George Abram Wallar (1886-?)
40	Charles Selby Squires (1879-?)
41	Hjortur Davidson (1874-?)
42	George P. Stirling (1876-?)
43	Thomas William Brady (1864-1943)
44	James William Cairns (1882-?)
45	Andrew George Carter (1872-1925)
46	Arthur John Winchell (1855-?)
47	John Rowland Orr (1876-?)
48	Henry Sheppard (1868-?)
49	William Young (1870-?)
50	Leston Sobeski Arnold (1872-?)
51	Robert John Patton (1875-?)
52	Frederick Ernest Stevenson (1880-?)
53	Charles Norman Andrew (1877-?)
54	William Albert Vrooman (1867-?)
55	Russell Edward Matthews (1890-?)
56	John William Fleming (1868-1928)
57	William J. Freek (1879-?)
58	Halsey Maurice Park (1873-?)
59	Lorne Douglas Campbell Bricker (1879-?)
60	Benjamin Stewart (1863-?)
61	Arthur Piercy (1877-?)
62	Bertram Augustus St. John (1872-?)
63	William Stephen McLelland (1870-?)
64	Fred Scott (1877-?)
65	Robert Stewart Ramsey (1887-?)
66	John Anderson Battram (1876-?)
67	Morton Shelley Buckman (1883-?)
68	Venember Allen (1888-?)
69	Marie A. E. Lachance (1886-?)
70	William Robert Fowler (1877-?)
71	John H. Cochran (1863-?)
72	William Aubrey Cochran (1889-?)
73	Stanley Norman Cochran (1890-1971)
74	John Robert Kinley Graham (1873-?)
75	William Thomas Muirhead (1887-?)
76	Clinton Parsons Church (1885-?)
77	William John Carson (1875-?)
78	Archibald Murdock McDougall (1862-?)
79	Kate Hurley (1869-?)
80	William Edward Cowans (1856-?)
81	Thorold Johnson (1870-?)
82	John Mooney (1871-?)
83	Wilbert Alexander Robertson (1881-?)
84	Louis V. Newton (1885-?)
85	John Clifford Tucker (1884-?)

Sources:

“James Henry Bartlett,” Brandon Daily Sun, 1 March 1929, page 4.

Obituary [Reta Evelyn McRuer], Winnipeg Free Press, 28 February 2015.

We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 20 November 2020