William Southam (August 23, 1843 – February 27, 1932) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

. Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, he began his newspaper career working for the '' London Free Press''. The first newspaper he bought was the ''

Hamilton Spectator ''The Hamilton Spectator'', founded in 1846, is a newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. One of the largest Canadian newspapers by circulation,''The Hamilton Spectator'' is owned by Torstar. History ''The Hami ...

''. He would own the ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The new ...

'', '' Calgary Herald'', '' Edmonton Journal'', ''

Winnipeg Tribune ''The Winnipeg Tribune'' was a metropolitan daily newspaper serving Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada from January 28, 1890 to August 27, 1980. The paper was founded by R.L. Richardson and D.L. McIntyre who acquired the press and premises of the old ' ...

'', ''

Windsor Star The ''Windsor Star'' is a daily newspaper based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Postmedia Network, it is published Tuesdays through Saturdays. History The paper began as the weekly ''Windsor Record'' in 1888, changing its name to the ''Bor ...

'' and ''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

''. He would later send his sons to those cities to run the newspapers. Robert Smiley, the founding publisher of ''

The Hamilton Spectator ''The Hamilton Spectator'', founded in 1846, is a newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. One of the largest Canadian newspapers by circulation,''The Hamilton Spectator'' is owned by Torstar. History ''The Ham ...

'', sold the newspaper to William Southam in 1877 as the first link in the Southam newspaper chain. Southam had six sons: Wilson Mills Southam (1868-1947), Frederick Neil Southam (1869-1946), Richard Southam (1871-1937),

Harry Stevenson Southam Harry Stevenson Southam, CMG (May 18, 1875 – March 27, 1954) was a Canadian newspaper publisher of '' The Ottawa Citizen'' and chancellor of Carleton College from 1952 to 1954. He was chairman and member of the board of trustees of the Nat ...

(1875-1954), William James Southam (1877-1957), and Gordon Hamilton Southam (1886–1916); and one daughter, Ethel May Southam Balfour (1881-1976). His youngest son, Gordon, was a graduate of Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto would become briefly assistant manager at the Spectator before serving as a Major in the Canadian Field Artillery of the 8th Brigade and 40th Battery, in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was killed in the Battle of the Somme, France, October 15, 1916 and is buried in Albert, France. Harry Stevenson (formerly with Montreal Gazette and later executive assistant in Ottawa) and Wilson Mills (former executive assistant at Hamilton Spectator and President of Southam Limited) were co-publishers of the

, Frederick Neil was Chairman of Southam Publishing until his death in 1946. William James succeeded brother Wilson Mills as executive assistant in Hamilton after leaving his early work at Bank of Hamilton. Richard Southham ran the Mail Job Printing Company of Toronto.

Tribute

The Southam neighbourhood on the

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a Canada 2016 Census, population of 569,353, and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington, ...

Mountain was named after him. It is bounded by the Niagara Escarpment (north), Fennell Avenue East (south), West 5th Street (west) and Upper James Street (east). Landmarks in this neighbourhood include Southam Park, and Auchmar. William married Wilson McNeilage Mills

References

* MapArt

Golden Horseshoe The Golden Horseshoe is a secondary region of Southern Ontario, Canada, which lies at the western end of Lake Ontario, with outer boundaries stretching south to Lake Erie and north to Lake Scugog, Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. The ...

Atlas – Page 657 – Grids J11, J12

External links

William Southam
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...

Military Attestation (1915) for Gordon Hamilton Southam
1843 births 1932 deaths 19th-century Canadian newspaper publishers (people) People from Hamilton, Ontario Anglophone Quebec people People from Montreal {{Canada-business-bio-stub