Memorable Manitobans: Samuel Price Rattray (1903-1979)

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Samuel Price Rattray
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Real estate agent.

Born at Westmount, Quebec in July 1903, son of Alexander Burnett Rattray (1873-1933) and Maria Maud “Dolly” Price (1872-1916), he moved to Winnipeg at the age of 2, later attending Kelvin High School. During his two years at the University of Manitoba, he earned a reputation as an athlete and excelled in track, football, and basketball. After working for a city department store, he moved to New York where he gained experience in real estate by working with the Building Managers Association and Cushman Wakefield real estate brokers. In 1927, he returned to Winnipeg and joined his father’s business. On the death of his father in 1933, he opened his own firm, which he closed in January 1948 to go to C. H. Enderton and Company.

He was a member of the Board of Revision of the City of Winnipeg and, for over 40 years, the Property Assessment Board. He was an Honourary Life Member of the Sanatorium Board of Manitoba (Chairman, 1971-?) and the Canadian Lung Association. He served as a director for such companies as Canadian Breweries, The Canada Permanent Trust Company, and Monarch Life Assurance Company. He was a member of the Board of Regents for the University of Winnipeg, and received an honorary degree from that institution in 1971. He was a member of the Winnipeg Real Estate Board, Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, the Carleton Club, and the Manitoba Club. An avid sportsman, he also belonged to the Squash Club and the Lake George Fishing Club, and was a life member of the Manitoba Game and Fish Association, and Ducks Unlimited. On 17 June 1926, he married Dorothy St. Claire Davis (?-1978). They had three sons: Burnett Clarke Rattray, Peter George Rattray (1928-2004), and Michael David Rattray.

He died at his Winnipeg home, 200 Tuxedo Boulevard, on 21 August 1979 and was buried in the Garry Memorial Park. A collection of archival materials relating to the Enderton company and its involvement in the early Winnipeg real estate market is held in the Peter G. Rattray Fonds at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.

Sources:

Death registration [Maria Maud Rattray], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“A. B. Rattray found dead on garage floor,” Winnipeg Tribune, 28 June 1933, page 20.

“Assessment expert,” Winnipeg Tribune, 26 August 1948. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B10, page 44]

Obituary [Dorothy St. Claire Rattray], Winnipeg Free Press, 26 May 1978, page 124.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 22 August 1979, page 72.

Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.

We thank Charles Bird for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Sarah Ramsden and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 17 September 2022

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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