Occupation newspaper publisher Name William Southam | Role Newspaper Education Upper Canada College | |
 | ||
Born August 23, 1843 ( 1843-08-23 ) Montreal, Canada East Died February 27, 1932, Hamilton, Canada | ||
William Southam (August 23, 1843 – February 27, 1932) was a Canadian newspaper publisher.
Born in Montreal, Quebec, he began his newspaper career working for the London Free Press. The first newspaper he bought was the Hamilton Spectator. He would own the Ottawa Citizen, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Windsor Star and Montreal Gazette.
Robert Smiley, the founding publisher of The Hamilton Spectator, sold the newspaper to William Southam in 1877 as the first link in the Southam newspaper chain.
Southam had six sons: Wilson Mills Southam, Frederick Neil Southam, Richard Southam, Harry Stevenson Southam, William James Southam, and Gordon Hamilton Southam (1886–1916); and one daughter, Ethel May Southam Balfour.
His youngest son, Gordon, was a graduate of Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto. He served as a major in the Canadian Field Artillery, 8th Brigade, in the first World War. He was killed in the Battle of the Somme, France, October 15, 1916 and is buried in Albert, France.
Tribute
The Southam neighbourhood on the Hamilton, Ontario 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