Historic Sites of Manitoba: St. Alban’s Anglican Church / Blenheim Cemetery (Municipality of Prairie View)

A site south west of Birtle in the Municipality of Prairie View was occupied by St. Alban’s Anglican Church and its cemetery. Constructed in 1903 using local fieldstones, supervised by local farmer Christopher T. Winter, the church was closed in 1986 and demolished. A monument in the cemetery commemorates local men who were killed during service in the First World War. A second monument commemorates the former church.

Remembrance Day service at St. Alban’s Anglican Church (no date) Source: Audrey & Duncan Waddell St. Alban’s Anglican Church (August 1959) Source: Charles Durham Bird Interior of St. Alban’s Anglican Church (August 1959) Source: Charles Durham Bird Blenheim Cemetery with war memorial monument at left (March 2016) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Blenheim commemorative monument (March 2016) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Location (lat/long): N50.35928, W101.08431 denoted by symbol on the map above

First World War

Name	Occupation	Service	Rank	Birth Date	Death Date
Frederick William Barnes MM [Birtle, Minnedosa]	Jeweller	8th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Sergeant	17 October 1895	31 August 1918
Robert Stoddart Gregg [Portage]	Farmer	1st Canadian Mounted Rifles	Private	23 August 1896	15 September 1916
James Coleman Kirk	Clerk	3rd Battalion, Canadian Machine Gun Corps	Private	23 November 1882	27 September 1918
Neil Stuart Malcolm [Birtle]	?	Royal Field Artillery, British Army	Bombardier	? July 1875	13 November 1916
Arthur E. Nealing	?	?	?	?	?
Reginald Drake Palmer [Miniota]	Teamster	1st Canadian Mounted Rifles	Corporal	25 September 1890	1 October 1916
Henry Stansfield “Harry” Rake [Birtle, Miniota]	Farmer	43rd Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	5 August 1887	26 October 1917

Sources:

A list of burials in this cemetery is available from the Manitoba Genealogical Society, including a searchable online database available to members at the MGS Manitoba Name Index (MANI). Some additional information is contained in the 1996 MGS publication Carved in Stone: Manitoba Cemeteries and Burial Sites, revised edition, Special Projects Publication, 106 pages.

We thank Ron Bell, Brenda Samchuk, Charles Durham Bird, and Audrey & Duncan Waddell for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Darryl Toews.

Page revised: 16 November 2020

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