Memorable Manitobans: Henry Bruce Boreham (1891-1987)

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Henry Bruce Boreham
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Journalist, publicist.

Born at Winnipeg on 7 June 1891, son of Alfred J. Boreham and Lucy Ellen Berridge, he was educated at Winnipeg and Fort William (now Thunder Bay, Ontario). His first position in journalism was with the Calgary Herald. In 1915, he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and served overseas until 1918, rising to the rank of Captain. After his military discharge, he joined the Parliamentary Press Gallery at Ottawa and later was Sports Editor at the Winnipeg Tribune through the 1920s, serving as the President of the Winnipeg Press Club (1928). In 1929, he joined the Canadian National Railway as a regional public relations officer. On retirement in 1956, he did public relations at the Assiniboia Downs then moved to Victoria, British Columbia in 1960.

He married Annie Claire Duperow (1905-1987) and they had a daughter and a son. He was a member of Holy Trinity Anglican Church. An avid curler, in 1910 he covered his first Winnipeg bonspiel for the Winnipeg Telegram. In 1926, while at the Tribune, he worked with George Cameron to create the Macdonald Brier national curling championship, played the following year at Toronto. He was a Director of the Brier from 1940 to 1979, and was later appointed Secretary Emeritus. He was also active in golfing, serving as President of the Manitoba Golf Association (1944-1945) and was a member of the Tuxedo Golf Club.

He was Secretary Emeritus of the Shriners’ Hospital for Crippled Children in Winnipeg. In 1957, he was inducted into the Manitoba Order of the Buffalo Hunt. He was made an honorary member of the Governor General’s Curling Club of Ottawa in 1967 and was inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame in 1975. In 1970, he received a Manitoba Centennial Medal from the Manitoba Historical Society “for his outstanding community service in the public relations field beyond his vocational interests.”

He moved to Victoria, British Columbia in 1971 and died there on 23 January 1987. He was buried in the St. John’s Cathedral Cemetery. He is commemorated by Boreham Boulevard in Winnipeg and was inducted posthumously into the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame (2012).

Sources:

Birth registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Attestation papers, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Library and Archives Canada.

Death registrations, British Columbia Vital Statistics.

“Brier founder, writer Boreham dead at 95,” Winnipeg Free Press, 24 January 1987, page 91.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 26 January 1987, page 44.

“Some Tuxedo street trivia” by Vince Leah, Winnipeg Free Press, 20 August 1989, page 100.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 21 September 2023

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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