Memorable Manitobans: Nicolas Pirotton (1882-1943)

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Nicolas Pirotton
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Sculptor.

Born at Liège, Belgium on 19 February 1882, he immigrated to St. Boniface in 1907. He first worked in the cordwood business then, in 1912, became foreman and superintendent of the Western Stone Company. In 1917, he established his own studio specializing in commemorative and funerary monuments. His son Nicolas Pirotton Jr. founded Brookside Memorials in the early 1950s.

He was responsible for several war memorials around Manitoba:

Sculpture

Year

Emerson War Memorial

1920

MacGregor War Memorial

1920

St. Boniface War Memorial

1920

St. Claude War Memorial

1921

St-Pierre-Jolys War Memorial

?

He and wife Felicie Larbonois (?-?) had five children: Nicholas Julian Hector Pirotton (1913-1913), Rodolphe Julien “Rod” Pirotton (1914-1999), Marguerite Bertha Pirotton (1917-1918), Alice Felicie Josephine Pirotton (1919-1998, wife of Marc Sourisseau), and Nicholas Hubert “Nick” Pirotton (1920-2002). He was a member of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church. He served on the St. Boniface municipal council (1929-1943), Chair of the St. Boniface Police Commission, and as President of the Belgian Club (1926-1935). He was director and conductor of the St. Boniface City Band. In 1928, he founded the Belgian Mutual Benefit Society to provide funds to help with funeral expenses of members.

He died at the St. Boniface Hospital on 20 November 1943 and was buried in the St. Boniface Cemetery.

Sources:

Birth and death registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Obituary [Marguerite Pirotton], Winnipeg Tribune, 13 May 1918, page 5.

“Ald. Nicolas Pirotton dies in St. Boniface,” Winnipeg Tribune, 22 November 1943, page 11.

“Funeral service held for Ald. Pirotton,” Winnipeg Free Press, 23 November 1943, page 2.

Obituary [Alice Sourisseau], Winnipeg Free Press, 19 February 1998, page 47.

Obituary [Rodolphe Julien Pirotton], Winnipeg Free Press, 2 October 1999, page 59.

Obituary [Nicholas Hubert Pirotton], Winnipeg Free Press, 23 January 2002.

This page was prepared by Neil Pryce, Gordon Goldsborough, and Nicola Spasoff.

Page revised: 11 November 2021

Memorable Manitobans

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