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Sir William Peterson
Sir William Peterson
Born	29 May 1856; Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	4 January 1921 (aged 64); Hampstead Heath, England

Sir William Peterson, KCMG (29 May 1856 – 4 January 1921) was a Scottish academic and the Principal of McGill University from 1895 to 1919.

Biography

Born in Edinburgh, the fifth son of John Peterson and Grace Mountford Anderson, his father was a partner in Peterson Brothers & Co. and lived at Allison Place.^[1]

Peterson graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1875 and Corpus Christi College, Oxford in 1879. In 1882, he became the first principal of the recently established University College, Dundee, a position he would hold until 1895.^[2] Peterson, despite being aged only 26, won this position ahead of three other candidates including John Edward Aloysious Stegall, who would go on to serve as Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at University College, Dundee. Stegall seems to have resented this for he failed to mention Peterson in the lengthy account of the college's early years which he produced fifty years later.^[3]

A Latinist and a classical scholar, Peterson, while enjoying academic argument, disliked the politics of academia, particularly the issues arising from the complex relationship between University College and the University of St Andrews.^[4]

From 1895 to 1919, he was the Principal of McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Despite being in Canada for almost 25 years he considered himself an exile and always returned to the UK for his summer vacation.^[4] He suffered a stroke in Montreal in 1919.^[4]

Peterson was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) during the visit to Canada of TRH the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later King George V and Queen Mary) in October 1901.^[5] In 1915, he was made Knight Commander (KCMG) of the same order.^[6]

In 1919, he returned to England and died at Willwood, North End Road, in Hampstead Heath in 1921.^[6]

Family

His eldest son, William Gordon Peterson (1886-1930) was also a classicist and moved with his father to Canada. In 1914 he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force] and served as a Major in the Royal Highlanders of Canada winning the Distinguished Service Order in action in France. He wrote a book of his experience called "Silhouettes of Mars". In 1922 he returned to Scotland as a lecturer in Classics at St Andrews University. He ran the Officer Training Corps at the university and was found in the gunroom with a gunshot wonud to the head and ied in hospital on 6 October 1930.^[7]

His second son, Maurice Peterson, was also a classicist and served in the Diplomatic Service in both Bulgaria and Iraq before becoming ambassador to Spain in 1939 under the Franco regime. Around 1940 he moved to London to serve in the Ministry of Information. In 1944 he became ambassador to Turkey and in 1949 ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1946 to 1949.^[8]

References

^ Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1863
^ Baxter, Kenneth, Rolfe, Mervyn and Swinfen, David (2007). A Dundee Celebration. Dundee: University of Dundee. p. 60.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Shafe, Michael (1982). University Education in Dundee 1881-1981: A Pictorial History. Dundee: University of Dundee. pp. 25 & 34.
^ ^a ^b ^c Shafe, Michael (1982). University Education in Dundee 1881-1981: A Pictorial History. Dundee: University of Dundee. p. 34.
^ "No. 27364". The London Gazette. 11 October 1901. p. 6641.
^ ^a ^b "William Peterson". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.
^ Greek Secrets Revealed by Ian McHaffie ISBN 978-0-9525026-8-5
^ Greek Secrets Revealed by Ian McHaffie ISBN 978-0-9525026-8-5

"Peterson, Sir William, 1856-1921, Knight, classical scholar and educationalist". GASHE: Gateway to Archives of Scottish Higher Education. Retrieved 30 January 2007.
"William Peterson". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.

External links

Works by William Peterson at Project Gutenberg
Works by William Peterson at Faded Page (Canada)
Works by or about William Peterson at the Internet Archive
M. Fabi Quintiliani institutionis oratoriae liber decimus at Project Gutenberg

Academic offices
Preceded by None (Post created)	Principal of University College Dundee 1882 – 1895	Succeeded by John Yule Mackay
Preceded by Sir John William Dawson	Principal of McGill University 1895 – 1919	Succeeded by Auckland Geddes, 1st Baron Geddes