William Henry McGuire (May 31, 1873 – October 31, 1957) was a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

senator who represented

East York East York is a district and former municipality within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From 1967 to 1998, it was officially the Borough of East York, a borough within the upper-tier municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. The borough was dissolved ...

for 30 years.

Biography

Early life and education

William Henry McGuire was born May 31, 1873, on a family farm near

Peterborough, Ontario Peterborough ( ) is a city on the Otonabee River in Ontario, Canada, about 125 kilometres (78 miles) northeast of Toronto. According to the 2021 Census, the population of the City of Peterborough was 83,651. The population of the Peterborough ...

, one of the 14 children of John and Ellen McGuire of Seymour Township. He attended high school in

Campbellford, Ontario Campbellford is an unincorporated place and former town in Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada, in the township municipality of Trent Hills. It lies approximately midway between Toronto and Ottawa. It is situated on both the Trent-Sever ...

, and was assisted in attaining higher education by an older brother, Father Michael McGuire, who was a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest in the area. William "Billy" McGuire graduated from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

in 1903 and studied law at

Osgoode Hall Osgoode Hall is a landmark building in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original -storey building was started in 1829 and finished in 1832 from a design by John Ewart (architect), John Ewart and William Warren Baldwin. The structure is n ...

Career

He practiced as a lawyer first in

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, and then in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, and was a member of the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...

. He was named to the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada () is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, they compose the Bicameralism, bicameral le ...

by Prime Minister

William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who was the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Liberal ...

on December 20, 1926 and served East York until his death on October 31, 1957, an impressive total of 30 years, 10 months and 12 days. Senator McGuire was influential in the Irish-Canadian/Roman Catholic communities. He and Senator Frank Patrick O'Connor (Scarborough Junction) acquired a vacant church in the village of

Wexford Wexford ( ; archaic Yola dialect, Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the ...

(Lawrence Avenue East, east of Victoria Park Avenue, now in the Scarborough area of Toronto) to establish Precious Blood parish. Due to its once-vacant state, the original red brick church, even after its rejuvenation, was known for many years as "the pigeon church." Senator McGuire also owned a farm with an

English garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

named "Belmore" across Lawrence Avenue from the church and, although the area is now entirely urban and

Wexford Collegiate Institute Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts (commonly known as Wexford Collegiate, WCSA, Wexford CSA, Wexford or "Wex" for short), formerly and still known as Wexford Collegiate Institute (WCI) (initially known as Northwest Collegiate Institute) is a ...

occupies the site of his home, many of the mature trees in the area were planted by him.

Marriage and children

William Henry McGuire married Anna McNevin (1881–1954) in 1911 and had one daughter, Mary Aileen (1913–1959), who also became a lawyer. He was father-in-law to James Worrall, lawyer, international track and field athlete, and

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

representative to Canada.

References

Sources: Family,

Government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...

(Senate)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McGuire, William Henry 1873 births 1957 deaths Canadian senators from Ontario Liberal Party of Canada senators University of Toronto alumni 20th-century members of the Senate of Canada