Colonel Ralph Humphreys Webb (August 30, 1886 – June 1, 1945) was a soldier and politician based in

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. A

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...

, he served as the 31st

Mayor of Winnipeg The mayor of Winnipeg is a member of Winnipeg City Council, but does not represent a ward. The position of mayor was created in 1873 following the incorporation of Winnipeg. Since 1998, the term of office has been for four years. The 44th and cu ...

from 1925 to 1927 and again from 1930 to 1934, and also served in the

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (french: Assemblée législative du Manitoba) is the deliberative assembly of the Manitoba Legislature in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly at provincial gener ...

from 1932 to 1941. Webb was a member of 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 ...

Early life

Webb was born at sea, on a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

liner bound for

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He worked as a deck hand on a whaling vessel.

Career

During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he rose in the ranks of the army to Lieutenant-Colonel and commanded the 47th Battalion. He was awarded the Military Cross, the Distinguished Service Order, and the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

Politics

He was a virulent opponent of the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919, calling for the deportation of "radical agitators" and urging "the whole gang be dumped in the Red River". His tenure as mayor began in 1924, when he defeated the incumbent

Seymour Farmer Seymour James Farmer (June 20, 1878 – January 16, 1951) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served as Winnipeg MLA from 1922 to 1949. During this time he also served as mayor of Winnipeg 1923-1924 and later as city councillor in the l ...

. Webb's candidacy was supported by the city's business community, and his support base was located in the city's wealthy south-end. He served as mayor 1925-1927 and 1930-1934. After a series of labour strikes in 1931, Webb urged the "deportation of all undesirables", including

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

s, from Canada. A few Communist leaders were put in prison, and many deportations, usually on grounds of being dependents of the state, did occur. A staunch

, he also attacked

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Big Bill Thompson William Hale Thompson (May 14, 1869 – March 19, 1944) was an American politician who served as mayor of Chicago from 1915 to 1923 and again from 1927 to 1931. Known as "Big Bill", Reynolds, Paul (November 29, 2009)"US-UK 'Special Relationship ...

for his criticisms of

royalty Royalty may refer to: * Any individual monarch, such as a king, queen, emperor, empress, etc. * Royal family, the immediate family of a king or queen regnant, and sometimes his or her extended family * Royalty payment for use of such things as int ...

. A flamboyant politician, Webb was known as a strong civic booster and an effective salesman of Winnipeg on the international stage. After several re-elections, he was finally defeated by

John Queen John Queen (February 11, 1882 – July 15, 1946) was a labour activist and Manitoba politician who was a leader of the Winnipeg General Strike, for which he served a year in prison. He was a Labour city councillor in Winnipeg from 1916 to 192 ...

in 1934. Webb was first elected to the legislature in the 1932 provincial election, defeating a candidate of the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

in the constituency of

Assiniboia Assiniboia District refers to two historical districts of Canada's Northwest Territories. The name is taken from the Assiniboine First Nation. Historical usage ''For more information on the history of the provisional districts, see also Distric ...

. He ran for re-election in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

in the 1936 campaign. At the time, Winnipeg elected ten members by a

single transferable ballot Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...

. Webb finished third on the first count, and was declared elected on the second.

Retirement

Having served in opposition since 1915, the Conservatives joined an all-party

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

in 1940. Webb briefly served as a government backbencher, but did not seek re-election in 1941. Webb died on June 1, 1945 in

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

References

External links

Manitoba Historical Society entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Ralph 1886 births 1945 deaths People born at sea Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba MLAs Mayors of Winnipeg Canadian monarchists Canadian Militia officers Canadian Army officers Canadian Expeditionary Force officers Canadian recipients of the Military Cross Canadian military personnel of World War I