Engineer.
Born at Cheshire, England on 2 January 1847, he graduated from Shrewsbury Grammar School and in 1876 apprenticed to an engineer. He came to Brandon in 1892, and began his engineering career in Canada with involvement in the city’s sewage and waterworks system. He moved to Toronto, Ontario in 1895 and established a large engineering consultancy business. In 1903 he became city engineer at St. Catharines, then city engineer at Calgary, Alberta where he designed the sewage system, erected the waterworks, installed the municipal electric light plant, and designed the Calgary Street Railway System. In 1909, he was lured back to Brandon and was offered inducements to remain. He oversaw the construction of the street railway and street paving. He was a member of St. Matthew's Anglican Church. He died at Rochester, Minnesota on 13 January 1917 and was buried in the Brandon Cemetery.
The Story of Manitoba by F. H. Schofield, Winnipeg: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.
“R. E. Speakman dead: pneumonia fatal to former city engineer,” Brandon Sun, 15 January 1917, page 1.
We thank Darryl Toews for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 19 April 2024
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