Career
He joined Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt and Elliott Torrance Galt in their western industrial enterprises as a surveyor, later becoming Elliott"s assistant and Land Commissioner of the North Western Coal and Navigation Company. He was also the first mayor of Lethbridge, Alberta, which has a major street (Mayor Magrath Drive) named after him. He was appointed as a cabinet minister in the Frederick Haultain administration in 1897.
In the 1891 and 1894 general elections and an 1897 by-election, he represented Lethbridge and was acclaimed.
He was fuel Controller during the Great War and chairman of Ontario Hydro and the Canadian section of the International Joint Commission. He also served on the Newfoundland Royal Commission of 1933.
After giving birth to a son, Charles Bolton, in 1888, she died in June 1892 of complications following the birth of a daughter. Two daughters were born of this union: Amy and Laura.
Magrath has been called "The Father of Irrigation in Southern Alberta".
The community of Magrath is named in his honour.
