Memorable Manitobans: Alfred Brazier (1868-1934)

Gardener.

Born at Cambridgeshire, England on 10 May 1868, he arrived in Winnipeg with his father, Charles Brazier, in June 1872. He was educated at St. John's College school and collegiate, completing his studies in St. James. His innate love of gardening brought him the post of caretaker of St. John’s College in 1882, a position he held for 24 years. He began his duties in an old two-storey wooden building on the river bank. It was replaced in 1884 with a brick structure at Main and Church Street, now since demolished. The 1884 building did not have modern plumbing so one of his duties was to haul rain water from a large tank beneath the kitchen floor, bucket by bucket, to the bathroom on the second floor, where the boys had their weekly bath.

On 4 August 1891, he married Bessie Heath, a native of Birmingham, England. They had three children: Lillian May Brazier (b 1894), Albert Hugh Allen Brazier (b 1896), and Muriel Gladys Brazier (b 1899). The family lived near the college in a small home on the river bank then moved to a two-storey log and frame house at the southwest corner of Polson Avenue and St. Cross Street. Most of the property at the site was used to grow potatoes for the college. Brazier also cultivated shrubs, berry bushes, and vegetables.

In 1906 the family moved to a home in Elmwood and Brazier became a gardener on his own account. On 29 October 1934, after a short illness, he died and was buried in the St. John’s Cemetery. He is commemorated by Brazier Street in Winnipeg.

Sources:

Birth registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.

The Story of Manitoba by F. H. Schofield, Winnipeg: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913.

Additional information in this profile was provided by Harry Shave.

This profile was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Profile revised: 27 June 2012

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