HomeMy WebLinkAboutVillage Squire, 1980-02, Page 19PROFILE
W.E. Elliott, histori an,
A well-known newspaperman and
historian - William Edmund (Bill) Elliott is
dead at 96.
Mr. Elliott, who worked in the
newspaper business most of his life, was
born in Goderich on July 26, 1883. He
attended public and high school there, then
went on to a business college in Chatham
where he was a gold medallist in short-
hand.
He worked in Sault Ste. Marie, on a
Manitoba farm, and in his father's grocery.
In 1905, he became a correspondent for
several daily papers and at the end of 1906
went to a full-time job with the Toronto
News.
In 1909, he went to work for the London
Free Press, where he became the paper's
Western Ontario editor and where he was
both a provincial , and federal political
reproter. He worked there until 1927 with
the exception of four years, when; he was
serving with the Canadian Army in the
First World War.
journalist dead at 96
Near the end of 1927, he became
Legislative reporter for the Toronto Mail
and Empire, then returned to Western
Ontario in 1929, as managing editor of the
Woodstock Sentinel -Review.
In 1941 he was on loan to the Wartime
Prices and Trade Board newsroom. He
joined the Telegram staff in Toronto in
1943 and remained nearly 15 years. first on
the copy desk and then ; editorial writer.
At that time, he published a book of his
political memories entitled Politics Is
Funny, based on his experiences as a
member of the ptess gallerys in Ottawa and
Toronto. The book is now out of print.
The family was Anglican, but those who
migrated from Goderich Township to
Colborne in 1845 found no Anglican
church and attended the nearest.
Wm. E. Elliott resumed the connection
at St. James (Westminister) in London,
Ontario and later in Woodstock:was for 12
years a member of New St. Paul's
which he represented as lay delegate to the
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Synod of Huron, serving for a short time as
a member of the Synod executive. He
conducted a church class for young men at
New St. Paul's for about 12 years.
While employed by the Telegram. he
lived in Mimico and was a lay delegate
from Christ Church to the Synod of
Toronto. In Goderich, he served as vestry
clerk of St. George's under Canon Taylor,
and for some years was a delegate to
Huron Synod.
In Mimico, Mr. Elliott served two years
on the Lakeshore Board of Education and
in Woodstock he was chairman of the board
in 1938.
After 50 years in daily newspaper work,
he retired in 1958 to his home town of
Goderich, where he continued reporting for
several years, wrote numerous feature
stories and in the 1960's contributed to the
editorial pages of various Western Ontario
dailies. He was also the author of three
booklets about early Huron homes and
families.
In 1977, when Goderich was celebrating
its sesquicentennial, W.E. Elliott single-
handedly researched and wrote a 150 page
tabloid about the community's past for
Goderich Signal -Star readers.
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VILLAGE SQUIRE/FEBURARY 1980 PG 17