ALFRED JOHN WICKENS.  


	One of the younger men in Moose Jaw who is making good in his
chosen profession is Alfred John Wickens, a barrister, with offices in
the Walter Scott building. Mr. Wickens was born in London, England,
in 1888, the fourth child in the family of the late John Lewis and Mary
Ann (Potten) Wickens.  Three of his five brothers and sisters live in
England, while a brother and a sister reside in Saskatchewan. Harold
P. Wickens is an extensive farmer located near Maple Creek, while Miss
Helen Mary Wickens makes her home in Moose Jaw, whei:e she is em-
ployed as a cashier in the offices of the Mutual Life Insurance Company.
John L. Wickens was a gentleman's tailor all of his active life, but he
died in England over thirty years ago. He was a Conservative in his
political views and, together with his wife, belonged to the Church of
England. The mother still makes her home in London, where she has
lived since her husband's death in 1892.
	Alfred John Wickens was sent to the Stonygate School in Leicester,
England, as a boy and a decade later completed his education in West-
minster Hall at Vancouver, British Columbia.  In 1903, at the age of
fifteen, he made his way to Canada, arriving in the fall of the year, and
went to Huntington, Quebec, where he worked on a farm for a year.
Thence he went to Manitoulin Island, Ontario, where for five years he
led an adventurous life as a lumberjack, fisherman and casual laborer.
When he was twenty-one he settled down to the stern business of making
a worth-while career for himself in the professional world. He began
by entering a business college in Chatham, Ontario, to take a commercial
course. In 1910 he came as far west as Winnipeg, where he found a
position in the sales office of the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company.
A year later he came to Moose Jaw for the first time, as credit man for
the Robin Hood concern. At this stage in his career he felt the need for
more educational preparation and accordingly went out to Vancouver,
where he studied in Westminster Hall during most of 1912 and 1913. In
the latter year he returned to Moose Jaw and took up the reading of law,
under the direction of Mr. Craig. But his studies were rudely broken
into by the international catastrophe of the Great war and it was not
until after he had completed his term of service in the army, in 1917,
that he went up for examinations and was called to the bar. The year
after he was admitted to the bar Mr. Wickens spent in Swift Current,
where he formed a partnership with Bothwell and Campbell of that place.
He came back to Moose Jaw in 1918, however, and has been engaged in
the practice of law here ever since. He has worked up a very desirable
clientele and enjoys the reputation of being one of the most promising
of the younger barristers in the city.
	Mr. Wickens was married in December of 1916 to Miss Sarah Grace
Broatch, who died on the 3d of September, 1918, leaving a little daughter,
Ellen Grace. Mr. Wickens was married to Miss Edna Fraser of Ottawa
in May, 1919.  Mrs. Wickens, who was born near Pembroke, Ontario,
comes from the Fraser family of that province that is prominently
identified with its lumber industry. She is the mother of three children:
Ethel Mary, Edward Donald and Alex John.  The family attend the
Presbyterian church, of which the father and mother are members.
	A strong Conservative in politics, Mr. Wickens has been an active
campaigner at elections, but has never held elective offices himself. He
is fond of outdoor sports and as a youngster made quite a reputation as
a long distance runner, holding two records. Now he devotes much of
his time to tennis, in which he excels and ranks as one of the champion
players of the province. The last three seasons he has been selected as
one of the representatives of the province in the Western Canada Tennis
eliminations. Mr. Wickens is deserving of a generous share of credit for
his achievements in the professional world, as they are all of his own
accomplishment. Left fatherless at the age of four, he was dependent
upon his own resources financially at an age when most future barristers
are just entering high school and had to earn by long hard days of toil
the money to pay for his advanced education. These traits of determina-
tion, perseverance and the ability to work hard that he manifested as a
youth have been the secret of much of his success in later years and will
carry him to much higher attainments in the future.
	At the very outbreak of the Great war in Europe, Mr. Wickens volun-
teered for service in the Canadian army, enlisting in August, 1914,. as
a private. He served in this capacity and as a staff sergeant with the
First Division.  Throughout his term of service he was on detail and
attached to the Canadian General Headquarters. He was in the army for
two years, receiving his honorable discharge in September, 1916, follow-
ing which he returned to Moose Jaw and completed his preparation for
the bar.


         
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