Memorable Manitobans: Beatrice Alice Brigden (1888-1977)

Politician.

Born at Hastings, Ontario on 30 January 1888, daughter of William and Sarah Brigden, at an early age her family moved to a farm about 20 miles north of Deloraine. She was later educated at the Toronto Conservatory School. After moving to Brandon she was active in the Independent Labor Party (later the CCF, then the NDP). She was a frequent candidate in elections, including the 1930 federal election, and 1932 and 1936 provincial elections. Brigden organized the Manitoba Women’s Model Parliament and was a member of the Manitoba Human Rights Commission. In 1970, she was awarded a Manitoba Centennial Medal by the Manitoba Historical Society and she received the Manitoba Golden Boy Award for good citizenship. Brandon University awarded her an honorary degree in 1973. She died, unmarried, at Winnipeg on 22 February 1977 and was buried in the Napinka Cemetery.

See also:

Beatrice Brigden and Radicalism in the Methodist Church by Tom Mitchell
Manitoba History, Number 19, Spring 1990

“Beatrice Brigden: The Formative Years of a Socialist Feminist, 1888-1932” by Allison Campbell (MA thesis, University of Manitoba, 1991).

Sources:

“Brigden knows women’s rights story”, Winnipeg Free Press, 23 October 1971.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 24 February 1977, page 46.

Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

We thank Grace Jacobs and Donna Little UE for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 24 June 2018

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. We acknowledge that the collection contains both reputable and disreputable people. All are worth remembering as a lesson to future generations.

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