John Captain

Background

He was born in High Bluff, Manitoba, the son of Henry Wilton and Jean Barron, and was educated in Morden and at Manitoba University.

Education

He studied law, was called to the Manitoba bar in 1906 and practised law in Winnipeg.

Career

Wilton taught school for five years before coming to Winnipeg in 1901. In 1905, Wilton married Lily L. Hobkirk. He was also president of the National Loan & Investment Corporation and vice-president of the Central Canada Investment Corporation.

He first ran for the Manitoba legislature in the 1914 provincial election, and finished second against Conservative John Thomas Haig in the Winnipeg-area constituency of Assiniboia.

He ran again in the 1915 campaign, and defeated Labour candidate William Bayley by fifty-five votes (Haig finished third). Wilton introduced the Workers Compensation Acting and the Soldiers" Taxation Relief Acting into the legislature.

He appears to have left the Liberal Party just before the 1920 provincial election: campaigning for re-election as an independent, he lost to William Bayley by 103 seats. In 1916, Wilton joined the Canadian forces as a private.

He served overseas and later reached the rank of captain.

Wilton died in Winnipeg at the age of 63 after suffering a heart attack.

Achievements

• The Liberals won a landslide victory in this election, and Wilton served as a backbench supporter of Tobias C. Norris"s government for the next five years.

Membership

Wilton served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1915 to 1920, as a member of the Liberal Party.