James William Armstrong (1860-1928)

Physician, MLA (1908-1910), MLA (1911-1914), MLA (1914-1915), MLA (1916-1920), MLA (1921-1922).

Born at Kingston, Nova Scotia on 14 January 1860, the second of five children born to James Armstrong and Elizabeth Pearce, he graduated from Acadia College. Coming to Manitoba in 1889, he taught school at the Brandon Collegiate for a year then studied at the Manitoba Medical College (MD 1893) and did postgraduate work in Edinburgh. He returned to Canada and practiced medicine at Gladstone, Manitoba, later became health officer for the Municipality of Gladstone. He was elected to the Manitoba Legislature as a Liberal from 1897 to 1922, serving as provincial secretary, minister of health, and, from 1915 to 1922, municipal commissioner in the Norris government.

He married Mary Campbell, daughter of Joseph Campbell of Winchester, Ontario, on 6 April 1897. They had three children: Pearce Campbell Armstrong (b 1898), Flora Stewart Armstrong (b 1902), and Ida Manning Armstrong. He was a member of the Norwood Golf Club and a keen motorist.

He died at his Winnipeg home, 344 Yale Avenue, on 26 February 1928. He is commemorated by the Rural Municipality of Armstrong in Manitoba.

His extensive papers are held at the Archives of Manitoba.

More information:

James William Armstrong, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

Sources:

The Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1915.

Birth and death registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“Dr. J. W. Armstrong, former M.L.A., dies” Undated newspaper clipping. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B8]

Profile revised: 20 September 2009

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