Alexander Robert Welch (1873-1962)

Merchant, farmer, MLA (1933-1936), MLA (1937-1940), MLA (1941-1945).

Born at Brechin, Scotland on 15 July 1873, son of James Welch and Mary Ann Ingram, he was educated at the Stratford public and collegiate schools. He came to Canada in 1874 and arrived in Manitoba in March 1893 where he found work on a farm near Minto. The next year he started a shoe store at Boissevain.

On 25 November 1896, he married Elizabeth H. Graham, daughter of James Graham, of Minto, Manitoba. They had four children: James A., Mildred (married to Eric Gowler of Boissevain), Dorothy A., and Graham E. He served as Mayor of Boissevain (1905 to 1906), Chairman of the Boissevain School Board (1916 to 1929), and President of the Conservative Association of Turtle Mountain (1916 to 1929). He was first elected to the Manitoba Legislature at a by-election in June 1929, the vacancy being caused by death of the sitting member, Richard Gardiner Willis.

Sources:

The Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1934.

Members of the Legislative Assembly (deceased), Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.

“Under The Golden Boy, Manitoba’s M.L.A.s” Winnipeg Tribune, 12 March 1943. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B9, page 126]

Profile revised: 26 September 2009

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