Memorable Manitobans: Corbet Locke (1854-1932)

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Corbet Locke
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Lawyer, judge.

Born at Barrie, Ontario on 9 February 1854, son of Joseph and Mary Locke, he was educated at Barrie Grammar School. He was called to Ontario Bar in 1877. He came to Manitoba and was called to the Bar in 1882, establishing a law office at the boom town of Nelson. When the community was bypassed by the railway, he moved with it to Morden. He remained active in legal matters there for the remainder of his career. He was made a Queen’s Counsel in 1893, appointed to the County Court Bench of Manitoba in 1894.

He was President of the Morden Liberal-Conservative Association for thirteen years. He chaired several Royal Commission, including one to report on compensation to workmen for injury by accident, resulting in the Workman’s Compensation Act of 1910 and the Royal Commission of 1911 to report on validity of surrender of St. Peter’s Indian Reserve, and Chairman to report on operation and management of Manitoba Government Telephones, in 1912.

On 19 December 1882, he married Esther Alice Holland (1851-1901, daughter of Richard Holland, barrister of Oshawa, Ontario) and they had four children: Philip Corbet Locke, Georgina Mary Locke (1885-1934, wife of William Starkey Drewry), Charles Holland Locke, and Mary Esther Locke (1893-1919, wife of George Victor Bedford). After his first wife’s death, he married Ruby Louise Brown and they had four children: John Locke (1911-1942), Brian Kelly Locke (1912-1987), William Locke (1916-2010), and Anne Locke (1923-2001). His recreations included cricket, tennis, curling, and fishing. A Mason, he was the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Manitoba in 1896.

He died at Vancouver, British Columbia on 8 February 1932.

Sources:

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

1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.

Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, edited by C. W. Parker, Vancouver: Canadian Press Association, 1911.

A History of Manitoba: Its Resources and People by Prof. George Bryce, Toronto: The Canadian History Company, 1906.

The Story of Manitoba by F. H. Schofield, Winnipeg: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913.

Pioneers and Prominent People of Manitoba, Winnipeg: Canadian Publicity Company, 1925.

“Judge Locke, aged Manitoba jurist, dies in Vancouver,” Winnipeg Free Press, 9 February 1932, page 10.

Death registration, British Columbia Vital Statistics.

Obituary [R. L. B. Locke], Winnipeg Free Press, 13 May 1982, page 50.

Obituary [Anne Locke], Winnipeg Free Press, 8 June 2001.

We thank Stan Barclay, Julie McPhee, and Darryl Toews for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 8 April 2023

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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