William Ernest Hamilton (March 15, 1902 – June 8, 1985) was a politician in

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 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Member of Provincial ...

from 1945 to 1955 who represented the

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

area riding of

Wellington South Wellington South was a Canadian federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867 as the "South Riding o ...

. He was a cabinet minister in the government of

Leslie Frost Leslie Miscampbell Frost (September 20, 1895 – May 4, 1973) was a politician in Ontario, Canada, who served as the province's 16th premier from May 4, 1949, to November 8, 1961. Due to his lengthy tenure, he gained the nickname "Old Man O ...

Background

He was born in

and studied at

Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute The Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute (GCVI, Guelph C.V.I., GC) is a public high school in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. The school is the oldest continuously operating public high school in Guelph, and the third oldest in the province of On ...

and the Ontario Agricultural College. Hamilton began work at a bank and then worked as a salesman at a soap company before taking over the operation of his father's Sun Life Insurance agency. He married Jean Irene Clark in 1928. He served as president of the local

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

from 1929 to 1930. Hamilton also served as president of the Guelph Board of Trade. He was a member of the board of directors for the Homewood Sanitarium and served as its president. He died at his home in Guelph in 1985.

Politics

Hamilton ran in the 1945 provincial election as the PC candidate in the riding of

. He defeated Liberal candidate A.A. Bagley by 1,449 votes. He was re-elected in 1948 and 1951. In 1955 he was defeated by Liberal candidate

Harry Worton Harry Worton (February 17, 1921 – March 22, 2002) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. Served as the 48th mayor of Guelph from 1952 to 1955. He also served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1955 to 1985, as a member of the Libera ...

. In 1949 he was appointed to cabinet as Minister of Reform Institutions. In 1950 he was demoted to Minister without Portfolio which he held until his retirement in 1955. He was vice-chairman of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario (later

Ontario Hydro Ontario Hydro, established in 1906 as the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, was a publicly owned electricity utility in the Province of Ontario. It was formed to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity g ...

). From 1961 to 1962 he served as mayor of Guelph.

Cabinet positions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, William Ernest 1902 births 1985 deaths Mayors of Guelph Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs