Colin H. Campbell (1859-1914)

Lawyer, MLA (1900-1903), MLA (1903-1907), MLA (1908-1910), MLA (1911-1914).

Born 25 December 1859 in Burlington, Canada West, the son of John H. and Jane Kennedy Campbell. He was educated in the public schools of Burlington and Oakville, Canada West, and the Toronto Law School. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1881 and practised for a time in Port Perry, Ontario, before coming to Manitoba in January 1882. He was called to the Manitoba Bar in 1882 and joined the firm of F. Beverley Robertson and Alfred Joseph Andrews. Robertson left the firm in 1888 and Andrews left when he became Mayor of Winnipeg, in 1898. The firm continued as Campbell & Crawford until 1903 when it became known as Campbell, Pitblado, Hoskin and Grundy. In 1893 Campbell was appointed QC, and called to the Bar of the North-West Territories in 1893. He served as a Bencher for the Law Society of Manitoba in 1889.

On 16 July 1884 he married Minnie Julia Beatrice Buck, daughter of Dr. Anson Buck of Palermo, Ontario. He was a founding member, in 1905, of the St. Charles Country Club.

In the federal bye-election of 1893 he was an unsuccessful candidate for Winnipeg. Six years later, in the Manitoba general elections of 1899, he won as the Conservative member for the constituency of Morris and entered the cabinet of Hugh John Macdonald as a minister without portfolio, 10 January 1900. On 9 October 1900 he was appointed Attorney-General and was re-appointed by Rodmond Palen Roblin, Premier of Manitoba, on 29 October 1900, which portfolio he held until 1911. He was appointed Minister of Education and Municipal Commissioner 11 October 1911. Later he was appointed Minister of Public Works, and remained in that ministry until his retirement from politics in 1913. He served briefly as a Winnipeg city councillor in 1889. In 1891, he was appointed to the University of Manitoba’s Board of Governors, and served as its chairman from 1897 to 1914. He was also president of Winnipeg’s YMCA for five years.

Campbell died in Winnipeg on 24 October 1914. His papers are in the Archives of Manitoba.

More information:

Colin H. Campbell, Dictionary of Canadian Biography XIV, 173-76.

Pitblado, MHS Centennial Business.

Sources:

Learned Friends, Reiminiscences - Pitblado & Hoskin 1882-1974 by Anna Tillenius.

Profile revised: 27 December 2009

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