Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Higham, Joseph
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1893-1954
History
Pte. Joseph F. Higham was born in Tingewich, England on May 5, 1893. He immigrated to Canada on May 10, 1910 with the intention of becoming a farmer. He settled in the Cartwright Neelin district of Manitoba. He first worked as a farm hand for the Mowbry family in Cartwright and the Copper family in Neelin. In 1912, he took out an option on a quarter-section of land in the Cartwright district, however, in 1913, he enrolled at the University of Manitoba, Faculty of Agriculture. In April 1915, his whole university class joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force and formed the University of Manitoba Machine Gun Battalion. Joseph served in France with the Canadian Mounted Rifles until December 1918. He decided to go into business with a university friend after war and never returned to farming or completed his university degree.
In the 1920s, Higham invented a product called "water sprite", a water softener that made soap work in hard water. After World War II, Higham advised and assisted a number of returning servicemen wishing to be self employed. He died on September 13, 1954, and is buried at Field of Honor Brookside Cemetery of Winnipeg.