Walter Stanley Monroe

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Walter Monroe in 1926

Walter Stanley Monroe (May 14, 1871-October 6, 1952) was a businessman and conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of Newfoundland from 1924 to 1928 as leader of the Liberal-Conservative Progressive Party.

He was born in Ireland in 1871, the first son of John Monroe and Elizabeth Monroe. He emigrated to Newfoundland to join his uncle, Moses Monroe, in 1888.

Monroe was a successful businessman who briefly served in the government of William Warren. He emerged from the political crisis that destroyed the governments of Sir Richard Squires and William Warren as leader of a new party, the Liberal-Conservative Progressive Party, which had been cobbled together by Warren and the opposition Conservatives after Warren's government fell. The party was essentially a conservative party and swept to power in the 1924 election, weeks after it was formed.

The Monroe government saw a successful settlement of the Labrador boundary dispute with Quebec after Newfoundland successfully argued its case at the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. Monroe returned to private life in August 1928 and passed the leadership of the party to his cousin Frederick C. Alderdice who became the new Prime Minister.