Memorable Manitobans: Robert Smith (1880-1944)

Manager, municipal official.

Born at Coatbridge, Scotland in 1880, he moved to the United States and worked for the United States Steel Corporation at Erie, Pennsylvania before relocating to Winnipeg and Selkirk in 1922, where he assumed the position of Manager at the Manitoba Rolling Mills at Selkirk. He was first Vice-President of the Selkirk General Hospital Board (1928), Mayor of Selkirk (1936-1937), and Chairman of the Victory Loan Drive (1942). He and his wife Agnus Smith (?-?) had two children: Hugh Lindsay Smith (1909-1975) and Marjory Jean Smith (?-1998, wife of William Webster Fotheringham). Following two months of illness, he died at his Selkirk home, 586 Eveline Street, on 25 February 1944 and was buried in the Mapleton St. Clement’s Anglican Cemetery. He is commemorated by Robert Smith School in Selkirk.

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Robert Smith School (300 Sophia Street, Selkirk)

Sources:

“Selkirk Hospital affairs gratifying,” Winnipeg Free Press, 29 March 1928, page 9.

“Selkirk loan unit discusses future,” Winnipeg Free Press, 16 March 1942, page 15.

“Robert Smith, Rolling Mills manager, dies,” Winnipeg Free Press, 25 February 1944, page 2.

“Funeral service held for Robert Smith,” Winnipeg Free Press, 29 February 1944, page 4.

Obituary [Hugh Lindsay Smith], Winnipeg Free Press, 19 June 1975, page 44.

Obituary [Marjory Jean Fotheringham], Winnipeg Free Press, 24 July 1998, page D6.

Obituary [William Webster Fotheringham], Winnipeg Free Press, 18 June 1999, page C11.

Selkirk - “The First Hundred Years” by Barry Potyondi, 1981.

Canadian Elector Rolls, Ancestry.

Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.

This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 28 October 2018

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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