William Holmes Howland (11 June 1844 – 12 December 1893) was

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 1886 to 1887. 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 ...

Biography

Prior to William Holmes Howland becoming Toronto's 25th mayor, he was a businessman who was elected president of the Board of Trade in 1874-1875. He was involved in many causes like the

Toronto General Hospital The Toronto General Hospital (TGH) is a major teaching hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the flagship campus of University Health Network (UHN). It is located in the Discovery District of Downtown Toronto along University Avenue's Hospital ...

, the Toronto Bible Training School, the Christian Missionary Union, the Mimico Industrial School for Boys and he was interested in improving the living conditions of the slum areas of the city. He turned to municipal politics to try to help the city with problems like drunkenness, slum conditions, filthy streets and to clean up the foul water supply. In 1884 the

Ontario legislature The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

changed voting laws to allow women to vote. Unmarried women and widows of voting age that owned or rented property assessed at over $400 were allowed to vote. Mayoralty races started to go after this group of people in future elections. Howland campaigned for morality, religion and reform with the support of the Municipal Reform Association and was elected by a margin of 1900 votes. His campaign coined the motto "Toronto the Good" for the city. During Howland's first term he had much controversy. He was removed as mayor after personal finance problems made him transfer his assets to his wife. After that he didn't have the property qualifications to be mayor. Another election was called and he went back to the nomination meeting after he had transferred his assets back to himself. There were no other candidates so he was again confirmed as mayor. Many problems arose when he came back as Mayor. Senior officials were arrested for misuse of funds after a coal-supply scandal broke out and a street railway strike that was backed by Howland had the militia brought in after three days of rioting. His attempt to restrict liquor licences was also defeated by council. One of Howland's achievements was the appointment of an Inspector to the police department to fight vice and prostitution. During his second term, council's time was occupied with projects like the Don Improvement Scheme, construction of a new city hall and court house (to replace both old city hall and

Adelaide Street Court House The Adelaide Street Court House, or York County Court House, is a historic former courthouse located at 57 Adelaide Street East in the St. Lawrence neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It served as a court house from 1852 until 1900. It cu ...

), waterworks improvements and street paving. He was finally able to have the number of liquor licences issued by council reduced from 223 to 150 after the passing of the "Fleming Bylaw". He didn't seek re-election and left politics. He spent the rest of his life trying to sort out his personal business affairs that suffered during his mayoralty. He died at the age of 49 from an acute case of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

.MR. W. H. HOWLAND DEAD: The Ex-Mayor Carried Off by Acute Pneumonia BRAVE FIGHT WITH DEATH The Funeral Fixed for To-Morrow Afternoon SKETCH OF THE BUSY CAPEER OF THE DECEASED CITIZEN--HIS DOINGS AS MAYOR HIS WAS A NOBLE LIFE THE PALLBEARERS The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. oronto, Ont 13 Dec 1893: 2. Howland's father was Sir

William Pearce Howland Sir William Pearce Howland, (29 May 1811 – 1 January 1907) served as the second Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, from 1868 to 1873. He was one of the Fathers of Confederation. Biography Born in 1811 in Pawling, New York, William Howland wa ...

, the only American born

Father of Confederation The Fathers of Confederation are the 36 people who attended at least one of the Charlottetown Conference of 1864 (23 attendees), the Quebec Conference of 1864 (33 attendees), and the London Conference of 1866 (16 attendees), preceding Canadian ...

, while brother

Oliver Aiken Howland Oliver Aiken Howland, (April 18, 1847 – March 9, 1905) was a Toronto lawyer and political figure. He represented Toronto South in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1894 to 1898 and was mayor of Toronto from 1901 to 1902. He was bo ...

was Toronto Mayor from 1901 to 1902.

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Howland, William Holmes 1844 births 1893 deaths Burials at Toronto Necropolis Canadian people of American descent Canadian people of English descent Members of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Mayors of Toronto