Engineer, surveyor, policeman.
Born at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on 26 January 1846, son of Edward James Jarvis and Elizabeth Gray, he trained as an engineer at Cambridge University. Between 1864 and 1867, he did railway work in England before returning to Canada in 1868 and was an assistant to Sir Sandford Fleming during construction of the Intercolonial Railway in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
He first came to Manitoba in 1871 as a member of a government party surveying the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway. He was later a partner in the lumber business of W. J. Macaulay and Company. He was the first Registrar of the University of Manitoba, a founder of the Manitoba Historical Society, an early alderman on the Winnipeg City Council, and an officer in the North West Mounted Police. He designed the Broadway Bridge, which opened in 1882.
He died at Calgary, North West Territories [now Alberta] on 24 November 1894. He is commemorated by Jarvis Street in Winnipeg. A collection of his journals are held by the Archives of Manitoba (MG6 A2).
See also:
Edward Worrell Jarvis in Western Canada by Sam McBride
Manitoba History, Number 78, Summer 2015
“The death of Major Jarvis,” Manitoba Free Press, 27 November 1894, page 4.
“Notice to creditors,” Manitoba Free Press, 3 January 1896, page 5.
We thank Mike Murtha for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 5 October 2020
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