Memorable Manitobans: Manitoba Inductees to the Order of the British Empire

The Order of the British Empire was the highest honour that could be conferred on a Canadian citizen, prior to the establishment of the Order of Canada in 1967, typically for exemplary military service, but sometimes for civilian activities. Persons in Manitoba who were inducted into the Order have included the following:

Inductees

Inductee	Level	Year
Peter MacDonald Abel (1890-1952)	OBE	1944
Thomas Stuart Acheson (1876-1954)	OBE	1919
Mabel Eleanor “May” Allen (1896-1993)	MBE	1946
Mrs. John Allen	MBE	1946
Clara Mabel Allen	MBE	1946
Ralph Andrew Allen (1913-1966)	OBE	?
Nevill Alexander D. Armstrong	OBE	1919
John Wakeling Baker	GBE	1954
Ralph Dennistoun Baker (1895-1960)	OBE	1946
Lionel David Mackenzie Baxter (1889-1952)	OBE	1918
Mary Ellen Birtles (1858-1943)	OBE	1935
Thomas Tofield Bower (1867-1968)	MBE	1935
Arthur George Bowes (1914-2013)	MBE	1945
Gordon M. Bowes	OBE	1946
Eustache Alexander Brock (1887-1977)	OBE	1945
Manifrank “Frank” Brown (1909-1959)	OBE	1945
Minnie Julia Beatrice Campbell (1862-1952)	OBE	1935
Robert B. “Bobby” Carter (1892-1963)	MBE	?
Brian Charles Cavanagh (1930-2005)	MBE	1981
Gertrude Childs (1881-1957)	OBE	1934
Stanley Gordon Chown (1888-1949)	OBE	1919
Clair Addison Clendening (1885-1950)	OBE	1946
Richard Reeve Collard (1886-1963)	CBE	?
Ernest Baldwin Complin	MBE	1946
Edward Francis Cooke	MBE	1946
John Andrew Milton “Jam” Cook (1903-1963)	OBE	1946
Thomas Frederick “Tommy” Cooper (1891-1977)	OBE	1944
Herbert Philip Crabb (1889-1966)	MBE	1946
Edward Hugh Martin Crawford (c1894-1972)	MBE	1946
Andrew Currie (1911-1990)	MBE	1946
Sarah Persis Johnson Darrach (1886-1974)	MBE	1934
John Caswell Davis (1888-1953)	OBE	1946
Edgar Allan Deacon (1887-1958)	OBE	1945
Richard Lippincott Denison (1889-1980)	OBE	1946
Robert Maxwell Dennistoun (1864-1952)	CBE	1919
Wilfred James Donaldson (1895-1965)	MBE	1944
Henry Russell “Harry” Dowie (1898-1970)	MBE	1945
Frederick H. Downing	MBE	1946
David Merritt Duncan (1870-1951)	OBE	1935
Gilbert McCrea Eaton	MBE	1946
Morley Robinson Elliott (1900-1982)	OBE	1946
Edward Gurney Vaux Evans (1907-1987)	MBE	1946
John Foggie (1889-1945)	OBE	1943
Marguerita Douglas Fowler	OBE	1934
Lyle Gibson	MBE	1966
Albert Henry Stewart Gillson (1889-1954)	CBE	1943
Crawford Gordon (1914-1967)	OBE	?
Frederick Otto Grinke (1911-1987)	CBE	1978
John Alexander Gunn (1878-1960)	MBE	1918
Harold Stuart Hanson (1891-1984)	OBE	1943
Earl Hickson	MBE	1946
John Raymond “Jack” Hignell (1930-2015)	OBE	1996
Alexandra Wrighton Hogg (?-1964)	OBE	?
Charles Hollenberg	MBE	1945
Alexander Jardine Hunter (1868-1940)	MBE	1935
William Burton Hurd (1894-1950)	OBE	1919
Desmond Bartholomew Kennedy	MBE	1946
Margaret MacTavish Rogers Konantz (1899-1967)	OBE	1946
John Roderick “Jack” Lindsay (1901-1998)	MBE	1946
Norman James Lindsay (1874-1959)	MBE	1919
Harold Alexander Macdonell (c1906-1963)	MBE	?
Mads Emmet Madson	MBE	1946
Richard Sankey Malone (1909-1985)	OBE	1945
Wilfrid Reid “Wop” May (1896-1952)	OBE	1935
Henry George Mayes (1880-1928)	MBE	1918
Thomas William McConachie	MBE	1946
Daniel J. McIntyre (1852-1946)	OBE	1935
William Allan McKnight (1892-1975)	OBE	1935
John S. McNab	MBE	1946
Ernest Walter Moltke Mermagen (1871-1947)	OBE	?
Ernest Hutchison Moncrieff (1909-2000)	OBE	1945
John R. Morgan	MBE	1946
Arthur Aldridge Moss (1881-1962)	MBE	1945
Stanley Henry “Bus” Muton (1899-1971)	MBE	?
Marget Constance Northwood (1909-?)	OBE	1944
Daniel Stewart Ormond	MBE	1946
Arthur Ernest Parker	MBE	1946
William James Parker (1896-1971)	MBE	1946
Edwin Allee “Monte” Pridham (1883-1973)	MBE	1943
Lizzie Redman (c1865-1950)	?	?
Shirley Annie Redmond (1876-?)	OBE	?
Rupert Cambourne Reece (1894-1951)	OBE	1943
Conrad Sanford Riley (1916-1999)	MBE	1945
Sophie May Roblin	MBE	1946
Marian Evelyn Rowland	MBE	1946
Thomas A. Rutledge	MBE	1946
Charles Millidge Ruttan (1883-1970)	CBE	?
Theodore V. Sandys-Wunsch	OBE	1946
Henry Eugene “Harry” Sellers (1886-1970)	CBE	1946
Thomas M. Shields	MBE	1946
Victor Sifton (1897-1961)	CBE	1944
William John Simpson (1869-1928)	?	?
Ernest Sirluck (1918-2013)	MBE	?
Frank Leith Skinner (1882-1967)	OBE	1943
James Smart (1888-1957)	OBE	1946
Thomas Farrar Smellie (1880-1963)	OBE	1943
George Smith (1882-1963)	MBE	1943
Marjorie Smith	MBE	1946
Daniel Emes Sprague (1848-1924)	OBE	1919
Samuel Benfield “Sam” Steele (1848-1919)	CBE	1900
Maitland Bernard Steinkopf (1912-1970)	OBE	1945
Lillian Carter Stephens (1876-1957)	MBE	1935
Kenneth Bowring Stoddart (1877-1961)	CBE	?
A. Marguerite Swan	MBE	1943
John Francis Sweeney (c1881-1951)	OBE	1946
Victor Hubert Tait	KBE	1944
Ethel Lily May Thorpe (c1908-2001)	OBE	1956
Sveinn Thorvaldson (1872-1949)	MBE	1935
Annette Louise Treble (1932-2010)	?	1978
George Eric Tritschler (1901-1993)	OBE	1945
Mary Ivadell Warner	MBE	1946
Ralph Humphreys Webb (1886-1945)	OBE	?
Reginald Weightman	OBE	1921
Jean Lobell Whiteford	MBE	1946
Mrs. John Whyte	OBE	1946
Norman George Wilson-Smith	MBE	1945
Karl Fiset Wintemute (c1904-1989)	OBE	?
Edwin Sydney Woodiwiss (1871-1940)	MBE	1919
George Joseph Anderson Young	MBE	1946

