William Henry Boulton (April 19, 1812 – February 15, 1874) was a lawyer and political figure in

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...

. He served as

Mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; there are no term limits. While in ...

from 1845 to 1847, and in 1858. He was also a member of the

Orange Order in Canada The Grand Orange Lodge of British America, more commonly known as the Grand Orange Lodge of Canada or simply Orange Order in Canada, is the Canadian branch of the Orange Order, a Protestant fraternal organization that began in County Armagh in Ire ...

. Boulton died in Toronto in 1874.

Life and career

Boulton was born in York (

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

) in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

in 1812, the son of D'Arcy Boulton (1785–1846) and the grandson of

G. D'Arcy Boulton George D'Arcy Boulton (May 20, 1759 – May 21, 1834) was a lawyer, judge and political figure in Upper Canada. He was a member of the Family Compact, an oligarchic political and social group which dominated the government of the province. L ...

. He studied law and entered practice with Gamble and Boulton. He was also a keen

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er, and his public support of the

Canadian cricket team The Canada national cricket team represents Canada in international cricket. The team is organised by Cricket Canada, which became an Associate Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1968. With the United States, Canada was one ...

is said to have significantly furthered his political ambitions. He was first elected to Toronto city council in 1838. In 1844, he was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the legislature for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper C ...

, representing Toronto as a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

member, and he was re-elected in 1848 and 1851. He opposed the bill making King's College a secular institution; at that time, it was affiliated with the

Church of England in Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2017, the Anglican Church counted 359,030 members on parish rolls in 2,2 ...

. He supported making the Legislative Council elective. He was supported by the

Orange Order The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants, particularly those of Ulster Scots heritage. It also ...

in Toronto and was also viewed as a member of the

Family Compact The Family Compact was a small closed group of men who exercised most of the political, economic and judicial power in Upper Canada (today’s Ontario) from the 1810s to the 1840s. It was the Upper Canadian equivalent of the Château Clique in L ...

. In 1854, he became deputy grand master for the order in British North America. After he left politics, he continued to practise law. His former residence, " The Grange", is now part of the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Beve ...

. The Boultons were said to be very hospitable people and hosted many guests at the Grange. Lord Elgin, when Governor-General of Canada, was a guest of Boulton in the home when he was Mayor of Toronto. It received the name the Grange after the family estate in England. Boulton lived in the home until his death in 1874.

References

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''

Sources

* Adams, P. (2010) ''A history of Canadian cricket'', lulu.com. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Boulton, William Henry 1812 births 1874 deaths Canadian people of English descent Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada West Mayors of Toronto