Memorable Manitobans: Charles Walsh Rowley (1869-1944)

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Charles Walsh Rowley
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Bank manager.

Born at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia on 30 September 1869, son of Lieutenant Colonel John William Horsley Rowley and Miriam Walsh, he was educated at Yarmouth Academy. He entered the service of the Bank of Commerce at St. Catharines, Ontario, in 1887. He was a bank accountant at Collingwood (1893), Berlin [Kitchener] (1895), Winnipeg (1898), and Vancouver (1902); Manager at Calgary (1902-1911) and Winnipeg (1911-1920); Superintendent of Manitoba and Saskatchewan Branches (1920-1925), and Assistant General Manager (1925). He moved to Toronto, Ontario around 1925.

He served as President of the Canadian Club of Winnipeg (1914), Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of the 100th Regiment Winnipeg Grenadiers and Acting Officer Commanding (1916-1918), Honorary Treasurer of the Navy League of Canada, Honorary Treasurer for Western Canada Armenian Relief Fund, Honorary Treasurer League of Nations Society in Canada (Winnipeg Branch), Provincial Commissioner of the Boy Scout Association of Manitoba (1915-1925), and a member of the Military Hospital Commission (1915-1918).

He married Fannie Woodman Smith (?-1932) and they had two daughters, both born in Manitoba: Miriam Hinchley Rowley (1900-1991, wife of Geoffrey S. H. Carter) and Kate Stirling Horsley Rowley (1902-?, wife of Vernal William Bradburn). His Winnipeg home at 124 Harrow Street was designed by architect Robert Gilmore Hanford. He was a member of the Royal Colonial Institute (London), Minneapolis Club (Minneapolis), English Speaking Union, Alpine Club of Canada, Manitoba Club, Carleton Club, St. Charles Country Club, Motor Country Club, Garrison Club, and Badminton Club.

He died at Toronto, Ontario on 24 June 1944 and was buried in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery. He is commemorated by the Alberta village of Rowley.

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Rowley House and Coach House (124 Harrow Street, Winnipeg)

“Canadian Bank of Commerce and Charles Rowley,” Alberta History, Volume 39, Number 3 (Spring 1991), pages 9-20.

Sources:

Birth and marriage registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

The Story of Manitoba by F. H. Schofield, Winnipeg: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913.

The Leading Financial, Business & Professional Men of Winnipeg, published by Edwin McCormick, Photographs by T. J. Leatherdale, Compiled and printed by Stone Limited, c1913. [copy available at the Archives of Manitoba]

1921 Canada census, Ancestry.

“Bradburn – Rowley,” Manitoba Free Press, 16 June 1924, page 9.

Pioneers and Prominent People of Manitoba, Winnipeg: Canadian Publicity Company, 1925.

“Weds in Toronto,” Winnipeg Free Press, 3 June 1933, page 14.

Ontario death registration, Ancestry.

Charles Walsh Rowley, FindAGrave.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 4 December 2020

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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