Isaac Pitblado (1867-1964)

Lawyer.

Born at Gleneig, Nova Scotia on 15 March 1867, son of Reverend Dr. Charles Bruce Pitblado and Sophia Pitblado, he was educated at Halifax Public and High Schools,the University of Manitoba (BA, 1886, MA, 1893, and Dalhousie University (LLD, Hon., 1919). He came to Winnipeg in 1882, and was called to the Manitoba Bar in 1890. He was a partner in the firms of Aikins, Culver & Company (1890-1892), with ex-mayor A. J. Andrews (1892-98), Aikins, Culver & Pitblado, re-organized as Aikins, Pitblado, Robson & Loftus (1900 to 1903). He formed a partnership with Colin H. Campbell.

Pitblado was President of the Law Society of Manitoba (1916 to 1920). He was appointed Counsel by the Dominion Government on investigation by Railway Commission of Telegraph Rates (1911), appointed Counsel by City of Winnipeg on Freight Rate investigation (1912), Registrar of the University of Manitoba (1893 to 1900), a Member of the University of Manitoba Council starting in 1888, Chairman of the Board of Governors for the University of Manitoba starting in 1917. He was appointed one of the Commissioners for Manitoba on Uniformity of Laws (1918), Vice-President of the Canadian Bar Association. He was President of the Canadian Club of Winnipeg (1910-1911).

He was married twice. His first wife was Almyra Campbell with whom he had daughter Almira Campbell Pitblado (b Winnipeg, 1894) and son Edward Bruce Pitblado. His second wife was May Edith Lunn Lazier of Minneapolis, Minnesota, married in 1907, with whom he had one son and two daughters.

Regarded as an expert on the intricacies of railroad freight rates and grain marketing, he served on a number of royal commissions. He was a member of the Committee of 1,000 in the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. An avid golfer and curler, he was president of the Manitoba Curling Association in 1910-11. He was a founding member, in 1905, of the St. Charles Country Club. In 1926, the University of Manitoba gave him an honorary doctorate. He was given a Manitoba Golden Boy Award in 1960.

His papers are at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.

Sources:

Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, 1911. C. W. Parker, editor. Canadian Press Association, Vancouver.

“These twelve Manitobans to receive Golden Boy Awards”, Winnipeg Free Press, 18 June 1960, page 12.

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

Profile revised: 20 November 2009

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