Alexander Robert Welch (July 15, 1873
Welch was born in Brechin, Scotland, the son of James Welch and Mary Ingram, and came to Canada with his parents in 1874. He was educated in Stratford, Ontario. He trained as a shoemaker with his father and followed that trade until 1893 when he moved to Manitoba and entered business as a merchant. In 1896, he married Hester Graham. Welch served as mayor of Boissevain, Manitoba from 1905 to 1906 and was chair of the Boissevain School Board from 1916 to 1929, also serving as president of the Conservative Association in the Turtle Mountain constituency during the same period.
He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in a by-election held on June 22, 1929, following the death of former Conservative leader Richard Gardiner Willis.