Memorable Manitobans: Arthur Sheppard Barton (1857-1936)

Farmer, architect, publisher.

Born at Bromborough, County Cheshire, England on 13 November 1857, he spent five years training in an architect’s office at Manchester (1875-1880). In late 1880, he emigrated to Canada with his wife and settled at Meaford, Ontario where they farmed for a year. In 1882, they moved to the Strathallan district of southwestern Manitoba and took up another farm, operating it until retirement to Boissevain in 1901. During this period, he is believed to have designed “many churches, schools, residences and business blocks.”

He and wife Freda Caroline Sheppard (1866-?) had four children while living in Manitoba: Daisy C. F. Barton (1887-?), William Sheppard Barton (1888-1931), Walter Sheppard Barton (1888-1966), and Victor George Barton (1901-1987). He was a prominent member of All Saints Anglican Church. In 1902, he took over operation of the local newspaper, the Boissevain Recorder, and was its Editor and Publisher for three years (1902-1905). He moved to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1905 then relocated to Victoria where he worked as a real estate agent and developer with F. B. Pemberton & Son.

He died at Tientsin, China, while on an extended study trip, in 1936.

Some of his architectural works in Manitoba included:

Building

Location

Year

Status

All Saints Anglican Church

Municipality of Boissevain-Morton

1889

Moved (c1929)

St. Matthew’s Anglican Church

658 Stephen Street, Boissevain, Municipality of Boissevain-Morton

1889-1890

 

Sources:

Birth registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“Turtle Mountain,” Manitoba Free Press, 31 May 1889, page 2.

1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.

“Arthur S. Barton,” Rapid City Reporter, 9 March 1905, page 7.

Attestation papers, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Library and Archives Canada.

Obituary, Victoria Daily Times, 10 June 1936, page 6.

Beckoning Hills, 1956, page 167.

Beckoning Hills Revisited by Boissevain History Committee, 1981, pages 79, 179.

Death registrations [William Sheppard Barton, Walter Sheppard Barton, Victor George Barton], British Columbia Vital Statistics.

Domion Land Grants, Library and Archives Canada.

This page was prepared by Robert Hill and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 24 August 2023

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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