Robert Forke (1860-1934)

Farmer, MP (1922-1925), MP (1926), MP (1926-1930), Senator.

Born at Gordon, Berwickshire, Scotland on 2 June 1860, son of George Forke and Isabella Lothian, he was educated at Westruther Public School. He came to Manitoba in 1882 and farmed at Pipestone. He served as Reeve of the Rural Municipality of Pipestone, and as President of the Union of Manitoba Municipalities from 1911 to 1912.

On 8 December 1892, he married Elma Christie MacGregor. They had three daughters: Ethel May Forke (b 1895), Marjorie Isobel Forke (b 1899), and Mary Gertrude Forke (b 1906).

During World War One he was a member of the Manitoba Public Welfare Committee from 1917 to 1919 and of the Returned Soldiers Committee from 1915 to 1918. He was a member of the Manitoba Tax Commission from 1920 to 1922.

In 1921, he was elected to the House of Commons as a Progressive for the Brandon constituency. On the retirement of Thomas Crerar, he was chosen Leader of the Progressive Party. He served as Minister of Immigration and Colonization in the Liberal government of Mackenzie King, from 1926 to 1929. He was appointed to the Canadian Senate in 1929.

He died in Winnipeg on 2 February 1934.

More information:

The Progressive Party of Canada by W. L. Morton (1950).

Sources:

Death registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Profile revised: 8 November 2009

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