William H. Atherton

William Henry Atherton MBE (November 15, 1867 – July 6, 1950)[1] was a British-born Canadian writer, historian, academic and scholar from Montreal, Quebec.

[2] He was born on November 15, 1867, in Salford, Lancashire, the son of Joseph Atherton and Sarah Ann Nicholls.

[5] Atherton emigrated to Canada in 1907, to follow his elderly parents who had emigrated to Calgary, the previous year, and for one year taught at a school in Alberta, however he soon relocated to Quebec, where he became a member of the faculty at both Loyola College, an anglophone Jesuit college and Collège Notre-Dame du Sacré-Cœur from 1908 until 1918.

One of his former pupils described him as: “a Catholic layman in action according to the best principles laid down by the present Pontiff”For over twenty years he was on the examining board for Latin and letters for medical students at McGill University, Laval and the Université de Montréal.

[13] He was the first in Canada to give broadcast conferences on literature, history and social reforms, this was aired on CFCF, a Montreal radio station from 1945.

In 1908, the director of Loyola College asked Atherton to remain in Montreal and revive the Catholic Sailors' Club on Common St.

He decided to remain in the city and devote his time to the betterment of seafaring men visiting this port.

[17] Atherton was active on a number of civic and national issues, such as Canada's first exhibition on the protection of childhood in 1911.

His obituary was published in The Windsor Star, Ontario and The Ottawa Citizen, which describe him briefly as a noted Montreal historian, educationist and sociologist.

The Williams H. Atherton Award for Excellence in History is presented on an annual basis at Loyola College.