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John Power Howden
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Physician, MP (1926), MP (1926-1930), MP (1930-1935), MP (1936-1940), MP (1940-1945), Senator.
Born at Perth, Ontario on 5 December 1879, son of Robert Cleghorn Howden (1836-1897) and Mary Martina Nichol (1840-1918), brother of Robert James Howden, he came to Manitoba at the age of two and attended Winnipeg public schools. He worked for two years as a telegrapher for the Canadian Pacific Railway and a cowboy in Alberta. He then attended the Manitoba Medical College and received a medical degree from the University of Manitoba (1904). He practiced medicine at St. Boniface.
He was elected Mayor of St. Boniface (1916-1917) and was a Liberal candidate for St. Boniface in the 1915 and 1920 provincial general elections. He was elected to the House of Commons for St. Boniface in 1925, re-elected in 1926, 1930, 1935, and 1940. He was appointed to the Senate in April 1945.
He was married twice, first on 7 September 1909 to Ann Maude Dunn (1884-1924) with whom he had two sons: Robert Lorimer “Lorrie” Howden (1911-2001) and John Stuart Howden (1916-?). On 22 November 1927, he married nurse Marie Odile Gladu (1894-1953) and they had three sons: James “Jimmy” Howden (1929-?), Gerald “Gerry” Howden (1930-?), and Harold Richard Howden (1932-2020).
He died at Winnipeg on 4 November 1959 and was buried in the St. James Anglican Cemetery. He is commemorated by Howden School and Howden Road.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Howden School / Ecole Howden (150 Howden Road, Winnipeg)
Birth registration [Robert Lorimer Howden], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
The Story of Manitoba by F. H. Schofield, Winnipeg: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913.
Death registration [Robert Cleghorn Howden], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
1931 Canada census, Ancestry.
“Mayor, MP, Senator, Dr. J. P. Howden dies,” Winnipeg Free Press, 5 November 1959, page 45.
The Canadian Directory of Parliament, 1867-1967, edited by J. K. Johnson, Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa [Library and Archives Canada], 1968.
Obituary [Robert Lorimer Howden], Winnipeg Free Press, 19 December 2001.
Obituary [Harold Richard Howden], Winnipeg Free Press, 25 January 2020.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
We thank John Howden for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 22 November 2025
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