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Memorable Manitobans: Cecil Rice-Jones (1881-1972)
Rancher, grain merchant, municipal official. Born at Somerset, England in May 1881, he emigrated to Canada at the age of 16 and spent three years working on a ranch in Alberta. During the Boer War, he served in South Africa with the Lord Strathcona’s Horse. Returning to Canada in 1902, he married Emily Rice-Jones at Calgary, Alberta on 10 December of that year, and they subsequently had seven children. He started stock ranching, later turning to mixed farming in the Cypress Hills near Maple Creek. He was the first secretary of the United Farmers of Alberta at Veteran, Alberta and first President of the Alberta Farmers’ Co-operative Elevator Company. In 1917 the company merged with United Grain Growers and he became Vice-President under President T. A. Crerar. He moved to Winnipeg in 1919 as Vice-President and General Manager of the United Grain Growers. He left the company in 1928 to form his own bond investment firm. He served on the Winnipeg city council from 1931 to 1936, was a Liberal-Progressive candidate for Winnipeg in the 1936 provincial general election and, in September 1937, was appointed Manitoba Civil Service Commissioner, a post he held until his retirement and move to Calgary, Alberta in 1947. He was also Chair of the Manitoba Board of Censors. He died at Victoria, British Columbia on 18 December 1972. Sources:1911 Canada census, Automated Genealogy. “Rice-Jones retires,” Winnipeg Free Press, 31 October 1947, page 3. “Ex-city couple wed 70 years,” Winnipeg Free Press, 24 November 1972, page 18. 70th Wedding Anniversary, Winnipeg Free Press, 1 December 1972, page 5. Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 23 December 1972, page 35. This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough. Page revised: 24 June 2018
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