Railwayman, municipal official.
Born at Holmfield on 22 October 1888, son of John Pratt Spafford (?-1932) and Mary Watson (?-1927), he worked as a fireman and later a locomotive engineer for the Canadian Northern Railway. He was active in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen Local No. 788 of Brandon. During his last years of employment, he was engineer of the No. 5 and No. 6 locomotives running between Brandon and Kipling, Saskatchewan. He retired in 1953.
On 24 June 1914, he married Isabella Elizabeth Hawking (?-1975) of Ninga. They had two daughters: Evelyn Estella Spafford (1916-?, wife of N. Calderone) and Muriel Grace Spafford (1919-?, wife of D. Hadden). He was active in municipal politics, serving as a Brandon city alderman for 18 consecutive years, from 1928 to 1945. In the 1932 provincial general election, he was an Independent Labour candidate in the Brandon City constituency, being defeated by George Dinsdale. He was a Co-operative Commonwealth Federation candidate in a 1952 provincial byelection and was defeated by Reginald Otto Lissaman.
He died at Burnaby, British Columbia on 10 May 1978 and was buried there.
Birth registrations [Harry Spafford, Evelyn Estella Spafford, Muriel Grace Spafford], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Marriage registration [Harry Spafford, Isabella Hawking], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Death registration [Harry Spafford], British Columbia Vital Statistics.
Obituary, Brandon Sun, 29 May 1978, page 14.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 19 May 2023
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