William Augustus Leggo (25 January 1830 – 21 July 1915) 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 ...

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

, engraver and

businessperson A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for the ...

. He is noted for co-inventing the half-tone engraver with

George-Édouard Desbarats George-Édouard-Amable Desbarats (5 April 1838 – 18 February 1893) was an influential Canadian printer and inventor. Life and career The Desbarats were an established printing family. The first of the family to settle was Joseph Desbarats f ...

. He had several

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

s to his name, including leggotyping and granulated photography.

Early life

Leggo was born in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

on January 25, 1830, to William Augustus Leggo, a bookbinder and engraver, and Margaret Grant. After graduating from

Quebec High School Quebec High School (QHS) is a high school belonging to the Central Quebec School Board. The School is located in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, and is one of three English-language high schools that serve the Quebec city region (the others being S ...

, he apprenticed as an engraver, first to his father and then to Cyrus A. Swett in Boston.

Career

Leggo worked with his brothers Thomas, Edward, and Henry in the family engraving business before partnering with

George-Paschal Desbarats George-Paschal Desbarats (11 August 1808 – 12 November 1864) was a French-Canadian printer, publisher, businessman, and landowner. From 1841 he co-held an exclusive contract as the Queen's printer. Life and career George-Paschal Desbar ...

and

Stewart Derbishire Stewart Derbishire (1794 or 1795 – March 27, 1863) was the first elected representative for Bytown in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada. Born in England, he was a strong Whig. At various times he was an ensign in the B ...

as Wm. A Leggo and Company on January 21, 1863. George-Paschal's son, George-Édouard Desbarats, joined the partnership when Derbishire died in March 1863, and became sole partner when his father died in November 1964. The two patented "Leggotyping", a type of

photomechanical reproduction Halftone is the reprographic technique that simulates continuous-tone imagery through the use of dots, varying either in size or in spacing, thus generating a gradient-like effect.Campbell, Alastair. The Designer's Lexicon. ©2000 Chronicle, S ...

for

letterpress printing Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing. Using a printing press, the process allows many copies to be produced by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against sheets or a continuous roll of paper. A worker comp ...

, on February 27, 1865. Leggo and Desbarats founded Leggo and Company in Montreal on January 21, 1868. Desbarats' newspapers, ''

Canadian Illustrated News The ''Canadian Illustrated News'' was a weekly Canadian illustrated magazine published in Montreal from 1869 to 1883. It was published by George Desbarats. The magazine was notable for being the first in the world to consistently produce photog ...

'' (est. October 1869) and ''

L'Opinion publique ''L'Opinion publique'' was a weekly illustrated magazine published in Montreal from 1870 to 1883 by George-Édouard Desbarats. It is considered to be the first French-language illustrated newspaper in Canada. History ''L'Opinion publique'' was ...

'' (est. January 1870), both made use of Leggotyping. In 1873, the pair formed the Union Art Publishing Company and founded the New York ''

Daily Graphic ''The Daily Graphic: An Illustrated Evening Newspaper'' was the first American newspaper with daily illustrations. It was founded in New York City in 1873 by Canadian engravers George-Édouard Desbarats and William Leggo, and began publication ...

'', the first daily illustrated newspaper. While it was a pioneering effort, it was not a financial success, and Desbarats returned to Montreal soon after.Black, Harry
Canadian Scientists and Inventors: Biographies of People who Shaped Our World
p. 57 (2d ed. 2008) The paper ran until 1889, but by 1879 Leggo was also back in Montreal, where he began a business partnership with William H. Guillebaud as Leggo and Company. Leggo died in 1915 at

Lachute, Quebec Lachute () is a town in southwest Quebec, Canada, northwest of Montreal, on the Rivière du Nord, a tributary of the Ottawa River, and west of Mirabel International Airport. It is located on Autoroute 50, at the junctions of Quebec Provincial ...

Publications

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leggo, William 1830 births 1915 deaths Canadian printers Canadian inventors