John William Pratt was a politician in Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba

The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and the lieutenant governor form the Legislature of Manitoba, the legislature of the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly in provincial general elections, all in single-member constituencies with first-past-the-post...

 from 1927 to 1936.

Pratt was born at Hempton

Hempton

Hempton is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is south west of Fakenham, north west of Norwich and north east of London. The village straddles the A1065 between Fakenham and Swaffham. The nearest railway station is at Sheringham for the Bittern Line which...

, Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, London

Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood

Merchant Taylors' School is a British independent day school for boys, originally located in the City of London. Since 1933 it has been located at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire ....

 and Hitchin Grammar School

Grammar school

A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...

, migrating to Canada in 1912. He attended the University of Manitoba

University of Manitoba

The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...

, receiving a law degree, and subsequently worked as a barrister-at-law. Pratt enlisted in the R.F.C. in 1918.

He was the mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of Birtle, Manitoba

Birtle, Manitoba

Birtle is a small town of 690 people , located on the prairies of western Manitoba, Canada at the junction of Highways 83 and 42.-History:...

 in 1926 and 1927, and was a director of the Birtle Agricultural Society. He helped to found the firm of Pratt, Lauman.

Pratt was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the provincial election of 1927

Manitoba general election, 1927

Manitoba's general election of 28 June 1927 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.This was the first election in Manitoba history to elect members through a single transferable ballot in all constituencies...

, as a member of the governing Progressive Party

Progressive Party of Manitoba

The Progressive Party of Manitoba, Canada, was a political party that developed from the United Farmers of Manitoba, an agrarian movement that became politically active following World War I...

. He campaigned in the constituency of Birtle, and defeated candidates from the Liberal

Manitoba Liberal Party

The Manitoba Liberal Party is a political party in Manitoba, Canada. Its roots can be traced to the late nineteenth-century, following the province's creation in 1870.-Origins and early development :...

 and Conservative

Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba

The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba is the only right wing political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is also the official opposition party in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.-Origins and early years:...

 parties. Shortly after the election, he left the government benches to sit as an independent.

He was re-elected as an Independent Progressive in the 1932 provincial election

Manitoba general election, 1932

Manitoba's general election of June 16, 1932 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.This was the second election in Manitoba where the single transferable ballot was used in all electoral divisions...

, defeating Conservative W.C. Wroth by 639 votes. The government did not run a candidate against him. Pratt did not seek re-election in 1936.