Manitoba Photographers: William John Bates (1876-1943)

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William John Bates
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Catalogue | Samples | Sources

Born at Hallville, Dundas County, Ontario on 2 February 1876, son of John Bates and Jenny Christie, he came to Manitoba in 1894 and lived in a boarding house at Dominion City, working as a teacher at Dominion City School, and meeting there the prominent photographer George A. Barrowclough. He later taught at Prince Albert, North West Territories [now Saskatchewan].

On 12 August 1903, he married Edna Winnifred “Winnie” Howarth (1877-?, daughter of James Rusk Howarth) at Winnipeg and they had two children, Allie Helen Bates (1905-1962, wife of James Maitland Fyfe) and Robert David Bates (1908-1962, husband of Grace Susan Stockley). It appears that he supported his family during this time as a teacher and itinerant photographer, specializing in real photo postcards of small towns in southern Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan.

The family lived at Newdale while he was the Principal of Wellington School (1905-1907) and Newdale School (1907-1908), and at Winnipeg (1908-1911) while he was a student at the Manitoba Medical College. After graduation, he practiced medicine at Shellmouth (1912), Glen Ewen, Saskatchewan (1913), Russell (1915-1925), Bracken, Saskatchewan (1925-1940), and the last 2½ years of his life at Tuxford, Saskatchewan.

He died at Tuxford on 2 February 1943 and was buried in the Kildonan Presbyterian Cemetery.

Catalogue

No.

Location

5

Baldur

6

Foxwarren

8

Macdonald

9

Strathclair

10

Fairfax

11

Franklin

13

Birtle

14

Strathclair

21

Plumas

23

Baldur

24

Plumas

30

Arden

81

Bagot

368

Alexander

386

Franklin and Hargrave

411

Elkhorn

553

Sidney

655

Elm Creek

700

Starbuck

777

St. Norbert

906

Oakville

971

Makinak

1038

Makinak

Samples

View of Baldur, Manitoba

View of Baldur, Manitoba (no date)
Source: Rob McInnes, MN0308

View of the Sidney Brickworks

View of the Sidney Brickworks (no date)
Source: Rob McInnes, MN0600

View of the village of Macdonald and Connor School at right

View of the village of Macdonald and Connor School at right (no date)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough, 2014-0329

Sources:

Ontario birth registration, Ancestry.

1901, 1906, and 1911 Canada censuses, Automated Genealogy.

“News of the busy west,” Manitoba Free Press, 3 July 1907, page 27.

“Local news,” Russell Banner, 4 August 1910, page 2.

Classified advertisement, Manitoba Free Press, 29 October 1913, page 16.

1916 Canada census, Ancestry.

Birth and marriage registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“Bates – Stockley,” Winnipeg Free Press, 5 December 1938, page 10.

“Dr. W. J. Bates dies at Tuxford,” Winnipeg Tribune, 3 February 1943, page 11.

Obituary, Winnipeg Tribune, 4 February 1943, page 5.

“35 years ago,” Russell Banner, 2 October 1947, page 2.

Death registrations [Allie Helen Fyfe, Robert David Bates], British Columbia Vital Statistics.

“Please join our ‘very important’ project,” Russell Banner, 30 July 2013, page 5.

We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Andrew Cunningham, Rob McInnes, and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 4 January 2024

Manitoba Photographers: 1858 to Present

A list of professional photographers who have worked in Manitoba, from 1858 to the present, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society.

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Gordon Goldsborough & Manitoba Historical Society. All rights reserved.