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Edward William Montgomery
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Physician, public health reformer, MLA (1927-1932).
Born in Quebec on 27 September 1864, son of John Montgomery (1836-1889) and Jane Margaret Walker (1842-1923), he came to Stonewall with his parents in 1877 and attended high school. He graduated from Manitoba College in 1886, taught at Meridian School and the Brandon Collegiate, then entered the Manitoba Medical College, graduating in 1892.
In 1892, he began medical practice in Winnipeg, working at the Winnipeg General Hospital. From 1901 to 1927, he served as Professor of Medicine at Manitoba Medical College and was President of the Canadian Medical Association in 1922. He was active in the public health movement for many years, he joined the Bracken government in 1927 as Minister of Health and Welfare. He consolidated a number of disparate departments into a functioning unit before he was defeated in the 1932 general election.
He was married twice, first to Anna Minnette Johnstone (1867-1911, daughter of James A. Johnstone of Brandon) and they had two daughters: Mary Elzina Montgomery (1893-1977, wife of Robert Neville Rowbotham) and Edna Weston Montgomery (1895-1966, wife of Roland Osborne Bull). On 8 July 1914, he married Mary Susannah Bell (1880-1962) and they subsequently had three children: Jane Elizabeth Montgomery (1916-2010), Edward Wilford Montgomery (1918-1978), and William Francis “Bill” Montgomery (1921-1979). He was a member of the Scientific Club of Winnipeg (1913-1948). The University of Manitoba gave him an honorary doctorate in 1927. In retirement he was an ardent gardener at his property on the Red River in East St. Paul.
He died at the Winnipeg General Hospital on 27 September 1948 and was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery.
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Birth and marriage registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary [Mrs. Montgomery], Winnipeg Tribune, 6 April 1911, page 5.
1921 Canada census, Library and Archives Canada.
“E. W. Montgomery, veteran physician dies at age of 84,” Winnipeg Free Press, 27 September 1948. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B10, page 53]
“First provincial health head dies,” Winnipeg Tribune, 27 September 1948. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B10, page 55]
Death registration [Edna Weston Bull], British Columbia Vital Statistics.
Obituary [Edward Wilford Montgomery], Winnipeg Free Press, 11 February 1978, page 53.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.
Obituary [Jane Elizabeth Montgomery], Winnipeg Free Press, 2 October 2010.
Montgomery and Rowntree Families and Genealogy.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
We thank Jane Montgomery (daughter of E. W. Montgomery) for providing additional information by way of Alan Crossin.
We thank Oliver Bernuetz (Legislative Library of Manitoba) for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Sarah Ramsden.
Page revised: 7 April 2022
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