Walter Ritchie Rollo

Walter Ritchie Rollo
Rollo (at right) in 1955, with last surviving members of the 1919-1923 coalition
MPP for Hamilton West
In office October 20, 1919 – October 5, 1923
Preceded by	John Allan
Succeeded by	Arthur Campbell Garden
Minister of Labour for Ontario
In office November 14, 1919 – July 16, 1923
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	Forbes Elliott Godfrey
Personal details
Born	(1875-11-25)November 25, 1875 Linlithgowshire, Scotland
Died	March 19, 1956(1956-03-19) (aged 80)
Nationality	Canadian
Political party	Labour Party of Canada
Spouse(s)	Margaret Bell

Walter Ritchie Rollo was a Canadian trade unionist and politician in the early 20th Century, and was a cabinet Minister in the United Farmers of Ontario - Labour coalition government from 1919 to 1923.

Early life

Born in Linlithgowshire, Scotland in 1875,^[1] he emigrated to Canada in 1883^[2] and was a broom-maker in Hamilton, Ontario by 1899.^[3] He married Margaret Bell of Berlin, Ontario in the same year.^[4]

When the 9lst Regiment Canadian Highlanders was formed in Hamilton in 1903, Rollo enlisted and rose over time to become its colour sergeant.^[5]

Labour leader

Rollo was secretary of the Hamilton Trades and Labour Council from 1906 to 1919.^[6] In 1919, he also became editor of the Labor News, a Hamilton-based union paper.^[7]

Political career

Rollo was involved in politics at all levels. In 1916, he was appointed as a member of Ontario's Organization of Resources Committee which was established to improve Canada's war effort in the Province.^[8] He had also been a member of the Board of Education in Hamilton for several years.^[5][9]

In 1907, Rollo was elected as the President of the newly formed Independent Labour Party,^[10][11] and would become its leader in 1917.^[12][10] He stood for election in Hamilton West in the following campaigns:

• in the Ontario 1914 general election, which he lost by only 39 votes,^[6]
• in the federal 1917 general election, where he came in second,^[13]
• in the Ontario 1919 general election, which he won. In his campaign, signs were posted that read: "Your Vote for Walter Rollo is a nail in the coffin of the profiteer."^[14]

He, together with Morrison Mann MacBride, was instrumental in negotiating a coalition government between the Independent Labour Party and the United Farmers of Ontario under E.C. Drury,^[15] which lasted until 1923. As a result of those negotiations, the ILP had the right to nominate two of its members to the new government: Rollo became the Province's first Minister of Labour, and Harry Mills became the first Minister of Mines.^[16] This caused a confrontation within the ILP, as MacBride had sought to be nominated to the Labour position.^[17][18]

During his time as Minister, Rollo brought in several enhancements to Ontario's labour laws:

• the Minimum Wage Act, which set minimum wages for female employees,^[19]
• the One Day's Rest in Seven Act, which provided (with certain exceptions) that employees were entitled to 24 consecutive hours of rest every seven days,^[19]
• improvements to workmen's compensation benefits^[20]

Aftermath

After his defeat in the 1923 general election, Rollo was appointed as an adolescent school inspector for the City of Hamilton,^[21] and he was still working as a school attendance officer there in 1938,^[22] and as a part-time school assessment adviser in 1950.^[20] He died in 1956.

Further reading

• Bill Freeman (1979). "Hamilton Labour: The failure of an opposition group". In Bill Freeman; Marsha Hewitt. Their Town: The Mafia, the Media and the Party Machine. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company. pp. 38–61. ISBN 0-88862-266-X. 
• James Naylor (1991). The New Democracy: Challenging the Social Order in Industrial Ontario, 1914-1925. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-5953-8. 
• Roger Hall; William Westfall; Laurel Sefton MacDowell, eds. (1996). "The Decline of Labourism". Patterns of the Past: Interpreting Ontario's History. Toronto: Dundurn Press. ISBN 1-55002034-X. 

References

External links

• Ontario Legislative Assembly Parliamentarian History

v t e Cabinet of Premier E.C. Drury (1919-1923 coalition) United Farmers of Ontario Frank Campbell Biggs (Public Works, Highways) Beniah Bowman (Lands and Forests) Dougall Carmichael (Without Portfolio) Manning Doherty (Agriculture) E.C. Drury (Premier) Robert Henry Grant (Education) Harry Nixon (Provincial Secretary and Registrar) William Raney (Attorney-General) Peter Smith (Treasurer of Ontario) Labour Harry Mills (Mines) Walter Rollo (Labour, Health)