LETHBRIDGE, James Morton (1877-1943) arrived in Canada in 1906 and settled in Winnipeg, Man. He accepted an offer of a position as a draftsman in the busy Winnipeg branch office of Darling & Pearson, and remained there for at least one year (Winnipeg City Directory, 1907, 740). He then opened his own office in that city and continued to work as an architect for nearly twenty years. Born in London, England on 24 October 1877, he articled in the London office of his father George Lethbridge from September 1894 to early 1898. He then worked as an assistant in the office of Charles F. Doll (in 1898), and in office of Joseph D. Mathews (in 1899), and for Ralph S. Wornum in 1900-01. He continued to work in London for the next four years, then emigrated to Canada in early 1906. Although he lived and worked in Winnipeg for nearly twenty years, only a few of his projects have been found which can be directly attributed to him, and he may have been employed as an assistant by other architects in Winnipeg during this period. In May 1916 he enlisted with the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force, and resumed his activity as an architect after returning to Canada in 1918. Lethbridge appears to have left Winnipeg after 1924 when he moved back to England. He later died at Banstead, Surrey, England on 10 October 1943 (obit. The Builder [London], clxv, 22 Oct. 1943, 330; biog. inf. in The Directory of British Architects 1834-1914 [London], pub. 2001, Vol. 2, 43-44; inf. from Royal Inst. of British Architects, London; inf. Dr. Gordon Goldsborough, Winnipeg)
(works in Winnipeg)
KILDONAN, large residence for Herbert C. Whellams, Ferry Road, 1907 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 25 May 1907, 23, illus.)
FORT ROUGE, Odd Fellow’s Hall, 1913 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 14 June 1913, 11, illus. & descrip.)
ST. VITAL, Norberry Public School, for the Woodlawn School District No. 1499, St. Mary's Road at Frederick Avenue, 1921; with major addition also designed by J.M. Lethbridge, 1923 (Winnipeg Tribune, 30 April 1921, 2, t.c.; 20 Aug. 1921, 3, illlus. & descrip.; C.R., xxxvii, 9 May 1923, 51, t.c.; Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 22 Sept. 1923, 36, illus.)