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Walter Reginald Baker
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Railwayman.
Born at York, England on 25 May 1852, he immigrated to Canada where he worked for the Allan Steam Ship Company in Montreal from 1865 to 1872. In 1873, he became employed as a local freight and passenger agent for the Canada Central Railway. He then spent three years (1874-1878) serving as private secretary and Aide-de-Campe to the Earl of Dufferin, Governor-General of Canada, and three years as assistant secretary to the treasury board at Ottawa (1878-1881).
When the Canadian Pacific Railway Company was established in 1881, Baker came to Winnipeg as the assistant to CPR Western Divisional Superintendent Alpheus Beede Stickney. He held this position from February to September of that year, at which time he was appointed railway purchasing agent. From May 1882 to June 1883, he was an assistant to William Cornelius Van Horne, then he stepped down to take the appointment of General Superintendent and Treasurer of the Manitoba and Northwestern Railway. By 1911, Baker was Secretary of the Canadian Pacific Railway, based in Montreal.
He was married three times, first in 1875 to Jane Cruice (?-1875) of Ottawa, second to Belle Drysdale Patton (?-1907), and third in 1909 to Elsie Dickie of Vienna, Austria. Collectively, he had three daughters and one son. He was described as the “Father of Senior Golf” in Canada as a result of his efforts to establish the Canadian Senior Golf Association patterned on a similar organization in the United States.
He died at his home in Montreal, Quebec on 2 April 1929.
See also:
“Gen. Supt. Baker. Portrait and Sketch of the Chief Officer of the M. & N. W. Railway” Winnipeg Sun,10 November 1886 [Manitoba Historical Scrapbook MB1, Manitoba Legislative Library, page 2]
A Political Manual of the Province of Manitoba and the North-West Territories by J. P. Robertson, Winnipeg: Call Printing Company, 1887.
“Walter R. Baker is dead in east; was active here,” Winnipeg Evening Tribune, 2 April 1929, page 9.
We thank Darryl Toews for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 19 February 2024
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