Harry Marshall Erskine Evans

Infobox Officeholder
name = Harry Marshall Erskine Evans


imagesize=300
office = Mayor of Edmonton
term_start = December 10, 1917
term_end = December 9, 1918
predecessor = William Thomas Henry
successor = Joseph Clarke
birth_date = August 17, 1876
birth_place = Davenport (now part of Toronto), Ontario
death_date = September 20, 1973 (aged 97)
spouse = Edith Isabel Gifford Jackson
children = One son, four daughters
alma_mater = Michigan Technological University, University of Toronto
profession = Businessman, prospector
religion = Anglican

Harry Marshall Erskine Evans (August 17, 1876 – September 20, 1973) was a politician in Alberta, Canada and a former mayor of Edmonton.

Biography

Harry Evans was born August 17, 1876 in Davenport, Ontario (which is now part of Toronto) to the Rev. and Mrs. J.S. Evans. He was educated in Hamilton before earning a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto in 1897. After graduating, he attended the Michigan School of Mines in Houghton, Michigan.

He mined in Mexico for fifteen months before moving to Winnipeg where he was Business Manager for the Winnipeg Telegram (which had been founded by his brother William Sanford Evans, who would go on to become mayor of Winnipeg and leader of the Conservative Party of Manitoba) from 1900 until 1904. After leaving the telegram, he worked for the Manitoba Land & Investment Company for two years.

Evans moved to Alberta in 1906 to prospect coal seams on the Pembina River. He moved to Edmonton the following year and managed the Pembina Coal Co. until 1908. He was the Canadian manager of a London, England financial house until it went bankrupt in 1912, when he founded the H. M. E. Evans Company, Ltd., which dealt in bonds, insurance, and real estate. In 1910, he married Edith Isabel Gifford Jackson, with whom he would have one son and four daughters.

He was elected mayor in the 1917 municipal election, finishing first in a five candidate field. He did not seek re-election at the expiration of his one year term. Immediately before his term as mayor, he was president of the Edmonton Board of Trade.

In 1925, he was appointed chairman of the Alberta Coal Commission. He served as a financial advisor to the Government of Alberta from 1931 until 1937. He was admitted to the Order of the British Empire on July 2, 1946 for meritorious service in war work.

Evans was involved with the Edmonton Rotary Club, the Manitoba Club, the Edmonton Board of Public Welfare, the Anglican Church, and the Conservative Party.

Harry Marshall Erskine Evans died in Edmonton September 20, 1973. Evansburg, Alberta (which he founded) and Evansdale (an Edmonton neighbourhood) are named in his honour.

Notably, Evans's brother William Sanford Evans served as mayor of Winnipeg and leader of the Manitoba Conservative Party, and his nephew Gurney Evans was Minister of Finance amongst other porfolios in Manitoba. Evans's daughter Sylvia Evans was amongst the few women who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II.

References

* [http://www.epl.ca/Elections/results/EPLBiographiesLetter.cfm?id=E Edmonton Public Library Biography of Harry Evans]
* [http://www.edmonton.ca/CityGov/ElectionHistory/Members%20of%20Council%20Biographies.doc City of Edmonton biography of Harry Evans]
* [http://www.albertafirst.com/profiles/statspack/21278.html Information on Evansburg, Alberta]