Memorable Manitobans: Harold Edward Brockwell (1870-1945)

Engineer.

Born at Bridlington, Yorkshire, England on 26 September 1870, son of Arthur Butler Brockwell and Clara Boys, he was educated at Giggleswick School (Yorkshire) and the Finsbury Technical College (London, England). In 1885, he engaged in the telephone business as Assistant Electrician of the National Telephone Company at London. He emigrated to Canada in 1891 and worked for the Bell Telephone Company until 1906 when he became Local Manager of the British Columbia Telephone Company at Vancouver, serving from 1906 to 1910. He did engineering work with Tri-State Telephone at St. Paul and the Saskatchewan Government Telephones from 1910 to 1912. He was appointed Chief Engineer of the Manitoba Government Telephone System in 1912. He was active in the introduction of the automatic system in Manitoba telephone systems and in the deployment of telephone lines in rural areas. He retired in 1940.

On 13 December 1893, he married Georgina Annie Warren (1878-1938). They had one son and four daughters, including Violet Maud Brockwell (b 1894), Gladys Corthewaite Brockwell (b 1895), Dorothy Beatrix Brockwell (b 1898), and Edward Warren Brockwell. In 1925, the family lived at 105 Norquay Street in Winnipeg.

He died at Winnipeg on 12 May 1945 and was buried in the St. John’s Cemetery.

Sources:

1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.

Pioneers and Prominent People of Manitoba, Winnipeg: Canadian Publicity Company, 1925.

“H. E. Brockwell, Veteran Phone Employee, Dies” Winnipeg Free Press, 14 May 1945, page 4.

Profile revised: 4 July 2009

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