Robert Watson (1853-1929)

MP (1882-1887), MP (1887-1891), MP (1891-1896), MLA (1892-1895), MLA (1896-1899), Senator.

Born at Elora, Ontario on 29 April 1853, son of George and Elizabeth Watson of Edinburgh, Scotland, who came to Canada in 1847. A millwright by trade, Watson came to Manitoba in 1876, built mills at Portage la Prairie and Stonewall. He was President of the Manitoba and Saskatchewan Coal Company and the Central Electric Company.

He married Isabel Brown, daughter of Duncan Brown of Lobo (Ontario), on 15 July 1880.

He was a member of the Portage la Prairie town council for two years. He was elected to the House of Commons for Marquette in 1882, re-elected in 1887 and 1891, resigned in 1892 and was elected to the Manitoba Legislature for Portage la Prairie in 1892, taking on the portfolio of Public Works in the Greenway Government on 6 January 1900. He was called to the Senate in January 1900.

Watson died on 19 May 1929, at Brandon.

His correspondence (1893-1900) is at the Archives of Manitoba.

Sources:

The Canadian Album: Men of Canada or Success by Example, Vol. III, Bradley, Garretson & Co., Brantford, Ontario, 1894.

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.

Profile revised: 15 November 2008

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