Memorable Manitobans: Edmund Fulcher (c1885-1972)

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Edmund Fulcher
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Building contractor, socialist.

Born at Longstratton, Norfolk, England around 1885, he came to Brandon with his brother Harry in 1903. Having learned the bricklaying and carpentry trades in England, he worked as a contractor and built many residences, including his own on 22nd Street. He also constructed bridges over rivers in rural areas around Brandon.

The Fulchers had clearly been influenced by the growing radicalism of the British labour movement at the turn of the century. He ran in the 1910 provincial general election for the North Winnipeg constituency and, the following year, in the federal general election for the Macleod (Alberta) constituency, both times for the radical Socialist Party of Canada (SPC), being defeated each time. He was involved in the Brandon Trades and Labour Council from its earliest years and was appointed the Brandon correspondent for the Labour Gazette in 1908. Following the demise of the Brandon local of the SPC, he associated himself with the Labour Representation League and the Dominion Labour Party.

On 27 December 1911, he married Mabel Smith (1889-1925) at Brandon, with whom he had four children: Edna Irene Fulcher (1913-1997, wife of Arthur Overs and Leandre Bouchard), Edmund Gilbert Fulcher (1916-1923), Mabel Helen Fulcher (1919-1999, wife of W. McMillan), and Evelyn “Evie” Fulcher (c1922-2004, wife of Richard Wade). After his wife’s death, he married Frances Theresa Warner (1889-1954) at Brandon on 20 March 1926 and they had a son, Frank Raymond Fulcher (1927-1989). The family lived at 404-22nd Street, Brandon until around 1944, when they moved to British Columbia.

He died at Tottenham, Ontario on 28 October 1972 and was buried in the Royal Oak Burial Park at Victoria, BC.

Some of his construction works in Manitoba included:

Building

Location

Year

Status

Concrete Beam Bridge No. 379

Little Saskatchewan River, RM of Oakview

1918

 

Concrete Arch Bridge No. 71

Little Souris River, RM of Cornwallis

1919

 

Concrete Culvert Bridge No. 723

Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa

1920

 

Concrete Culvert Bridge No. 637

Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa

1921

 

Manitoba Government Telephones Building (addition and alterations)

19 Ninth Street, Brandon

1929

 

Sources:

1911 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.

“Brandon socialist a candidate,” Manitoba Free Press, 1 September 1911, page 2.

Birth, marriage, and death registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Good Roads Board Records, GR0016, Schedule A0215, G10707-G10706, Archives of Manitoba.

Henderson’s Directory for Brandon, Peel Bibliography, University of Alberta.

Death registrations [Frances Theresa Fulcher, Frank Raymond Fulcher], British Columbia Vital Statistics.

The Development of Winnipeg’s Socialist Movement by Ernie Chisick, MA thesis, University of Manitoba, 1972, 78 page.

Obituary, Victoria Daily Colonist, 31 October 1972, page 30.

Our Past and the Future: Rapid City and District by Rapid City Historical Society, Rapid City, 1978, page 235.

“‘A Square Deal for All and No Railroading’: Labour and Politics in Brandon, 1900-1920” by Tom Mitchell, Prairie Forum, Vol. 15, No. 1, Spring 1990.

“Fulcher families attend reunion,” Rivers Gazette Reporter, 12 August 1992, page 3.

Brandon Cemetery Transcriptions.

We thank Emily Goring and Elisabeth Baynard for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Tom Mitchell.

Page revised: 10 September 2023

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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