William Lewis Morton (13 December 1908 – 7 December 1980) was a Canadian historian 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. 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, 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, and then at Trent University. W. L. Morton served as head of the Department of History and Provost of University College of the University of Manitoba. He helped initiate the

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, Ontario, 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 "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, Alberta.

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