Memorable Manitobans: George Poddester Renouf (1879-1961)

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George Poddester Renouf
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Farmer, MLA (1933-1936), MLA (1937-1940), MLA (1941-1945), MLA (1946-1949), MLA (1950-1953), MLA (1954-1957).

Born in Jersey, Channel Islands in 1879, he came to Canada in 1898 and, after working as a fish packer in Quebec, arrived at Bowsman in 1899. He farmed in the Swan River Valley until 1955. He entered politics in 1907, when he was elected to the Bowsman school board. As a politician he never lost an election.

He served as school board secretary and Reeve of Minitonas (1917-1918, 1922-1924, 1928-1932) before entering the Manitoba Legislature. He was also President of the Minitonas Red Cross from 1922 and founding President of the Minitonas Co-operative Elevator Association (1926). He was first elected as Conservative MLA for Swan River in 1932 and was re-elected in 1936, 1941, 1945, 1949, and 1953. He left the Progressive Conservatives in 1949 to serve as leader of an independent coalition group. In the House he was known as a man who looked after his constituents.

On 14 April 1906, he married Elsie Mary LeSalleur (1878-1961) at Winnipeg. They had no children.

He moved to Winnipeg in 1959, died there on 20 February 1961, and was buried in the Bowsman Cemetery.

Sources:

Birth and marriage registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“Under The Golden Boy, Manitoba’s M.L.A.s,” Winnipeg Tribune, 11 March 1943. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B9, page 125]

“Former Dean of PCs dies,” Winnipeg Free Press, 21 February 1961, page 3.

“Funeral services for Mrs. Geo. Renouf,” Swan Valley Star and Times, 30 March 1961, page 1.

Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.

We thank Oliver Bernuetz (Legislative Library of Manitoba) for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 16 January 2022

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. We acknowledge that the collection contains both reputable and disreputable people. All are worth remembering as a lesson to future generations.

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