William Lewis Morton (13 December 1908 – 7 December 1980) was a Canadian

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

who specialized in the development of the

Canadian west Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada– ...

. Along with Arthur R. M. Lower and Donald Creighton he is regarded as one of the dominant Canadian historians of his generation.

Biography

Morton was born on 13 December 1908 in

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

. He won a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

and attended the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where he studied history. He returned to Canada to teach at

Brandon College Brandon University is a university located in the city of Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, with an enrollment of 3375 (2020) full-time and part-time undergraduate and graduate students. The current location was founded on July 13, 1899, as Brandon C ...

, the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Trent University Trent University is a public liberal arts university in Peterborough, Ontario, with a satellite campus in Oshawa, which serves the Regional Municipality of Durham. Trent is known for its Oxbridge college system and small class sizes.

. W. L. Morton served as head of the Department of History and Provost of University College of the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Canadian Centenary Series The ''Canadian Centenary Series'' is a nineteen-volume history of Canada published between 1963 and 1987 as an extended Canadian Centennial project. The collection resulted from the initiative of two of Canada's leading 20th century historians, ...

project and served as the Executive Editor for the nineteen-volume authoritative history of Canada. He served as president of the Canadian Historical Association from 1959 to 1960. Morton was one of the most prominent early faculty members of Trent University at

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, and was the first Master of the university's Champlain College. Morton was a strong supporter of the Progressive Conservative Party and was very much a Red Tory. In 1969, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

"for his contributions as an historian, teacher and author of several books on Canadian History." Morton was a passionate nationalist and a conservative who fought against the liberal ideas that dominated Canadian thought after 1960, when the younger generation focused more on race, class, and gender as opposed to the national themes that intrigued Morton.Kelly Boyd, ed., ''Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writers'' (1999) 2:840 Morton died on 7 December 1980 in

Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in Southern Alberta, southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff, Alberta, ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Works

*''Newfoundland in Colonial Policy, 1775–1793'' (1935;

BLitt Bachelor of Letters (BLitt or LittB; Latin ' or ') is a second undergraduate university degree in which students specialize in an area of study relevant to their own personal, professional, or academic development. This area of study may have been t ...

thesis) *''Third Crossing: A History of the Town and District of Gladstone in the Province of Manitoba'' (1946) *''The Progressive Party in Canada'' (1950; winner of the 1950 Governor General's Award for Nonfiction) *''The London Correspondence Inward from Eden Colvile, 1849–1852'' (1956) *''Alexander Begg's Red River Journal and Other Papers Relative to the Red River Resistance of 1869–70'' (1956) *''Manitoba: A History'' (1957) *''One University: A History of the University of Manitoba'' (1960) *''The Canadian Identity'' (1961) *''The Kingdom of Canada'' (1963) *''The Critical Years: The Union of British North America, 1857–1873'' (1964) *''Manitoba: The Birth of a Province'' (1965) *''Contexts of Canada's Past: Selected Essays of W.L. Morton'' (1980)

References

External links

''Manitoba Historical Society - William Lewis Morton''

''Chancellors of Trent University''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morton, W.L. 1908 births 1980 deaths 20th-century Canadian historians Alumni of St John's College, Oxford Canadian Anglicans Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian Rhodes Scholars Governor General's Award-winning non-fiction writers Historians of Canada Officers of the Order of Canada People from Central Plains Region, Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party of Canada Trent University faculty University of Manitoba alumni University of Manitoba faculty Presidents of the Canadian Historical Association

Biography

Works

See also

References

Further reading

External links