James Langstaff Bowman, (October 6, 1879 – September 14, 1951) was the first
Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada from
Manitoba
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.
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
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* 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 ...
.
References
External links
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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