James Langstaff Bowman, (October 6, 1879 – September 14, 1951) was the first Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada from

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

. Bowman had been a teacher and lawyer in

Dauphin, Manitoba Dauphin () is a city in Manitoba, Canada, with a population of 8,457 as of the 2016 Canadian Census, with an additional 2,388 living in the surrounding Rural Municipality of Dauphin (RM), for a total of 10,845 in the RM and city combined. The ci ...

. In 1917, he became the town's mayor. He ran unsuccessfully in the

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Itali ...

and 1926 general elections for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. He finally winning a seat in the 1930 election that brought R.B. Bennett to power. He became Speaker after his predecessor, George Black, suffered a nervous breakdown in the summer of 1934, and was unfit to preside when the House of Commons of Canada reconvened in January 1935. As the Deputy Speaker was ill, Bennett approached Bowman, a

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

er, hours before the House was to convene, about becoming Speaker for the rest of the Parliamentary term. Bowman had little experience as Speaker and had to deal with a tense, pre-election session.

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

on all sides of the House felt that Bowman did well in the job. But when the 1935 general election was held in the fall, Bowman lost his seat by a large margin. He returned to his law practice in Dauphin and failed in his attempt to regain his seat in the 1940 election. James Bowman was named to the team that represented the

Manitoba Curling Association Curl Manitoba (formerly the Manitoba Curling Association) is the organization responsible for curling in the province of Manitoba. Its stated mission is "to promote, develop and grow the sport of curling in Manitoba, Canada and the world by provid ...

at the

1932 Winter Olympics The 1932 Winter Olympics, officially known as the III Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Lake Placid 1932, were a winter multi-sport event in the United States, held in Lake Placid, New York, United States. The games opened on February ...

. That year,

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns slidi ...

was a demonstration sport. Bowman was third for the team which took first place in the event. The Manitoba team was undefeated, winning all four of its games at the Olympics. In 2004, the team was inducted into the

Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame The Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is a Canadian museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, dedicated to honoring the history and achievements of sports in Manitoba. The organization began in 1980, and then opened a museum in The Forks in 1993. Afte ...

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowman, James Langstaff 1879 births 1951 deaths Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Manitoba Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs Speakers of the House of Commons of Canada Lawyers in Manitoba Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Canadian sportsperson-politicians Canadian people of German descent Mayors of Dauphin, Manitoba Canadian male curlers Curlers from Manitoba Curlers from Ontario Olympic curlers of Canada Olympic gold medalists for Canada Curlers at the 1932 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1932 Winter Olympics 20th-century Canadian people