Memorable Manitobans: Gilbert McMicken (1813-1891)

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Gilbert McMicken
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Policeman, land agent, MLA (1879-1883), Speaker (1880-1882).

Born at Wigtonshire, Scotland on 13 October 1813, son of Gilbert McMicken, he emigrated to Canada in July 1832. He represented Welland in the Assembly of Canada from 1857 to 1861. In 1864 he was appointed Stipendiary Magistrate for Canada West and was active in quelling Fenian uprisings while Commissioner of Police for the Dominion.

In 1871, he was appointed Dominion Lands Agent for Manitoba, assistant Receiver General, Dominion Auditor and manager of the Dominion Government Savings Bank. He served as President of the St. Andrew’s Society of Winnipeg (1874-1875). From 1874 to 1877 he was acting inspector of the Manitoba penitentiary. After retiring from government service he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in 1879 and was elected Speaker the following year, serving until December 1882. He represented the constituency of Cartier until 1883, and ran unsuccessfully against Isaac Campbell in the 1888 general election.

In 1835, he married Ann Theresa Duff (1807-1887) and they had seven children or stepchildren, including Alexander McMicken, Hamilton Grant McMicken, and Albert Clifton McMicken. He was a founding member of the Manitoba Historical Society.

He died at his Winnipeg home, 362 Notre Dame Street, on 7 March 1891 and was buried in the Kildonan Presbyterian Cemetery.

His articles for the Manitoba Historical Society:

The Abortive Fenian Raid on Manitoba: Account by One Who Knew its Secret History
MHS Transactions Series 1, No. 32, read 11 May 1888, Winnipeg: Manitoba Free Press.

See also:

Gilbert McMicken, Dictionary of Canadian Biography XII, 675-80.

Sources:

Death registration [Ann Teresa McMicken], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“A veteran fallen,” Manitoba Free Press, 7 March 1891, page 8.

Pioneers and Early Citizens of Manitoba, Winnipeg: Manitoba Library Association, 1971.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 26 June 2022

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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