Levels (descending order of precedence)

Levels	GBE = Knight Grand Cross / Dame Grand Cross
	KBE = Knight Commander / Dame Commander
	CBE = Commander (regional and national levels)
	OBE = Officer (local and regional levels)
	MBE = Member (local level)

See also:

Manitoba Recipients of the King George V Jubilee Medal

Manitoba Recipients of the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal

Manitoba Recipients of the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal

Manitoba Recipients of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal

Manitoba Recipients of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal

Manitoba Recipients of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal

Manitoba Recipients of the Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award / Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers

Manitoba Recipients of the Meritorious Service Medal (Civil Division)

Manitoba Inductees to the Order of the British Empire

Manitoba Inductees to the Order of St. Gregory the Great

Manitoba Inductees to the Order of the Falcon

Manitoba Recipients of Knighthoods

Manitoba Recipients of the Canadian Centennial Medal

Manitoba Recipients of the 125th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation Medal

Manitoba Members of the Order of Canada

Manitoba Members of the Order of Military Merit

Members of the Order of Manitoba

Members of the Order of the Metis Nation

Members of the Manitoba Order of the Buffalo Hunt

Recipients of the Manitoba Centennial Medal

Members of the Manitoba Order of the Crocus

Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Historical Preservation and Promotion

Winnipeg Citizens Hall of Fame

Recipients of Manitoba 150 Honours

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Order of Manitoba Monument (Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg)

Sources:

“City employe gets medal,” Winnipeg Tribune, 31 January 1921, page 1.

“In New Year’s honors,” Winnipeg Free Press, 1 January 1934, page 2.

“4 Winnipeggers will be honored,” Winnipeg Free Press, 28 December 1943, page 12.

“9 Manitobans among army men honored,” Winnipeg Free Press, 1 January 1945, page 1.

“Air Personnel of Province honored,” Winnipeg Free Press, 14 June 1945, page 1.

“12 Manitobans win Army honors,” Winnipeg Free Press, 14 June 1945, page 1.

“Navy awards for seven Manitobans,” Winnipeg Free Press, 14 June 1945, page 1.

“Air Force honors,” Winnipeg Free Press, 14 June 1945, page 2.

“Army honors,” Winnipeg Free Press, 14 June 1945, page 2.

“Forty Manitobans inducted in Dominion Day honour list,” Winnipeg Free Press, 1 July 1946, page 1.

“Manitobans,” Winnipeg Free Press, 1 July 1946, page 4.

British Orders to Canadians

We thank Michael Andrews, Kelly Cook, James Arnett, and Wilf Donaldson Jr. for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by James Kostuchuk, Nathan Kramer, and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 26 June 2023