Thomas Mayne Daly (1852-1911)

Thomas Mayne Daly II was Brandon’s first lawyer and mayor, Manitoba’s first federal cabinet minister and Canada’s first juvenile court judge. The Daly family lived at 122-18th Street from 1882 to 1896.

Thomas Mayne Daly II (1852-1911) was born and raised in Stratford, Ontario, Canada.  He attended Upper Canada College and then was admitted as a student-at-law by the Law Society of Upper Canada.   He was called to the bar in Michaelmas, Ontario on November 21, 1876.   Later that same year he began his legal career in Stratford.  In 1877, he wed Margaret Annabella Jarvis.

Perhaps, with a sense of adventure like his grandfather John Cory Wilson Daly (the first mayor of Stratford, Ont.), Thomas moved his family west to the new settlement of Brandon, Manitoba.   The family arrived July 1881 and within a short time Thomas was actively involved in the young community.   He was admitted to the bar of Manitoba in 1881 and established Brandon’s first law office with George Robson Coldwell on Rosser Avenue’s south side between Eleventh and Twelfth Streets.   Daly was a promoter, a real estate broker and a solicitor for two Brandon banks.  He served on the board of directors for the hospital and also was church warden for St. Matthew’s Anglican Church.

The arrival of the railway, a population rising to 3,000 people and the establishment of over 300 businesses with in a year meant that the city needed capable administrators. Due to Thomas’s familiarity with local affairs and his previous political experiences as a city councilor in Stratford, he was chosen as Brandon’s first Mayor on July 3rd 1882.   As Mayor, Daly actively promoted civic development in the newly incorporated city.

Daly was a elected as a member of Parliament for the Manitoba Constituency of Selkirk from 1887-1896, and served as Minister of the Interior and Superintendent General of Indian Affairs from 1892-1896.   He was Police Magistrate of Winnipeg, 1901-1908, and Judge of the Winnipeg Juvenile Court, 1909-1911.   He passed away suddenly June 24, 1911 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.